British Film Institute (BFI) Discussion Thread

[fatboyslim142]

Originally Posted by sherlockjr

Whoa, they're restoring 45 two reelers plus two features! I wonder if/how many they'll release on physical media and/or streaming--and will they be streaming in the US? There will be the issue of scoring and recording hours of accompaniment, as opposed to just playing live for a small selection.

I always really enjoyed Sherlock Holmes stories. Wonder how much I'll like this silent interpretation? Since they're very close in time to when the stories were written and set--and it sounds like intended for a UK audience--the culture they'll be depicting was close to contemporary rather than historical in later US and sound versions. That should be interesting to see.

I wonder if they'll do a set of some of them, if not all, with similar title to their Silent Shakespeare & Dickens Before Sound collections, the former of which I still need to get.

[RossyG]

I’d have thought a Blu-ray box set of the Holmes silents is highly likely.

[MifuneFan]

It's been a while since I visited the BFI Shop, and it looks like they've now updated the page to say the new shop is coming this Winter:

https://www.bfi.org.uk/bfi-online-shop

BFI Online Shop

The BFI Online Shop is temporarily offline while we work on an all-new website, coming this winter.

The new BFI Online Shop will offer improved security, functionality and accessibility, and we want to take the time to get it right. We apologise for the disruption in the meantime and would like to thank our customers for their understanding.

Our venue shop at BFI Southbank remains open for business.

BFI Blu-rays, 4K UHDs and DVDs are available to order from online retailers such as HMV and Amazon.

For updated information on the data breach that affected the previous BFI Online Shop site, please see our FAQs.

[The Hornets]

These are owned by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Hopefully he’s up for letting the BFI put out on disc and not just the occasional festival screening. Would be odd to spend a fortune on restoring them all if you aren’t going to make widely available even through they are cinema history.

[sherlockjr]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

It's been a while since I visited the BFI Shop, and it looks like they've now updated the page to say the new shop is coming this Winter:

https://www.bfi.org.uk/bfi-online-shop

It appears it's been offline since April 1, 2025. Surprising it would take something like nine months to build a new website, especially since it must be costing them significantly in potential sales to stay offline. There are plenty of service agencies that could slap a new, secure website together in a few weeks.

More info here

https://www.bfi.org.uk/your-shop-data

[justwannaboogie]

I've only bought direct from BFI once when they had a really good sale on. Can't say I'm fussed either way about their webstore as the prices usually aren't competitive.