Sieranevada (Cristi Puiu)

[McCrutchy]

It seems that Cristi Puiu's latest film, Sieranevada (2016) has recently (June 2017) received a limited edition Blu-ray release in Romania, with English and French subtitles. The film was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 2016, and was Romania's selection for Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards.

To my knowledge, this is the first of Puiu's films to come to Blu-ray anywhere in the world.

[McCrutchy]

It seems that the film can be ordered here for the price of 239 RON (US $62) plus a shipping fee of 43.50 RON (US $11). The description at Cărturești (Google-translated to English) is below:

Printed in a limited edition of 979 copies, the collection includes the Blu-ray movie (with English and French subtitles), accompanied by an interview by George Şerban (with English and French versions) as well as by A selection of 32 photos from the "Sieranevada" series.
Blu-ray includes a novel 3-minute sequence that was cut out during assembly. In addition, each copy of the edition will be unique. The package contains a set of "Sieranevada" replicas, written by hand by the director and screenwriter Cristi Puiu.
"Sieranevada" is considered, as critics and spectators as the best film of 2016. The film premiered at the International Film Festival in Cannes, was selected in over 100 international festivals and won over 25 important awards.

This year was Romania's proposal for the Oscars.
Three days after the assassination of Charlie Hebdo and the forty days since his father's death, Lary, a 40-year-old doctor, is due to spend Saturday night with his young wife in the family , Brought together on the occasion of commemorating the missing one.

The event, however, does not run As expected.

[Show spoiler]Tipărită într-un tiraj limitat de 979 de exemplare, ediția de colecție cuprinde filmul în format Blu-ray (cu subtitluri în engleză și franceză), însoțit de un interviu realizat de George Șerban (cu versiuni în engleză și franceză), precum și de o selecție de 32 de fotografii din seria „Sieranevada“.
Blu-ray- ul include o secvență inedită de 3 minute, care a fost tăiată la montaj. În plus, fiecare exemplar al ediției va fi unicat. Pachetul conține câte un set de replici din „Sieranevada“, scrise de mână chiar de regizorul și scenaristul Cristi Puiu.
„Sieranevada“ este considerat, atât de critici cât și de spectatori, drept cel mai bun film al anului 2016. Pelicula a avut premiera mondială la Festivalul Internațional de Film de la Cannes, a fost selectată în peste 100 de festivaluri internaționale și a câștigat peste 25 de premii importante.

Anul acesta a fost propunerea României la Premiile Oscar.
La trei zile de la atentatul din redacția hebdomadarului parizian, Charlie Hebdo și la patruzeci de zile de la moartea tatălui său – Lary, un medic trecut de 40 de ani, urmează să își petreacă ziuă de sâmbătă însoțit de tânăra lui soție, în sânul familiei, reunite cu ocazia comemorării celui dispărut.

Evenimentul, însă, nu se deruleaza conform așteptărilor.

[TheDoug]

That's one pricey collector's edition of SIERANEVADA (2016) even if it has all those bells and whistles and is in the blu-ray format. Sadly any other versions of this Romanian film are only in the standard dvd format and don't have any english subtitles. You can find them at Amazon.es and Amazon.fr.

[apollo828]

Hi. My apologies for necroing this thread but I really don't know where else to go. Any chance somebody's willing to sell their copy, or knows how to get one? Carturesti says they're sold out, and there don't appear to be any other shops selling it. A quick look at Amazon and eBay doesn't turn anything up. There's a Mexican Blu but it has only Spanish subs, and I'm guessing it'll be a single-layer disc. (That and no book and snazzy packaging, obviously.)

Thanks!

[fait]

Originally Posted by apollo828

Hi. My apologies for necroing this thread but I really don't know where else to go. Any chance somebody's willing to sell their copy, or knows how to get one? Carturesti says they're sold out, and there don't appear to be any other shops selling it. A quick look at Amazon and eBay doesn't turn anything up. There's a Mexican Blu but it has only Spanish subs, and I'm guessing it'll be a single-layer disc. (That and no book and snazzy packaging, obviously.)

Thanks!

This is still available in combination with Puiu's Aurora from Carturesti. If you're only interested in Sieranevada feel free to contact me, perhaps I might be willing to sell my copy.

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by fait

This is still available in combination with Puiu's Aurora from Carturesti. If you're only interested in Sieranevada feel free to contact me, perhaps I might be willing to sell my copy.

Wow, thanks for this. I did get Sieranevada at the time of release, but I had no idea that Mandragora released Aurora back in 2018!

I will create a thread for the release now.

[fait]

Quite welcome. If anyone is interested I can provide screenshots/BDInfo one of these days, but basically both releases have DD 2.0 at 448kb/s with optional English and French subtitles. There are no extras on either disc if I remember correctly.
One of the accompanying books had a handwritten note at the beginning (I think this was the one for Sieranevada) and the other one a piece of film strip.
The package price of 300 lei is not too bad considering Sieranevada alone went for 239 lei.

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by fait

Quite welcome. If anyone is interested I can provide screenshots/BDInfo one of these days, but basically both releases have DD 2.0 at 448kb/s with optional English and French subtitles. There are no extras on either disc if I remember correctly.
One of the accompanying books had a handwritten note at the beginning (I think this was the one for Sieranevada) and the other one a piece of film strip.
The package price of 300 lei is not too bad considering Sieranevada alone went for 239 lei.

Yes, I probably should have bought the bundle since it was only 50 lei more than buying Aurora on its own, but on the other hand, these are extremely limited Blu-rays, with Sieranevada limited to 979 pieces and the subsequent release of Aurora limited to just 300 (!) pieces, so I don't want to take a copy away from someone else, even if both films must be selling quite slowly to still be available.

[apollo828]

Originally Posted by fait

One of the accompanying books had a handwritten note at the beginning (I think this was the one for Sieranevada) and the other one a piece of film strip.

"Sieranevada" has the handwritten note and "Aurora" has the 35 mm film strip (eight frames).

Anyway, thanks for the info! Wish I had known about the set before I ordered "Aurora" recently. Oh well. I'll hold off on selling my current copy until the set arrives, on the off chance that they've done something wacky with the set.

[fait]

Originally Posted by apollo828

I'll hold off on selling my current copy until the set arrives, on the off chance that they've done something wacky with the set.

There's nothing "wacky" apart from the aforementioned goodies, the set is just the two books shrink-wrapped together.

[apollo828]

Originally Posted by fait

There's nothing "wacky" apart from the aforementioned goodies, the set is just the two books shrink-wrapped together.

I thought so. Thanks for confirming. Will have to see about selling my spare copy of "Aurora" but that's neither here nor there.

[apollo828]

Hi. Just received the Aurora/Sieranevada 2-pack. As somebody else mentioned, it's just the two sets shrinkwrapped together, with stickers for this year's TIFF. I guess the set was sold at TIFF, with Carturesti selling off the remaining stock. So, if you want a copy of "Sieranevada" and don't want to gamble with the Mexican Blu (Spanish subs only), this may be your last chance short of lucking out on eBay.

By the way, I'll put it up for sale elsewhere if necessary (haven't sold anything on this forum yet), but if anybody wants my spare "Aurora," get in touch. I'll sell it for $40 + shipping, which is approximately the price of the film in the set (with shipping outside Romania). It has been opened but has only been played once. The film strip is included. Thanks!

EDIT: By the way, if anybody orders from Carturesti, here's a tip. If you order on a regular computer, PayU (the credit card processor) charges your card in your local currency, or possibly just US dollars. (There may be a way to switch to lei (the Romanian currency) but I didn't see options.) If you order on your cell phone, they charge you in lei. I haven't done a direct comparison but PayU presumably charges a currency conversion fee. If your credit card charges no or small currency conversion fees, you may be best off placing the order on your cell phone.

[jwf]

If it sweetens the deal for anyone, code QYZPRWZ3 just got me 15% off this set at Carturesti.

[apollo828]

Damn! Wish I had known before I ordered the "Sieranevada" photo book! Oh well. (To add insult to injury, it's been several days and it's still stuck in Bucharest.)

[jwf]

Strange, I'm in the UK and Carturesti always send DHL to me - ordered this on Monday night, estimated delivery this Friday according to DHL.

Saying that, my Romanian friend never expects anything I order to actually turn up!

[apollo828]

Yeah, they use DHL. Usually, DHL moves quickly, but this package got held up for something like three business days. Really weird. Oh well. At least it's on its way now.

EDIT: Got the book. Nice little hardcover photo book, with an interview with Puiu. It's a dual-language book (Romanian / English) with a lot of photos. The text is different from the one included with the Blu-Ray. Fans of the film may want to consider tracking down the book.

[apollo828]

Hi. Got the Mexican Blu today. (Didn't think I'd be able to get a copy of the Romanian disc.) Gave it a quick spin. It is dual-layer, thankfully, but the video looked a bit off to me. It's hard to describe. It seemed like maybe the odd frame was somehow missing. I'll try to watch again on my proper home setup and not on my laptop, which is usually fine but has given me the odd false positive on occasion.

FYI, the Mexican disc has DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio, which appears to be the original audio mix. It looks like the Romanian Blu fell victim to bad authoring that caused it to end up being just 2.0 audio. The only extra is a photo gallery.