Alice (Jan Švankmajer, 1988)

[MichaelB]

Alice Blu-ray

The BFI's upcoming Dual Format release of Jan Švankmajer's Alice was announced by the film's executive producer Keith Griffiths at last night's London Film Festival screening of Švankmajer's Surviving Life.

At this stage, I can confirm that it will have the original Czech soundtrack, which has never previously been released in Britain (or the US, or indeed most other places) alongside the familiar English dub. The transfer will be sourced from a brand new HD telecine from the original 35mm interpositive, which was examined along with the original camera negative and judged the highest quality element available for transfer. The initial transfer was carried out in Prague under the supervision of both the BFI's James White and Švankmajer's long-term producer Jaromír Kallista, with additional picture grading and picture and sound restoration being carried out in London as we speak. The Czech audio came from the original mag tracks, and the English dub from Channel 4's materials.

It's still in the very early stages of development, so it won't be out until some time next year - and while I've certainly recommended various extras to the production team, I'd better not mention them here as there's no guarantee that they'll be available/affordable. But as soon as I have any more concrete info, I'll let you know.