British Film Institute (BFI) Discussion Thread

[rossbirks]

Originally Posted by rapta

I wrote on the Eureka thread about Julie Dash's Daughters of the Dust, and apparently BFI are re-releasing it in cinemas followed by a Dual Format Edition in June.

Excellent! I've heard a lot of great things about this movie since its recent restoration and re-release in the States. Glad we'll have a chance to see it on our shores.

[rapta]

Was discussing African cinema in another thread the other day, and thought it might be relevant to post here: Scorsese's World Cinema Project, UNESCO, and the Pan-African Federation of Filmmakers have set up a African Film Heritage Project in an effort to specifically restore and preserve African films, with 50 titles to be hand-picked and carefully restored.

Could lead to some exciting revelations, with potentially some better-known titles from West and North Africa arriving first, but hopefully some rarer gems will be rediscovered - and some may eventually appear on Blu-ray, as with Sembène's Black Girl/Borom Sarret.

More info here: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-s...cinema_projec/

[Foggy]

Wouldn't mind Killer of Sheep, perhaps too recent to be included in a box set, by certainly something BFI would release standalone.

[rapta]

Originally Posted by Foggy

Wouldn't mind Killer of Sheep, perhaps too recent to be included in a box set, by certainly something BFI would release standalone.

I'd love that too at some point (as well as My Brother's Wedding), but last I checked it's not an African film...

[Yami]

Fantastic news. I've seen a few fantastic African films (the ones featured in A Story of Film) and I'd love to see them - and others - restored.

[rapta]

Nick Wrigley posted some photos of the Brocka set on Twitter:





Is it just me or does it look like they've used a hard outer box? That would obviously make this an even nicer package, and even push me to consider getting it sooner.

PS: they didn't need to put the big silver banner across the top though, as well as a sticker telling people it's Dual Format. Oh well!

[CrockettandTubbs]

dvdbeaver link:

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film6/blu-r...ms_blu-ray.htm

Must get this at some point: next payday perhaps?

[Knaldskalle]

Originally Posted by CrockettandTubbs

dvdbeaver link:

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film6/blu-r...ms_blu-ray.htm

Must get this at some point: next payday perhaps?

Hmm... My memory may well be playing tricks with me, but I remember the Manila in the Claws of Light as being "warmer". I saw a beat-up print some years ago at the Pacific Film Archives in Berkeley (supplied by the BFI, btw) and was told that the negative was in a bad shape. The screencaps look fine in terms of detail, but the coloring seems too "cold" to me. It should be closer to what Insiang looks like, at least if my recollection is correct (again - it may not be, memory is a funny thing).

Nevertheless, I'm glad to see these are out there and available.

[nitin]

Base has the Brocka set for 25.99, cheaper than Amazon (and HMV) and for international customers it works out to 23.34!

[OceanBlue]

I didn't know about A Cool Sound from Hell until recently, when I saw on the website for the Glasgow Film Festival that it was being screened there. I don't know how accurate this is, but I read on the film's IMDb trivia page that it was found in the BFI vaults a few years ago.

[Fnord Prefect]

Looks like a niche release even for BFI but Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask has finally dropped to £10.99 (postpaid in UK) on HMV.com:

http://store.hmv.com/film-tv/dvd/fra...in,-white-mask

EDIT: Just went to order this and noticed the release date hasn't been updated for this release. It isn't out of stock, it was put back to 27th March (one week Monday)

[SilverBlueSnow]

Rossellini War Trilogy is now OOP. Few copies left on amazon uk - those who dont have it get it now!

[Bruce Morrison]

Originally Posted by rapta

Shame they couldn't release any Scorsese on Blu-ray, but I'm hoping Criterion will release the newly restored The Age of Innocence later in the year (even though Alice would've been preferable, in my opinion).

I must have missed this. I was expecting Alice to be released today, but I just checked on Amazon and, yes, it's now shown as unavailable.

What was the story here? Did BFI run into a rights issue?

Incidentally, I have a South Korean Blu-ray of 'The Age Of Innocence', which seems a very nice transfer to my eyes (although I don't pretend to be an expert on transfers!).

[mattyl149]

Originally Posted by Bruce Morrison

I must have missed this. I was expecting Alice to be released today, but I just checked on Amazon and, yes, it's now shown as unavailable.

What was the story here? Did BFI run into a rights issue?

Incidentally, I have a South Korean Blu-ray of 'The Age Of Innocence', which seems a very nice transfer to my eyes (although I don't pretend to be an expert on transfers!).

The DVDs have been pushed back to next week

I don't know why they aren't doing Blu-ray's, but I'll pick the DVDs up as I don't own these films. I just need a UK friendly release of After Hours now (the only one I can see being in a DVD boxset)

[PaperThinWalls]

Originally Posted by Bruce Morrison

I must have missed this. I was expecting Alice to be released today, but I just checked on Amazon and, yes, it's now shown as unavailable.

What was the story here? Did BFI run into a rights issue?

No HD masters currently.

[dumb_dutchman]

Originally Posted by SilverBlueSnow

Rossellini War Trilogy is now OOP. Few copies left on amazon uk - those who dont have it get it now!

Glad I picked this up recently. I'm really surprised this didn't sell out sooner with all the hype it had at release.

At the moment, the "lowest price" seller on AMZ has it for 30 pounds, but does not ship to the U.S. The next lowest option is offering the set for 50 pounds. So, to ship to the states it is going to set you back about $68 with shipping.

[rapta]

Originally Posted by SilverBlueSnow

Rossellini War Trilogy is now OOP. Few copies left on amazon uk - those who dont have it get it now!

Wow, really? Do we know this for sure or are they just slow at restocking places? I remember there was a scare last year when it looked like some titles were OOP but actually they just hadn't been restocked.

Originally Posted by Bruce Morrison

I must have missed this. I was expecting Alice to be released today, but I just checked on Amazon and, yes, it's now shown as unavailable.

What was the story here? Did BFI run into a rights issue?

Incidentally, I have a South Korean Blu-ray of 'The Age Of Innocence', which seems a very nice transfer to my eyes (although I don't pretend to be an expert on transfers!).

Masters arrived with BFI and were not HD-friendly, so they cancelled the Dual Format and made it DVD-only. Shame, would've obviously been Blu-ray debuts for both Alice and Who's That Knocking At My Door, but Warner Bros don't seem to care enough about these two to restore either of them...maybe in a few years we'll see them change their mind.

[CrockettandTubbs]

Originally Posted by rapta

Wow, really? Do we know this for sure or are they just slow at restocking places? I remember there was a scare last year when it looked like some titles were OOP but actually they just hadn't been restocked.

I got mine (the Rosselini War Trilogy) from moviemail.com a while ago with points.

They don't exist anymore (sort of), except under:

https://www.simplyhe.com/

And the free delivery has gone up to £33!

They should just give up now.

Saw Zavvi have these for £12.99:





Any chance these'll be upgraded anytime, or is it best to get these dvds?

Great value, though.

[Yami]

Originally Posted by CrockettandTubbs

Any chance these'll be upgraded anytime, or is it best to get these dvds?

Great value, though.

No chance

[Darby1985]

Originally Posted by rapta

Wow, really? Do we know this for sure or are they just slow at restocking places? I remember there was a scare last year when it looked like some titles were OOP but actually they just hadn't been restocked.

It's a numbered limited run of 3000. It's been out for 2 years now so I'd say it's probably really OOP. Selling that many over 24 months isn't a stretch. The Bergman box came out just a few months later, so may not be too far behind.