Camera Obscura: The Walerian Borowczyk Collection

[EddieLarkin]

I am eagerly anticipating confirmation of exactly what will be included. This has quickly become one of my most anticipated releases ever, though mainly due to the fact that I know it's in the best hands, rather than anything to do with Borowczyk, who I'm still largely unfamiliar with (much like with Zulawski and the Mondo sets, I can't wait to change this).

Arrow seem to have shored up some of the best talent in the business, and if they keep doing what they're doing, I wouldn't be surprised to see them come out of 2014 recognised as the UK's premiere label.

[zedz]

Although I can probably reveal the production credits now:

Producers: Daniel Bird, Michael Brooke
Executive Producer: Francesco Simeoni
Technical Supervisor: James White
Blu-ray Mastering: David Mackenzie

Two of the above (MB/JW) worked on all four of the BFI's Quay Brothers and Jan Švankmajer packages (shorts, Institute Benjamenta, Alice), while two more (DB/DM) worked on Second Sight's The Colour of Pomegranates and Possession and Mondo Vision's Andrzej Żuławski releases. So if you're happy with how those turned out, I doubt you'll have any complaints here.

Also, in this particular case, the "technical supervisor" credit means that the vast majority of the transfers are James White originals - of necessity, since there were no usable video masters of most of these titles. (At best we're talking analogue videotape that could be as much as three decades old, at worst nothing at all).

Plus, we can hassle them right here if anything goes wrong!

I'm delighted that the bat is finally out of the crag about this box set. If it's not the release of the year in 2014 I'd be hugely surprised and utterly delighted.

[_shadow_]

Since we're still anticipating the official announcement, I wanted to say I hope "Blanche" will be a part of this set. It doesn't seem to be talked up as much as "The Beast" or "Immoral Tales", but it has some amazing visuals and an incredibly bleak presentation of medieval tragedy.

[swo17]

Blanche will definitely be included.

[jindianajonz]

Well, I've finally been convinced to go region free...

[David M.]

This has quickly become one of my most anticipated releases ever, though mainly due to the fact that I know it's in the best hands, rather than anything to do with Borowczyk, who I'm still largely unfamiliar with (much like with Zulawski and the Mondo sets, I can't wait to change this).

Funny you should mention Zulawski and Mondo Vision. I am also encoding and authoring this set for Arrow.

Edit: I see Michael already posted this!

[EddieLarkin]

You seem to be involved in so many key releases David. I trust your work completely and considering so many of Arrow's releases from the bad old days suffered from compression/encoding issues, I think you deserve credit in helping turn them around this year.

[MichaelB]

There really shouldn't be any encoding/compression problems with these titles - with the vast majority the workflow will be:

original film materials -> James White/Deluxe 2K scan and restoration -> David Mackenzie encoding -> final Blu-ray

Although it's the most expensive way of doing it (unavoidably here, given that the alternative in many cases is VHS-quality upscales), the great advantage is that Arrow maintains complete control over the entire process, and everything's geared towards their final BD as the end product.

[mistakaninja]

Are there expected to be any BBFC issues with any titles in the set?

[MichaelB]

Are there expected to be any BBFC issues with any titles in the set?

No. Most of the films won't even get 18s.

[kidc85]

The existing UK DVDs are uncut, so as long as nobody informs the Daily Mail about this filth, we should be fine.

Really big shame about JEKYLL but this set sounds like it could be very interesting (particularly for the ability to watch BETE in the context of his other works).

[jsteffe]

There really shouldn't be any encoding/compression problems with these titles - with the vast majority the workflow will be:

original film materials -> James White/Deluxe 2K scan and restoration -> David Mackenzie encoding -> final Blu-ray

In the strong likelihood that it does turn out to be a Borowczyk box set, this whole scenario is dream come true!

I'll go so far as to say that Blanche is one of the unsung masterpieces of European cinema.

[Anthony Thorne]

I'm curious if we'll see any more features in the box other than BLANCHE, THE BEAST and IMMORAL TALES, as he obviously directed more than those (even beyond the absent DR JECKYLL). I guess we'll know more shortly.

I saw BLANCHE at a Melbourne Cinemateque screening two decades ago and have never forgotten it. A very delicate, beguiling and haunting piece of cinema.

[swo17]

Maybe I'm totally offbase, but I got the impression from that article that revealed Arrow were working on this set that a big part of the project was restoring the earlier works, and that the whole idea of "changing opinion on this misunderstood director" might mean a focus on these earlier, less/non sexually explicit works. So presumably big titles like The Beast will still be here, but I might expect the set to be dominated more by films in the proto-Quay mold.

[MichaelB]

Arrow has said that there will be several world video premieres - and all the post-1974 features and even the majority of the post-1974 shorts have come out on video in some form. Even the elusive Dr Jekyll had several VHS editions.

So I don't think you need a pipe and deerstalker to put two and two together here.

[Aunt Peg]

I am very much looking forward this this box set. Aside from the already mentioned Blanche I am really hoping for Lulu & La Margin. Shame that Dr Jekyll is highly unlikely, but I'll take what I can get.

[Calvin]

From Blu-Ray.com:

Independent British distributors Arrow Video have revealed that they are preparing a box set of films directed by Polish filmmaker Walerian Borowczyk. The box set is to be released as part of the Arrow Academy series in Spring 2014.

The box set will contain new restorations of Contes immoraux (Immoral Tales, 1974) and La Bête (The Beast, 1975), as well as five more short films.

Acclaimed director Terry Gilliam is also fronting a Kickstarter campaign to restore Borowczyk's classic 1968 film Goto, l'île d'amour (Goto, Island of Love). Speaking about the Polish artist and filmmaker's work Gilliam noted: "They activate a part of my brain that very few other things do…I haven't seen any of these films in probably thirty or forty years, but they all have stuck with me. He needs to be restored and the world needs to be reminded."

Until now the majority of Borowczyk's early films have been unavailable. However, earlier this year writer, documentary filmmaker and producer of the upcoming box set Daniel Bird secured the permission of his widow Ligia Borowczyk to restore nine short films and two feature films, including Le théâtre de Monsieur & Madame Kabal (The Theatre of Mr and Mrs Kabal, 1967) and Blanche (1971).

The restorations were completed at Deluxe laboratories, London, under the supervision of leading film restorer James White. This will be the first time that many of these films will be available in any home video format in any territory.

Born in Poland in 1923, where he studied painting and sculpture before establishing himself as a poster artist during the late 1950s, Borowczyk emigrated to France in 1959 where he lived and worked for the rest of his life. With films such as Renaissance (1963) and Rosalie (1966), Borowczyk played a major part in getting animated film recognized as a serious art form.

I'm guessing that Goto won't be a Spring 2014 release if the Kickstarter hasn't began yet?

[EddieLarkin]

So, are we getting Contes immoraux and La Bête plus 5 short films, or are we getting Le théâtre de Monsieur & Madame Kabal and Blanche plus 9 short films? Or both?! They're not very clear.

[MichaelB]

The press release I helped draft was a lot clearer than that!

Anyway, the answer is "both" - Arrow funded the restoration of two features and nine shorts, while Argos is supplying two more features and five more shorts. And since Goto will be included as well, we're talking a minimum of five features and fourteen shorts, comprising pretty much everything from the 1959-75 period (i.e. Les Astronautes to The Beast inclusive) and three more shorts thereafter. And the bulk of this will be presented in HD, including four of the features.

Goto is currently the exception, but if the Kickstarter campaign (to go live this week) pays dividends it too will get the HD treatment. And yes, the timescale is perfectly realistic - this won't be a Manos: The Hands of Fate situation! Provided all the materials are available upfront (which is the case here), these things take weeks, not months - in fact, since James White already has eleven Borowczyk restorations under his belt (including two features), he probably has a better idea of how long this will take than anyone!

Oh, and if you want a sneak preview of the HD restoration of Blanche, the BFI's latest Flipside release Schalcken the Painter features a four-minute illustrated eulogy to the film, which was the single biggest visual and conceptual influence on director Leslie Megahey. In fact, that's one of the reasons Arrow is announcing their plans now, because they're credited as the source of the clips, and so it would all have come out in the open soon anyway. In fact, I'm quite surprised that none of the reviewers have spotted it thus far - Mondo Digital mentions the Borowczyk influence but otherwise failed to put two and two together.

As for the stuff not in the box set and otherwise unavailable even on DVD, Arrow would dearly love to do Dr Jekyll, but the rightsholder simply won't play ball - believe me, efforts have been made! And the Polish films (half a dozen surviving shorts, The Story of Sin) were considered, but they badly need restoration, and there's a possibility that they might get one, so it made sense to wait. Arrow hasn't ruled out a follow-up "Polish Borowczyk" single-disc release, although of course this will depend on how well the confirmed releases sell.

[EddieLarkin]

5 films and 14 shorts in one boxset?! Or will it be a smaller box set plus later releases down the line? Either way, incredibly pleased with this, and I'll be sure to contribute to the Kickstarter and help spread the word.

[MichaelB]

It'll be a single big box set at first, with (I think) four separate releases thereafter, although the precise composition of the individual discs is still being worked out - there are tons of extras, some of them pretty hefty, so it's quite a complicated process.

And the Kickstarter should be pretty attractive - the option that will probably be most popular is one to effectively preorder the box set at less than the final RRP, in exchange for having to pony up the cash six months in advance.

[EddieLarkin]

[swo17]

Goto is actually the only film of his I've seen (aside from a few shorts) but it made enough of an impression to compel me to donate irrational amounts of money to this Kickstarter.

[colinr0380]

Wonderful news! It is likely much too early too say but I am curious as to whether the 100 minutes of silent behind the scenes footage from The Beast (included in the Cult Epics Region 1 DVD back in 2004 along with director biography and interview footage) will be included in this new set.

Apropos of nothing, I seem to remember when the BBC did their Forbidden Weekend programme about censorship back in 1995 that Jarvis Cocker did one of the 5 minute "Talking X's" shorts that asked celebrities for the first X-rated film that they had seen and he waxed lyrical about The Beast.

[MichaelB]

There is a passing possibility that the esteemed Mr Cocker might be putting in an appearance.