Camera Obscura: The Walerian Borowczyk Collection

[olmo]

I have a very dumb question that I'm simply to lazy to scour this entire thread for an answer to: is this box set still available for sale?

http://www.moviemail.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; seems to be the only outlet at £119.99.

[SonOfRambow]

I have a very dumb question that I'm simply to lazy to scour this entire thread for an answer to: is this box set still available for sale?

Zavvi still have plenty of copies available, of which I've been assured by them they will definitely receive. £10 cheaper than Moviemail too.
Link: http://www.zavvi.com/blu-ray/borowczyk- ... 79498.html

Besides, as backup there are still the individual releases which are identical to the ones in the box. You will only be missing out on a chunk of the book.

Let's see...

Add up the cost of individual releases(£14 each) = £70
Cost of box set = £110
Difference = £40

The question is, is the extra £40 worth it for Borowczyk's Short stories, dictionary and essays/articles written by experts?
Maybe...maybe not...

Although, it does seem a bit steep..

L

[olmo]

I wouldn't be too dismissive of the book, it's very much sought after. I think (I'm no expert by any stretch) principally for the English translation of Borowczyk's 'Anatomy of the Devil' collection of short stories, which is very hard to come by otherwise.

[olmo]

Hi Michael, I've come across a short Borowczyk made in 1979 entitled 'Jouet Joyeux' ('Toy Merry' I think), I was wondering on the reason of it's omission from the Camera Obscura collection. It seems it was made around the same time of Heroines of Evil, so could it possibly have been a licensing issue?

Have you seen it?

[scubadonc]

Add up the cost of individual releases(£14 each) = £70
Cost of box set = £110
Difference = £40

The question is, is the extra £40 worth it for Borowczyk's Short stories, dictionary and essays/articles written by experts?

To be fair, a lot of people, whether on Kickstarter or with early pre-orders, paid around £70 for the box. But these late pre-order prices could make a person question the benefit of the boxset.

[dbird]

Hi Olmo,

Jouet Joyeux was indeed produced by the same production company that produced Les héroïnes du mal.

Les Films du Jeudi allowed me to screen the film as part of a presentation I did on Boro and silent cinema at the BFI in May, although currently there is currently no HD master.

For your information the film is based on Reynaud's praxinoscope strips.

It was photographed by Jerzy Kular, who has since made a name for himself in computer animation.

Boro's assistant was Sarah Mallinson, who was Peter Foldes' partner and collaborator on several films during the 60s and 70s - she also assisted Piet Bolscher make the Moulin Rouge costumes for Boro's L'Armoire (also produced by Les films du jeudi) and Robbe-Grillet's La Belle Captive.

It is only 3 minutes long, but well worth looking out for.

best,

Daniel

[tenia]

I pre ordered mine on Amazon and it's locked for now at £78 shipping fees to France included.
But in the present case, with the price going up already as scubadonc wrote, it's not the same situation to buy it.

[olmo]

Thanks a lot for the info Daniel, I will definitely will be seeking it out, though it sounds pretty much the proverbial hens teeth to find. You've given me something to go on at least.

The link (however tenuous) with Robbe-Grillet has made me even more eager to see it.

Thanks again.

[SonOfRambow]

A few months ago the boxset was course very reasonably priced, although it's just a shame that they've now raised the price so high due to it's high demand.
So yeah, back then, definitely get the box, but now, it's very questionable.

Another thing to keep in mind is the huge awareness there is now of Borowczyk which may lead to Anatomy of the Devil being published in the near future and hopefully some books and biographies on him, which sounds plausible as he's very unique and fascinating.

L

[jindianajonz]

A few months ago the boxset was course very reasonably priced, although it's just a shame that they've now raised the price so high due to it's high demand.

I don't think "they" raised anything; since it's a limited edition box, it makes sense that each retailer received limited quantities, and the cheapest ones sold out first.

[MichaelB]

I wouldn't be too dismissive of the book, it's very much sought after. I think (I'm no expert by any stretch) principally for the English translation of Borowczyk's 'Anatomy of the Devil' collection of short stories, which is very hard to come by otherwise.

It's currently impossible to come by in English outside Arrow's book.

The other big third-party piece (i.e. besides the complete Boro's Dictionary and my restoration chapter) that's unique to the book is Raymond Durgnat's Film Comment piece 'Borowczyk and the Cartoon Renaissance', which contains exhaustively detailed analyses of Renaissance, Dom and Les Jeux des Anges (obviously, I'm aware that Dom isn't in the box, but it's available elsewhere and I didn't want to cut the piece), and was just too long to fit into any of the booklets.

In fact, I ummed and aahed about including Philip Strick's similarly epic if not quite as lengthy 'The Theatre of Walerian Borowczyk' in the booklets as well, but decided that it might be a nice bonus for Kickstarter supporters who only backed Goto itself (which is why that film's individual booklet is a fair bit longer than the others).

Another thing to keep in mind is the huge awareness there is now of Borowczyk which may lead to Anatomy of the Devil being published in the near future and hopefully some books and biographies on him, which sounds plausible as he's very unique and fascinating.

Berghahn Books is publishing a collection of essays on Borowczyk (edited by Kamila Kuc and Kuba Mikurda) in the near future. Now that the more important half of Borowczyk's film career will be back in circulation as of next month (and with most of the later films comparatively easy to come by as well), I very much hope that this won't be the last.

[SonOfRambow]

Berghahn Books is publishing a collection of essays on Borowczyk (edited by Kamila Kuc and Kuba Mikurda) in the near future.

That's great news! Do happen to know when this will be released?
Also, would you say that it would be similar to the book included in the boxset? I.e. same essays, content?
Leaving out, of course, restoration, Boro's Dictionary and short stories, would this upcoming biography be more detailed or a more definitive account of Borowczyk's career?

Another question, do you know how many pages there are in the individual releases' booklets?
And if you have the booklets collected all together, would there be much repetition in content? E.g brief restoration process, overview of Borowczyk. Or is each booklet unique in content?

L

[MichaelB]

That's great news! Do happen to know when this will be released?

Googling suggests some time in 2015, which would make sense.

Also, would you say that it would be similar to the book included in the boxset? I.e. same essays, content?

Totally different, as far as I'm aware, unless they're planning to recycle some of the same archive content - but I think it's all new essays.

Leaving out, of course, restoration, Boro's Dictionary and short stories, would this upcoming biography be more detailed or a more definitive account of Borowczyk's career?

It's not a biography as far as I know - just a collection of critical essays by multiple contributors.

Another question, do you know how many pages there are in the individual releases' booklets?

28 for Blanche and Immoral Tales, 32 for the shorts and The Beast, 40 for Goto.

And if you have the booklets collected all together, would there be much repetition in content? E.g brief restoration process, overview of Borowczyk. Or is each booklet unique in content?

There's no repetition at all, apart from most of the production and thank-you credits at the end. Oh, and we recycled the same extract from the New Statesman's 1973 diatribe in reaction to the London Film Festival screening of Immoral Tales because it was relevant to both that and The Beast - although this is only a short paragraph.

I was very keen to avoid repetition, because I very much hope that people will buy more than one disc!

[kekid]

Like everyone else posting on this thread I applaud the effort that has gone into this set.
I am slightly disappointed by the fact that as a supporter of the project I have received no communication on it from Kickstarter.
They should have informed us of the delay in release date. I only found out about it from MichaelB in this thread.
I have no idea when to expect them to send out a communication on the firm release date, and request shipping addresses from supporters.
Since this is a limited edition set, logistics of distribution is quite important. I would appreciate any update on this.

[MichaelB]

A sneak preview of the book.

(And Kekid - you're not being ignored: there'll be a full statement released to Kickstarter backers when we know for certain when the final products are arriving. Which should definitely be before the final release date of September 8th and hopefully well before - despite the last-minute tweaks and delays, the manufacturing process is now well under way.)

[Fitzcarraldo555]

I have a very dumb question that I'm simply to lazy to scour this entire thread for an answer to: is this box set still available for sale?

Zavvi still have plenty of copies available, of which I've been assured by them they will definitely receive. £10 cheaper than Moviemail too.
Link: http://www.zavvi.com/blu-ray/borowczyk- ... 79498.html

Yes, that's right, I can confirm, by having checked with their stock team, that Zavvi still have box sets available. This is due to the fact that previously some buyers of this item had for some reason cancelled their pre-order around the time that Zavvi had removed this item from their website, because they had, back then, sold out. However because people had soon cancelled their pre-orders or had false account details, these box sets (or pre-order reservations) had become available. Therefore, as 'The Walerian Borowczyk Collection' was now available, Zavvi have re-listed this item on their site, yet raised the price due to it's limited availability.
http://www.zavvi.com/blu-ray/borowczyk- ... 79498.html

I wouldn't exactly say that they have 'plenty' available, they have 5 to be exact.

Considering this is the best price there is of this item at the moment, and Zavvi have a reliable pre-order promise service, I'd snatch one while you can.

[Ron]

Many thanks for the sneak preview of the book. It looks awesome!

[tenia]

Many thanks for the sneak preview of the book. It looks awesome!

It indeed looks freaking awesome !

[A]

I'm also delighted that everything is turning out so well and even better than could be expected at the time of the kickstarter campaign. Thanks for the many updates, links and general information on this thread, Michael!

[AidanKing]

The contents list for the book looks like a really interesting mix of new and archive pieces. Bearing in mind the fact that this box set has already sold out, I'm staggered by the amount of careful work that's continuing to go into this release. Some companies might easily have said there's enough already and it's to Arrow's (and particularly the producers') credit that this is shaping up to be such a definitive (and important) release. Thanks.

[tenia]

I think there is also a matter of pride behind this release.
Michael and James have stated this is one of (if not THE) the release they are the most proud of, I guess they want to ensure this will be a boxset they want to be the proudest ever of !

It also reminds the importance of having a human-scaled project for this type of titles, unlike some more "studios driven" releases (Warner, Universal, etc).

[MichaelB]

Daniel, James and I are quite proud of it, yes.

Or at least notionally: I've only seen the discs and a PDF of the book, not the final package - I suspect (and indeed hope) that mine will turn up on the same day as the Kickstarter backers' copies.

[MichaelB]

I'm not sure why this was sent as a PM, but the answer to the question:

Is Theatre of Mr & Mrs Kabal exclusive to the boxset?

...is "no, it's on Walerian Borowczyk: Short Films and Animation". In fact, the reversible sleeve of that disc highlights Theatre of Mr & Mrs Kabal.

The eleven discs in the box are absolutely identical to the eleven discs spread across the individual releases (three on Short Films and Animation, two on the others) - there's no exclusive video content anywhere.

[Ron]

I'm not sure why this was sent as a PM, but the answer to the question:

Is Theatre of Mr & Mrs Kabal exclusive to the boxset?

...is "no, it's on Walerian Borowczyk: Short Films and Animation". In fact, the reversible sleeve of that disc highlights Theatre of Mr & Mrs Kabal.

The eleven discs in the box are absolutely identical to the eleven discs spread across the individual releases (three on Short Films and Animation, two on the others) - there's no exclusive video content anywhere.

Three discs on Short Films and Animation? The individual disc release on Amazon UK only indicates two:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Walerian-Borowc ... +borowczyk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Anyway, does this mean that the short films are split on a third disc?

[MichaelB]

Three discs on Short Films and Animation? The individual disc release on Amazon UK only indicates two

One BD, two DVDs, with a DVD-5 for Theatre of Mr & Mrs Kabal and a DVD-9 for everything else (shorts and extras).