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Absolutely amazing, what a dream come true. This must be the most important box set release since Murnau-Borzage-Fox. Probably it'll be equally expensive, but with most of 2012 to go, we can all begin to save for it right now.

Yes, amazing news. Hopefully the work being done here is up to MoC standards, if you all catch my drift.

Drift caught, but this is going to be a set of at least six or seven discs, and somehow I doubt that MoC will bring it over to the UK in its entirety.

Tommaso wrote:Drift caught, but this is going to be a set of at least six or seven discs, and somehow I doubt that MoC will bring it over to the UK in its entirety.

In which case, what's the likelihood of English subs from this label? I'm unfamiliar with their track record.

Tommaso wrote:Drift caught, but this is going to be a set of at least six or seven discs, and somehow I doubt that MoC will bring it over to the UK in its entirety.

That's why I shouted Eureka

Perkins Cobb wrote:In which case, what's the likelihood of English subs from this label? I'm unfamiliar with their track record.

Hard to say. Theirs is a very eclectic mixed bag with Angelopoulos Tarkovsky Sokurov as well as Brown Bunny, Melancholia and Liverpool on the slate. It will all depend on who else is in the pool. If no-one else jumps in they could well provide english subs like they did,I think, with the box set from Lisandro Alonso, except for Liverpool which may have been because of Second run's involvement.

Yes, the good news about Potemkine is that they're not averse to English subtitles (see also their Rozier set), but the bad news is that, like Second Run, they seem to go with available transfers, which can be extremely variable. What they come up with for Epstein will be interesting to see. There is, at least, an exquisite source for Finis Terrae. Whatever the transfer quality, this is going to be an essential, and long overdue, set.

(And if I were a gambling man, I'd lay odds on Finis Terrae being the best bet for an eventual MoC Blu, seeing as there's a great HD source and ready-made extras in the form of the Breton shorts - plus the photogenic subject matter is a decent selling point. Who wouldn't want to watch enormous waves crashing on rocky shores in HD?)

The Cinémathèque française has already made DVDs (not commercialy available) of Mor-vran, l'Or des Mers and Lion des Moghols, my guess is Potemkine are going to use those as is. I've seen the 1st 2 (on a small tv screen) and they looked OK, but that's a non-expert opinion...

zedz wrote:Yes, the good news about Potemkine is that they're not averse to English subtitles (see also their Rozier set), but the bad news is that, like Second Run, they seem to go with available transfers, which can be extremely variable. What they come up with for Epstein will be interesting to see. There is, at least, an exquisite source for Finis Terrae. Whatever the transfer quality, this is going to be an essential, and long overdue, set.

(And if I were a gambling man, I'd lay odds on Finis Terrae being the best bet for an eventual MoC Blu, seeing as there's a great HD source and ready-made extras in the form of the Breton shorts - plus the photogenic subject matter is a decent selling point. Who wouldn't want to watch enormous waves crashing on rocky shores in HD?)

Finis confirmed by Gaumont for a stand alone release in October regardless whether it makes it into the Potemkine box or not. No mention of a possible Blu release though.

Fantastic news that Finis terrae won't be in the Potemkine box, since that will presumably leave room for further, even harder-to-see films.

Brace yourselves for some earth-shaking news: Anthology Film Archives is going to host a complete Epstein silents series in June, with nearly every film a fresh restoration straight from the Cinematheque Francaise. To follow in September: the sound films. You can find more details in their latest print calender, though the website hasn't been fully updated yet.

I haven't been this excited for a series since Film Forum's Bresson became (near) complete.

Holy Epstanoli!!! Thats beautiful news. . . good lookin out Ferdy, I've never had the opportunity to see anything by Epstein on the big screen, so talk about going from famine to feast!

I can say that you'll all be delighted by the condition that Epstein's films exist in. They've been preserved for the most part in sparkling condition. This probably has a lot to do with the fact that from the very beginning following his Pasteur biopic Ep made his films under the ageis of his own production company; whenever a silent film artist had his own co-like Chaplin, like Harold Lloyd- their oevre seems to come to us intact and in great condition. Obviously the artist himself is more likely to care for his artwork more carefully than a scattered mix of distributors and studios that a for-hire director typically works for. . .and forces us to rely on when assembling a collection for retrospective posterity.

Obviously as we move into the sound era the studios are far more reliable sources.

and the hits just keep a comin'..
Here's a pdf file of essays on and translations of the man lui-meme.
http://dare.uva.nl/document/357783" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

^^^Hah! I was just rummaging through that collection and transferring it onto my new HTC One and thought "Hmmmm.... I wonder if the crew at the forum ever threw this up there-- and sure enough there it is.

Those who are even remotely interested in the works or the man, should seriously pursue this grand labor of love. It is truly wondrous and a goodly portions of the reflections on Epstein are worth your time. But of course the golden nuggets are the translation of Epstein's written works on the subject of cinema. Epstein was a complete, and authentic artist--complete as in, one can observe that his very thinking itself was so completely original whereby the inside of his head was well nigh a work of art in itself . . . thus anything that is a reflection of that interior is going to be a work of art. His works--films, essays-- simply fragments of the larger work of art residing within his head that we never got to see. But they bring us closer to that grand expanse by bringing us closer to the man and the manner of his thinking.

If you haven't been to Nabob's linked page above, do indeed go! or start here to be generally introduced.

Newly translated Jean Epstein essay collection from Amsterdam University Press on shelves, ready for order and free PDF download

With Spring comes an exciting new release from our partners at Amsterdam University Press, part of Permanent Seminar’s book series, “Film Theory in Media History.” Jean Epstein: New Translations and Critical Essays, a sparkling collection edited by Sarah Keller and Jason Paul, can now be found on UK bookshelves (July 15th for the Americas), and may also be ordered direct from the source at the AUP website, here.

In the spirit of online sharing, AUP would also like to make it known that the Epstein collection is available for free PDF download here.

Cinéa, 1921

Nice typography. I like how there's six circles, each with four divisions. Six times four equals 24, the number of frames in a second of moving film. Coincidence?

Probably a coincidence, since 24 FPS wasn't the norm in 1921.

Right. I hadn't thought of that. The circles were probably created using type case shapes (accounting for the gaps), I'm guessing. It reminded me of Alvin Lustig's typographic designs of the '30s and '40s, which is primarily why I commented. I didn't realize people were setting type like that before him.

Epstein's book Bonjour cinéma is full of eccentric coups of typesetting and layout like that. I believe I read something recently about a reissue of that book with its original design, but now I can't seem to find a reference to it.

http://www.1kult.com/2013/07/04/dvd-pot ... s-epstein/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Presumably Potemkine is on schedule with the 2014 deadline.

I've just noticed that Potemkine have now got a more precise date for the Epstein coffret of May 2014.

They only have one batch of releases lined up before that (for March), and the Epstein is accompanied by (the presumably locked in) Nymphomaniacs, so this looks like an honest to God firm deadline! (By comparison, the Alan Clarke boxset is only a vague "a suivre").

I assume there's no word on subtitles on the Epstein set? I can read/listen to French, but I might want to show these to other folks.

I hope Gaumont has plans to release Finis terrae on Blu-Ray, since we know there is a gorgeous HD transfer out and about.

zedz wrote:I've just noticed that Potemkine have now got a more precise date for the Epstein coffret of May 2014.

They only have one batch of releases lined up before that (for March), and the Epstein is accompanied by (the presumably locked in) Nymphomaniacs, so this looks like an honest to God firm deadline! (By comparison, the Alan Clarke boxset is only a vague "a suivre").

Good news; where did you find this out?

It's up on their website under forthcoming releases.

zedz wrote:It's up on their website under forthcoming releases.

Thanks. I had their site set to English which hasn't been updated but eventually found the announcement after switching to French.

COFFRET DVD JEAN EPSTEIN, LE CINÉMA EN TÊTE

Co-published with Potemkin Movies
First 14 films of Jean Epstein, mostly unreleased on DVD.

The complete set will include three thematic boxes:

• The Albatros Productions (1924-1925): Le Lion des Mogols, Le Double amour et Les Aventures de Robert Macaire
• Productions Jean Epstein (1926-1928): Mauprat, La Glace à trois faces, La Chute de la maison Usher et Six et demi, onze
• The Breton movies (1929-1948): Mor-Vran, Les Berceaux, L’Or des mers, Chanson d’Ar-Mor, Le Tempestaire (droits Béatrice Costantini/Films du Trident) et Les Feux de la mer (droits Les Documents cinématographiques) et Finis Terrae (droits Gaumont).

Many of the films have been restored in HD and the silent films will be accompanied by unpublished original compositions signed by Aufgang, Karol Beffa, Neil Brand, Stephen Horne, Joakim, Krikor, Mathieu Regnault, Gabriel Thibaudeau (played by Octet France).

Supplements: the new documentary Jean Epstein, young oceans of cinema James June Schneider (co-produced by the French Cinematheque in 2011), presentations, unpublished interviews and an illustrated booklet.

Credit: http://www.cinematheque.fr" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;