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Black Sun



Gary Tarn's remarkable film Black Sun, winner of many international awards and co-produced by Alfonso Cuarón (Y tu mamá también, Children of Men) and John Battsek (One Day in September), tells the story of Hugues de Montalembert, a French artist and filmmaker living in New York, who was blinded during a violent assault in 1978.

With this portrait of an unique man and his extraordinary reaction to a life-changing trauma, Tarn has created an expressionist film whose power lies in visualising a world from the perspective of the blind de Montalembert. Part- survivor's testimony, part- philosophical meditation on the nature of perception, Black Sun is a celebration of life that makes us see the world anew.

Special Features
- Director approved digital transfer with restored image and sound.
- Anamorphic 16:9 enhanced for widescreen televisions.
- Booklet featuring a new essay by writer and curator Gareth Evans.

What A Disgrace wrote:Up for pre-order at Amazon.co.uk. Same date as Marketa Lazarova (November 12), lower price point (12.99).

This one's a really nice score by Second Run, yet another important film that nobody else will touch. I'll be picking this one up.

Thanks for your comments.

I am very happy we're releasing this film. I saw it when it was screened at the London Film Festival and then on it's limited release in the UK and I do think it's a special film. It's great to see films like this (and Palms) that carry on the tradition of bold filmmaking, which can be found in the earlier films we have released.

Watch this space for some events around the release of Black Sun.

BLACK SUN Screening
SUNDAY 2ND DECEMBER at 2.15PM

CURZON SOHO CINEMA

BLACK SUN
A film by Gary Tarn
UK, 2005
(Second Run DVD 032)

'...one of the most remarkable British films to appear for a long time. Scratch that: it's one of the boldest, most beautiful and haunting films to have appeared from anywhere...An extraordinary evocation...' - Sukhdev Sandhu, Daily Telegraph

'Rarely have the concepts of identity, memory, faith and hope been explored with such poetic courage' - David Parkinson, Empire ****

'A poetic, sensitive and beautifully shot meditation on a triumphant life without vision' - Evening Standard

We are delighted that director Gary Tarn will attend this screening to introduce his film and do a Q+A onstage following the screening.

Gary Tarn's remarkable film BLACK SUN, nominated for a BAFTA and presented and produced by Alfonso Cuarón (Y tu mamá también, Children of Men) and John Battsek (One Day in September), tells the story of Hugues de Montalembert, a French artist and filmmaker living in New York, who was blinded during a violent assault in 1978.

In telling the story of this unique man and his extraordinary reaction to a life-changing trauma, Tarn has created an expressionist film whose power lies in visualising a world from the perspective of the blind de Montalembert.

Part- survivor's testimony, part- philosophical meditation on the nature of perception, BLACK SUN is a celebration of life that makes us see the world anew.

This semester I'm teaching Rutgers' freshman writing course, and one of the articles we're reading is Oliver Sacks' "The Mind's Eye: What the Blind See" (from The New Yorker, 7/28/03). Anybody interested in this film should read that article as well; Sacks is a brilliant writer, and although I haven't yet seen Black Sun, I think the two will complement each other nicely.

Once I get this dvd, I'm screening it for my classes. The annoying thing is that the classrooms in which I teach only have R1/NTSC dvd players, so I have to locate/reserve a room that can handle the PAL switch in order to show this to my students.

jbeall wrote:Once I get this dvd, I'm screening it for my classes. The annoying thing is that the classrooms in which I teach only have R1/NTSC dvd players, so I have to locate/reserve a room that can handle the PAL switch in order to show this to my students.

Mongrel Media has a region 1 release of this movie in Canada, which might be an option for you if you only have a Region 1 player.

Fantastic film indeed. I saw it at the very end of a very busy film festival on a whim (empty space in schedule + standing in front of theatre = what the hell), and I quickly came to love it, but I was so fatigued that I didn't absorb as much as I'd have liked. I've been very much looking forward to revisiting it.

jbeall wrote:The annoying thing is that the classrooms in which I teach only have R1/NTSC dvd players, so I have to locate/reserve a room that can handle the PAL switch in order to show this to my students.

I've run into this problem, too. One way of getting around it in the future -- or if you can't find a PAL-compatible player -- is to reserve a room with a projector that can be connected to laptops. Then just download a copy of Remote Selector to your laptop and you're in business.

It's definitely PAL, but I'm happy to confirm that it's also region-free (I have a copy of the final production DVD).

Amazing film - I'd use the phrase "worth a blind buy", but I fear it might be tactless, so I won't.

BLACK SUN Screening - Time Out Critics' Choice


The good folk at Time Out have listed our screening, this Sunday 2nd December, of the 'haunting documentary' BLACK SUN, in their Critics' Choice for the week.

The screening, followed by an interview on stage with director Gary Tarn will begin at 2.15pm at the Curzon Soho cinema, Shaftsbury Avenue, London.

Hope to see some of you there.

Wow. The narration is so full of candor, and the film does such a wonderful job of showing simultaneously what de Montalembert's lost and what opportunities are opened up. Since MichaelB won't say it's worth a blind buy, I will.

Noel Megahey's review at DVD Times

Bikey wrote:Noel Megahey's review at DVD Times

...written under the pseudonym 'Gary Couzens', which might be a bit confusing if he carries on in a similar vein.

Apologies to both Gary and Noel - perhaps I could offer my slight indulgence over the New Year as a (lame) excuse?

i finally got to watch this...all i can say is that it was pure cinematic poetry.

Has anyone seen both this and THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY? Interested to hear any comparisons, considering there are obvious thematic links between the two films, and the first (and most interesting) part of Schnabel's film shares a formal similarity with Black Sun. Despite the fact that it's a much "smaller" film, I personally thought that the latter was a far more interesting and less conventional take on a human being's attempt to overcome physical disability.

Would have really liked to have had subs on this. Otherwise, excellent.

Wow, got the DVD yesterday and watched it last night, what wonderful gem of a film. Hugues de Montalembert's narration is captivating and inspiring. Gary Tarn also did a magnificent job with directing; the imagery is spot on without drawing attention away from the narration, and the score is sublime.

There will be a special screening of BLACK SUN at this year's Bath Film Festival on November 2nd followed by Q&A with Gary Tarn.

BLACK SUN
+ GARY TARN Q&A
Sunday November 2nd
Rondo Theatre, Bath

This is an absolutely stunning film. Here's my review.

sevenarts wrote:This is an absolutely stunning film. Here's my review.

Thank you very much, sevenarts. It's a beautifully perceptive review and I'm very happy to see that you loved the film for the reasons we do.

I hope you won't mind that I, therefore, sent your review link to Black Sun's director Gary Tarn. This is what Gary said:
"I really enjoyed reading it, because it is pretty much one of the few reviews I've read that totally gets the film. He mentions almost everything I like and think about the film... It's so nice when people get it."

Sevenarts, that is quite easily one of the best reviews that I've ever read.

Nothing to add, other than to say how much I appreciated de Montalembert fine and engaging yet still humble narration.

This is vital and essential filmmaking.

Half of the time when I was watching this, I had tears in my eyes. This is easily the most beautiful and enthralling "documentary" I have ever seen.

Nevertheless, I wonder whether Tarn is consciously avoiding an obvious illustration of the narration by showing Korean characters when Hugues talks about Chinese airport officers. Does the sequence make anyone ponder? It threw me into a head-scratching moment, wondering whether the director wanted to show Chinese characters but all he could find were Korean ones. Then I decided not to nitpick.