Camera Obscura: The Walerian Borowczyk Collection

[knives]

I'd also imagine in such a case Michael would use his professional connection to get the Quays to talk about him which is always a joy. Too bad given what Michael has said that if the set were dedicated to him it would probably lack most of his shorts which are a great deal of fun and highly influential. It seems like Nouveaux Pictures has most of the big name films still in print in the UK.

[MichaelB]

I would dearly love to work on a special edition of Borowczyk's Docteur Jekyll et les femmes, but the rights situation seems pretty intractable at the moment.

(Enquiries have been made, as it would be such a perfect Arrow release - few films straddle the art/trash divide with such élan, and with such a wonderfully culty cast! - but we've hit the same brick wall that's behind the fact that it hasn't been legally released anywhere even on DVD, never mind Blu-ray!)

[Koukol]

I would dearly love to work on a special edition of Borowczyk's Docteur Jekyll et les femmes, but the rights situation seems pretty intractable at the moment.

(Enquiries have been made, as it would be such a perfect Arrow release - few films straddle the art/trash divide with such élan, and with such a wonderfully culty cast! - but we've hit the same brick wall that's behind the fact that it hasn't been legally released anywhere even on DVD, never mind Blu-ray!)

I would dearly love to see DR JEKYLL AND HIS WOMEN on BD or even DVD.
Are the rights holder/s asking too much?

[MichaelB]

It's impossible to license it on its own - as I understand it, it's the rightsholder's entire catalogue or nothing, or at the very least loads of titles in one batch.

Which is completely unfeasible for a small independent label, even if there was anything else in that catalogue which Arrow wanted to release, and I don't believe that there is.

[Cold Bishop]

Oh man, for a second I thought MichaelB let the cat out of the bag and we were getting a James Whale boxset...

A man can dream, can't he?

[perkizitore]

I really hope this is a Nagisa Oshima boxset

[ex-cowboy]

That would be absolutely brilliant, though I'm not sure he falls under the divided critical reputation banner that Arrow have said is a major clue to the contents of this set?

[Lino]

I still have my fingers crossed for Boro. Further evidence:

http://www.leedsfilm.com/news/walerian- ... re-liff27/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.polishculture.org.uk/film/ne ... -2165.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.nowehoryzonty.pl/aktualnosci ... en&id=3037" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Lino]

It is in fact Walerian Borowczyk! Look at the end of page 2 and the most of page 3 of the following article:

http://www.nowehoryzonty.pl/artykul.do?id=1704&m=t_43" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Time to change the name of this thread!

[swo17]

Good sleuthing work!

[EddieLarkin]

That's a great poker face you've got Michael.

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

Thanks to Lino super-sleuth the kotek is out of the worek

[knives]

Thanks Lino, even just the nine shorts has my mouth fully watering.

[ex-cowboy]

That's great news. After all these years reading about him, I'm yet to see any Boro, barring a short (can't remember which one, though it involved butterflies quite heavily). Any ideas as to which films may be included?

[knives]

The linked to page mentions 13 films of which nine are shorts.

[swo17]

It says that Arrow purchased "the titles belonging to Ligia Borowczyk," and elsewhere mentions that these include at least "the French shorts, Le Theatre de M et Mme Kabal and Blanche."

[Koukol]

Woohoo!

[EddieLarkin]

It says that Arrow purchased "the titles belonging to Ligia Borowczyk," and elsewhere mentions that these include at least "the French shorts, Le Theatre de M et Mme Kabal and Blanche."

And that Contes immoraux and La Bete have also undergone restoration, and since it is implied earlier in the article that the only reason the films got restored was due to the deal with Arrow, fingers crossed they're included too.

Especially La Bete!

[Anthony Thorne]

Sad to anticipate that DR JECKYL will be absent but this will be a very welcome release - the booklets alone should be incredible.

[perkizitore]

Can someone please rename the thread Arrow's Forthcoming Common-Secret Box Set?

[RossyG]

Well, if that's what it is then count me in for a pre-order.

[Koukol]

Sad to anticipate that DR JECKYL will be absent...

DAMN!

I thought it was included.

[L.A.]

Just got home from a screening of Docteur Jekyll et les femmes, where Udo Kier also attended. Simply a film that need to be seen, brilliant piece of work.

[Ged Parsons]

Fabulous news!

I saw Blanche on a (BBC2?) TV screening, maybe 15 years ago. I also recall Renaissance from a TV screening, so perhaps there was once a short BBC season of Borowczyk's work.

There are a few of his (and Lenica's) short films on the NIA's DVD sets of Polish Animation, but a major 'hit' of his work, such as this, will be very welcome, indeed.

This will be the release of the year for me.

Thank you, Arrow, and everyone involved!

[MichaelB]

That's a great poker face you've got Michael.

I can't confirm or deny anything until the official announcement, obviously.

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).