Flipside: new BFI DVD - Blu-ray strand

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MichaelB
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Flipside: new BFI DVD - Blu-ray strand

#1 Post by MichaelB » Thu Apr 02, 2009 8:01 am

Discover The Flipside
A new DVD and Blu-ray strand from the BFI


On 25 May the BFI launches Flipside, a new strand presenting weird and wonderful British films in new high-quality editions on DVD and Blu-ray. The first three releases are Richard Lester’s darkly comic The Bed Sitting Room (1969) and Arnold Louis Miller’s pioneering Mondo-influenced ‘shockumentaries’ London in the Raw (1964) and Primitive London (1965).

Developed from its popular monthly screening slot at BFI Southbank, the BFI’s Flipside series on DVD and Blu-ray is designed to revisit and reappraise British films that have slipped through the cracks of cinema history – films that were overlooked, marginalised, or undervalued at the original time of release, or sit outside the established canon of recognised classics. Subject matter will vary widely (and will encompass everything from nuclear war to Soho striptease, from forbidden love to international intrigue) and is likely to appeal to a diverse range of film fans, many of whom may be unfamiliar with the BFI’s more traditional DVD and Blu-ray output.

All Flipside releases, newly-mastered in HD from original film elements, are presented with a wide array of special features and extensive illustrated booklets containing informative notes and thought-provoking essays. Initial contributors include respected writers Stewart Home and Iain Sinclair. They are priced at £17.99 on DVD and £22.99 on Blu-ray.

Three new Flipside titles will appear approximately every three months. Future releases include long-unavailable British cult titles such as Peter Watkins’ Privilege (1967), Clive Donner's Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush (1967) and Gerry O’Hara’s That Kind of Girl (1963).
Last edited by MichaelB on Thu Apr 02, 2009 11:43 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Zazou dans le Metro
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Re: Flipside (new BFI DVD strand)

#2 Post by Zazou dans le Metro » Thu Apr 02, 2009 9:23 am

This is sterling news. Is this an Eclipse style line for BFI that might box together titles at a lower price or will it always be individual films??

Is there any chance that BFI might turn their attentions in this guise to some TV fare that has slipped the net like Loach's Days of Hope,the John Berger/Mike Dibb docs or even Sinclair and Petit's psycho-geographical perigrinations?

Have I unwittingly started a speculation thread? I do hope so.

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Re: Flipside (new BFI DVD strand)

#3 Post by MichaelB » Thu Apr 02, 2009 9:42 am

Zazou dans le Metro wrote:This is sterling news. Is this an Eclipse style line for BFI that might box together titles at a lower price or will it always be individual films?
There's actually not much in common with Eclipse - Criterion use that strand to package together multiple titles where for various reasons they can't justify a separate release to the highest technical standards. By contrast, my understanding is that Flipside releases will be to exactly the same technical and presentational standards as anything else from the BFI (materials permitting, inevitably) - the crucial difference is in the type of films being released.

As you'll see from the list, the focus is on neglected British films, but the net is being cast very wide indeed - mondo-style sexploitation shockumentaries like London in the Raw, for instance, would raise eyebrows if featured in the main BFI catalogue (which tends much more to arthouse/scholarly fare), but hopefully should fit the Flipside ethos like the proverbial glove.
Is there any chance that BFI might turn their attentions in this guise to some TV fare that has slipped the net like Loach's Days of Hope,the John Berger/Mike Dibb docs or even Sinclair and Petit's psycho-geographical perigrinations?
I have absolutely no idea, I'm afraid, though these threads are read by people in decision-making positions. All I can say is that I myself would be (very pleasantly) surprised to see anything produced/owned by the BBC being included in the line-up...

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Peacock
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Re: Flipside (new BFI DVD strand)

#4 Post by Peacock » Thu Apr 02, 2009 9:51 am

I realize you probably can't answer this but might Flipside possibly rerelease Cathy Come Home, or Watkins' The War Game?

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Re: Flipside (new BFI DVD strand)

#5 Post by MichaelB » Thu Apr 02, 2009 10:11 am

Peacock wrote:I realize you probably can't answer this but might Flipside possibly rerelease Cathy Come Home, or Watkins' The War Game?
Don't bother even thinking about BBC titles. Seriously.

There's a reason those DVDs both went OOP, but it had nothing to do with the BFI!

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criterionsnob
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Re: Flipside (new BFI DVD strand)

#6 Post by criterionsnob » Thu Apr 02, 2009 11:43 am

Do you know if the Blu-ray discs will be region-free yet?

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Re: Flipside (new BFI DVD strand)

#7 Post by MichaelB » Thu Apr 02, 2009 11:49 am

criterionsnob wrote:Do you know if the Blu-ray discs will be region-free yet?
It depends entirely on which rightsholder licensed the title.

As I've said elsewhere, a good rule of thumb is to assume that if it's licensed from a Hollywood major, it'll be region-locked as a contractual condition (I can already confirm that this is true of The Bed-Sitting Room and Privilege), but if it's from an independent, the chances are much greater that it'll be region-free. This certainly won't be a hard and fast rule, so please don't pre-order on that basis - but it's stood up pretty well so far.

I'm in constant contact with the BFI's DVD production team, and as soon as I get definite confirmation of the region status of individual Blu-ray releases, I'll post it here. That thread will be as reliable a source as you'll find anywhere on the Internet, and probably more than most.
Last edited by MichaelB on Mon Apr 06, 2009 6:39 am, edited 2 times in total.

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zedz
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Re: Flipside (new BFI DVD strand)

#8 Post by zedz » Thu Apr 02, 2009 5:53 pm

Zazou dans le Metro wrote:This is sterling news. Is this an Eclipse style line for BFI that might box together titles at a lower price or will it always be individual films?
This actually sounds more like Criterion's original 'cult' conception of Eclipse. Whatever, BFI is going from strength to strength this year.

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Re: Flipside (new BFI DVD and Blu-ray strand)

#9 Post by MichaelB » Fri May 08, 2009 6:04 am

An interview with Vic Pratt, part of the curatorial team at the BFI National Archive who devised and programmed the South Bank Flipside events and the new DVD/Blu-ray strand.

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Re: Flipside: new BFI DVD - Blu-ray strand

#10 Post by The Glue Man » Thu May 14, 2009 2:44 pm

Wow... what a great new label. Can't wait for "The Bed Sitting Room" to land on my mat (well, desk) - I've wanted to see it for years...

However, my main reason for posting is this:

As someone who has been waiting since the dawn of the new format, and longer, for Donner's "Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush", making do with various off-air recordings over the years, I have to know: is it too soon to ask whether this will be the uncut print (that I don't think was actually released theatrically here)? I assume, of course, that it will be in the correct AR!

And the other magic question, I suppose, is: when?

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Re: Flipside: new BFI DVD - Blu-ray strand

#11 Post by MichaelB » Thu May 14, 2009 3:38 pm

The Glue Man wrote:As someone who has been waiting since the dawn of the new format, and longer, for Donner's "Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush", making do with various off-air recordings over the years, I have to know: is it too soon to ask whether this will be the uncut print (that I don't think was actually released theatrically here)?
I'll check with the powers that be, but given that the whole purpose of Flipside is to present these films in unimpeachably definitive editions (and since Clive Donner is still with us, I suspect he was involved at some level), I would very much hope this is the case.
I assume, of course, that it will be in the correct AR!
I hope the phrase "well, duh!" won't come back to haunt me...

(I can at least assure you that the person supervising the transfer absolutely does know what he's doing!)
And the other magic question, I suppose, is: when?
Soon. Can't be more specific yet, I'm afraid.

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Re: Flipside: new BFI DVD - Blu-ray strand

#12 Post by MichaelB » Sat May 16, 2009 4:17 am

The Guardian reviews the first three Flipside releases.

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Re: Flipside: new BFI DVD - Blu-ray strand

#13 Post by Person » Sat May 16, 2009 4:41 am

Nothing But the Best (1964, Clive Donner) would be a good candidate for a Flipside release. Alan Bates is terrific, as is the score by Ron Grainer. Nicholas Roeg was the DP.

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Re: Flipside: new BFI DVD - Blu-ray strand

#14 Post by MichaelB » Fri Feb 25, 2011 8:00 am

The Independent:
[Flipside is] a place for those films that never fitted in and were in danger of being lost forever. Most were only meant to fill a cinema for a couple of weeks and there's a tension between the director's desire to make a good film and the producer's need to get bums on seats by showing some violence or nudity. It makes for a very interesting type of film that gets overlooked because it's seen as commodity rather than art.

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Re: Flipside: new BFI DVD - Blu-ray strand

#15 Post by antnield » Mon Aug 01, 2011 2:05 pm

The Flipside now has an official Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/discovertheflipside

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Re: Flipside: new BFI DVD - Blu-ray strand

#16 Post by MichaelB » Wed Sep 28, 2011 8:54 am

The first nine Flipsides to be reissued as Dual Format editions:
BFI Flipside catalogue relaunch on 24 October 2011
All titles available for the first time in Dual Format Editions

'Every time BFI Flipside releases a newly discovered film I always go and get it. It's like finding lost treasure.' Nicolas Winding Refn (Award-winning director of Drive)

'The Flipside is Britain's most far-out DVD label - bold film choices, gorgeous transfers, imaginative extras. Every release a revelation.' Kim Newman

'Flipside provides a window onto a time in British cinema when real film artists stalked our land.' Ben Wheatley (Award-winning director of Kill List)

Launched in May 2009, the BFI’s Flipside label has dedicated itself to unveiling the hidden history of British cinema, drawing upon materials preserved by the BFI National Archive. To date, the series has published over 60 films (features and shorts), and has met with universal acclaim, gathering a number of high profile admirers along the way.

On 24 October, the BFI is reissuing the first nine of its Flipside titles in Dual Format Editions (each containing DVD and Blu-ray versions), bringing them in line the rest of the collection. The new retail price for each title will be £19.99, and the previous stand-alone DVD and Blu-ray versions will be deleted. The re-issued titles are:

001: The Bed Sitting Room (Richard Lester, 1969)
002: London in the Raw (Arnold L. Miller, 1964)
003: Primitive London (Arnold L. Miller, 1965)
004: Herostratus (Don Levy, 1967)
005: All the Right Noises (Gerry O’Hara, 1969)
006: Man of Violence (Pete Walker, 1970)
007: Privilege (Peter Watkins, 1967)
008: That Kind of Girl (Gerry O’Hara, 1963)
009: Permissive (Lindsay Shonteff, 1970)

Also on 24 October, the BFI releases Flipside numbers 020 (Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs – Stuart Cooper, 1974) and 021 (Voice Over – Christopher Monger, 1981).

Sam Dunn, Head of BFI Video Publishing, who programmes the titles for the label, comments: ‘Making Flipsides 001-009 available in Dual Format Editions not only unifies the collection, but also offers viewing flexibility and ensures that expensive format upgrading will never be necessary for anyone who buys any title in this exciting series.’
My master list of all 60+ Flipside titles can be found here - it includes the two latest releases.

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Re: Flipside: new BFI DVD - Blu-ray strand

#17 Post by Ashirg » Tue Oct 04, 2011 7:07 am

All of the re-releases are now available for pre-order at Amazon.uk except All the Right Noises...

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Re: Flipside: new BFI DVD - Blu-ray strand

#18 Post by djvaso » Wed Oct 05, 2011 7:40 am

Ashirg wrote:All of the re-releases are now available for pre-order at Amazon.uk except All the Right Noises...
Now All the Right Noises is also available.

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Re: Flipside: new BFI DVD - Blu-ray strand

#19 Post by MichaelB » Fri Oct 14, 2011 7:49 am

A new trailer for the Flipside range has just been unveiled.

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Re: Flipside: new BFI DVD - Blu-ray strand

#20 Post by MichaelB » Thu Oct 20, 2011 6:50 am

...and here's a chance to win the entire set (so far).

(UPDATE: Yes, UK residents only - sorry!)
Last edited by MichaelB on Thu Oct 20, 2011 2:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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knives
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Re: Flipside: new BFI DVD - Blu-ray strand

#21 Post by knives » Thu Oct 20, 2011 1:04 pm

UK residents only? Expected, but still, poo. I hope one of our board if any enter is the lucky winner at least.

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Re: Flipside: new BFI DVD - Blu-ray strand

#22 Post by Forrest Taft » Thu Oct 20, 2011 4:51 pm

I'm pretty sure the 'UK residents only' info was added after I entered the comepetition earlier today...

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Re: Flipside: new BFI DVD - Blu-ray strand

#23 Post by htshell » Fri Oct 21, 2011 2:32 am

RobertAltman wrote:I'm pretty sure the 'UK residents only' info was added after I entered the comepetition earlier today...
Same.

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Re: Flipside: new BFI DVD - Blu-ray strand

#24 Post by MichaelB » Thu Oct 27, 2011 5:16 am

A MUBI interview with Sam Dunn, head of BFI DVD Publishing and the main driving force behind the Flipside strand. In this extract, he explains how films get lost in the first place, which underpins the philosophical rationale behind the Flipside line-up:
The reasons are many and varied: a film may have suffered poor box office returns or bad reviews; it could have been given only half-baked distribution; it might have been held up due to any number of legal issues; or spent years in limbo due to the pecking order of major studio priorities. The passage of time tends to cement the fact of a film’s unavailability and firmly consign it to the ‘lost’ pile, but rather than see such films as long-gone and worthless, I’d prefer to view them as untapped gems, hidden under the strata of decades’ worth of the more visible works which eclipse them. The filmic equivalent of rich coal seams or oil wells.

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Re: Flipside: new BFI DVD - Blu-ray strand

#25 Post by exidor » Thu Feb 23, 2012 2:26 pm

UK people who don't live in London may be interested to know that Team Flipside is bringing Psychomania to Birmingham in March as part of the Flatpack festival.

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