The Heimat Saga (Edgar Reitz, 1984-2013)

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Stefan Andersson
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#26 Post by Stefan Andersson » Fri Jul 31, 2015 6:45 am

More info about the restoration and the splicing of the O-neg. reels:

"Before the conservation began, there was only one existing cinematic copy of the film, which was in very poor condition. In response to festivals and cultural organizations which have shown interest in showing the film again, this project completely restored the film reels and produced new 35-mm copies. Because of the way the black-white and colour segments were mixed, the original negatives were never compiled into a complete master copy, but were stored as separate reels at the Federal Film Archive. To produce new copies, the organizers had to create new colour grading for the entire work. The director Edgar Reitz has been involved in the project and artistically supervised the entire restoration process together with the cameraman Christian Reitz. Their goal was to produce a high-quality digital master copy and a spliced compilation of the archive negatives for a future cinematic release."

Source: http://www.kulturstiftung-des-bundes.de ... reitz.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
(English-language web page)

Stefan Andersson
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Re: The Heimat Saga (Edgar Reitz, 1984-2013)

#27 Post by Stefan Andersson » Tue Aug 04, 2015 3:58 am

Heimat part 1 (no subs): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0_wEa4cfAs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Looks restored to me.

Several other episodes also on YouTube. Sampled them. Very good B & W grayscale and contrast. Colors are good.

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TMDaines
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Re: The Heimat Saga (Edgar Reitz, 1984-2013)

#28 Post by TMDaines » Mon Oct 12, 2015 7:57 am


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zedz
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Re: The Heimat Saga (Edgar Reitz, 1984-2013)

#29 Post by zedz » Mon Oct 12, 2015 4:51 pm

Looks like no subs. Surely some US / UK distributor will take this on!

ari101
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Re: The Heimat Saga (Edgar Reitz, 1984-2013)

#30 Post by ari101 » Fri Sep 16, 2016 7:48 am

As well as the German Blu-ray, Lumiere have also released a Blu-ray with French and Dutch subtitles. Seems like quite a wait for one with english subs.

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knives
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Re: The Heimat Saga (Edgar Reitz, 1984-2013)

#31 Post by knives » Mon Dec 05, 2016 8:35 pm

How necessary is watching the others in the series to getting a good amount out of Home From Home?

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gcgiles1dollarbin
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Re: The Heimat Saga (Edgar Reitz, 1984-2013)

#32 Post by gcgiles1dollarbin » Mon Dec 05, 2016 9:12 pm

I honestly could not remember much about the original Heimat before I watched the second Heimat, and yet in that case, I never felt like there were gaps in my understanding or obstacles to my enjoyment. It was about the same family, but given that it covered the following generation with totally different storylines, there was little cross-referencing between the two series. If that continues to be the case (haven't see the third or most recent), then there shouldn't be a problem, fwict. Of course, the first two series are incredibly good and surely inform everything following in ways that don't necessarily relate to plot, but I bet you could enjoy Home from Home standalone, nonetheless.

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zedz
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Re: The Heimat Saga (Edgar Reitz, 1984-2013)

#33 Post by zedz » Mon Dec 05, 2016 9:34 pm

knives wrote:How necessary is watching the others in the series to getting a good amount out of Home From Home?
The relationship between the four installments is rather complex. Structural (I guess) spoilers follow.

Heimat follows the story of the Simon family, and their village of Schabbach, from the end of WWI until the early 1980s.

Die Zweite Heimat follows one character from the initial film (Hermann Simon) through the entirety of the 1960s, when he goes off to study in Munich. There are a couple of scenes set in Schabbach in the first episode, and a couple of characters from the village come to visit him in another episode, but this is basically a radically different story with a completely new cast of characters, and throughout the entire decade / series, Hermann never returns home (which is kind of the point, as Munich and the people he finds there become his 'second home' and second family). Global spoiler: this contradicts what we see of this era in the first film, so this second series is really a parallel work following the same character in a different world (and Reitz plays even more radically with our sense of reality and conventions of realism in the dreamlike final episode).

Heimat 3 is a more conventional sequel to both of the original series, set in the 1990s, which naturally poses a really unusual, possibly unique set of challenges. It's fascinating to watch Reitz try to fuse the two different worlds, but otherwise this is a more conventional, but nevertheless excellent, television drama.

Die Andere Heimat goes way back to look at the Simon family and Schabbach in the 19th century, so it's the most remote from the other films with no major characters in common. It's a great film, but less enveloping than the longer form series. All you'll be missing by seeing this first is a handful of narrative ironies and an enriching future context. There shouldn't be any issues with making sense of it.

There's also Heimat Fragments: The Women, which is a peculiar beast. It's a clip show of deleted scenes, loosely strung together by a vague quest undertaken by Hermann's daughter Lulu. It technically takes place after Heimat III, but there's not really much going on (i.e. it doesn't progress the story of the family much) and its main value lies in seeing a hefty bunch of deleted scenes.

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knives
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Re: The Heimat Saga (Edgar Reitz, 1984-2013)

#34 Post by knives » Mon Dec 05, 2016 9:39 pm

Thanks everyone.

accatone
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Re: The Heimat Saga (Edgar Reitz, 1984-2013)

#35 Post by accatone » Tue Dec 06, 2016 6:30 am

As somenone who grew up relatively close to this area, the Rhineland, i have a soft spot for the first part of the trilogy, Heimat - Eine deutsche Chronik and Die andere Heimat. I always found the second part of the triolgy very boring and will never understand the high praise by some (especially zeds) here. This might of course be because of the setting: Chronik einer Jugend could easily play in a different location whereas the first part and Die andere Heimat show a distinct and in my eyes rarely seen "feeling" for a certain part or region in Europe that is usually not portraied in Cinema. Its the life and talk (dialect) of ordinary people in a very ordinary landscape that may give us (or at least me) an idea about where we/i came from. The student time in Munich/Paris etc. has been told over and over again by so many different film makers, writers and other artist in the last 50 years, i rarely see much originality here (i still like many of the characters and do not want to start a discussion "1 vs.2". Just wanted to point out my preference for 1 and the movie.)

Back to the original question, i would suggest watching the movie and part 1 of the trilogy for an interesting portrayel of 19th-20th century shift in rural Europe.

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knives
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Re: The Heimat Saga (Edgar Reitz, 1984-2013)

#36 Post by knives » Thu Jan 05, 2017 8:29 pm

So I watched Home from Home which proved to be an amazing experience. Reitz is much more amazing here than his already incredible shorts led me to believe, but I felt utterly lost on many historical references. Corinth's DVD doesn't have anything in the way of contextualizing extras so I was hoping you good folks could help on that. In particular I was utterly lost during the confrontation about halfway through about the wine. The specifics are spelled out well enough for me to get what they are upset about and the fall out from it, but why are the French brought up so thoroughly? Also I gather this must be a new law in which case how could it have come about?

beamish13
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Re: The Heimat Saga (Edgar Reitz, 1984-2013)

#37 Post by beamish13 » Thu Jan 05, 2017 8:38 pm

What happened with the restoration of these? Are there new DCP's/35mm prints?

Calvin
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Re: The Heimat Saga (Edgar Reitz, 1984-2013)

#38 Post by Calvin » Wed Jul 19, 2017 8:33 am

zedz wrote:
Looks like no subs. Surely some US / UK distributor will take this on!
Second Sight have announced they'll be releasing it before the end of this year (along with Berlin Alexanderplatz).

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GaryC
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Re: The Heimat Saga (Edgar Reitz, 1984-2013)

#39 Post by GaryC » Sat Jul 22, 2017 7:07 am

Calvin wrote:Second Sight have announced they'll be releasing it before the end of this year (along with Berlin Alexanderplatz).
Great news. Second Sight have confirmed (I guess that reply on their Facebook page was to you) that both Blu-rays will run at 25fps, the frame rate they were shot at. Cue a certain reviewer having an apoplexy when he finds that out!

I've seen Heimat three times now (once on TV, twice on DVD) but I'm certainly looking forward to seeing it again. I didn't see it in the cinema in 35mm when it was first released, so this will be my first HD viewing.

Maybe the second and third series will follow at some point, hopefully while Reitz is still around to supervise restoration.

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Re: The Heimat Saga (Edgar Reitz, 1984-2013)

#40 Post by denti alligator » Sat Jul 22, 2017 5:40 pm

This is super great news! Really hope the second series will be done soon, too.

Calvin
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Re: The Heimat Saga (Edgar Reitz, 1984-2013)

#41 Post by Calvin » Sun Jul 23, 2017 6:14 am

GaryC wrote: Great news. Second Sight have confirmed (I guess that reply on their Facebook page was to you) that both Blu-rays will run at 25fps, the frame rate they were shot at. Cue a certain reviewer having an apoplexy when he finds that out!
The question is whether or not they interlace them or use 1080i/50 to carry a progressive 25fps image like Arrow's Dekalog release and the BFI's Alan Clarke box set.

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barryconvex
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Re: The Heimat Saga (Edgar Reitz, 1984-2013)

#42 Post by barryconvex » Sat Aug 05, 2017 1:00 am

What i wouldn't give for a blu ray of the first two Heimat. The second of which is about as great a movie as i've ever seen. After spending the past month with these two unforgettable achievements my biggest hope is a resurrection of the tones and textures of the different film stocks Reitz used to conjure the memories/nostalgia of this multitude of characters. One can get a sense on the Second Sight dvds of what he was trying to achieve but the full effect just isn't there. To put it another way-the picture quality is adequate enough to reveal just how much is missing...If that makes any sense...

As a side note, i should say i had the second edition for at least a year before i finally decided to give it a chance. I was completely intimidated by it but despite its epic length and enormous cast of characters it's a surprisingly accessible piece of work that sustains well over multiple viewings.

ozufils
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Re: The Heimat Saga (Edgar Reitz, 1984-2013)

#43 Post by ozufils » Thu Aug 17, 2017 8:50 am

Looks like a fresh blu ray is up now from Second Sight films. No specs or anything yet though

https://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/AS ... /ref=nosim" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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GaryC
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Re: The Heimat Saga (Edgar Reitz, 1984-2013)

#44 Post by GaryC » Thu Aug 17, 2017 2:22 pm

And it's five discs. I'd guessed four, as that would seem to be a sensible way of splitting the eleven episodes, much the way as it was in UK cinemas - 1-3, 4-7, 8-9, 10-11. Maybe the fifth disc is an extras disc? We'll no doubt find out in due course.

EDIT: To answer my own question, the German Blu splits the episodes over five discs: 1-2, 3-6, 7-8, 9, 10-11. So my guess is that the Second Sight release will do the same.

ari101
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Re: The Heimat Saga (Edgar Reitz, 1984-2013)

#45 Post by ari101 » Sat Oct 14, 2017 1:29 pm

Heimat Blu from Second Sight delayed.

HEIMAT, COLOUR OF POMEGRANATES, BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ update.

We've been working hard in the hope of releasing these Limited Edition Box Sets before Christmas. However, as our research and production has progressed, the projects have grown and grown, and we just can’t say no when another eleventh hour opportunity arises to include something special. We want to do these classic titles justice, which means we won't be able to meet our original release dates. We will be finalising new dates shortly which will be announced here first, along with the full specifications and special features. We believe that the end products will justify the wait and we hope you'll agree.

https://www.facebook.com/SecondSightFilms/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ari101
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Re: The Heimat Saga (Edgar Reitz, 1984-2013)

#46 Post by ari101 » Sat Nov 18, 2017 1:24 pm

This limited edition of HEIMAT will be released on 26th February 2018 and have a print run of 3,000.

• Restored from the original negative by The Edgar Reitz Film Foundation
• ‘Heimat – The Hunsruek Villages: Stories from the film locations; Edgar Reitz’s 2-hour documentary ‘prologue’ to Heimat
• A new interview with Edgar Reitz on the making of Heimat
• A new interview with Christian Reitz on the restoration of Heimat
• A new interview with Marita Breuer on acting in Heimat
• A new introduction by Jan Harlan on the significance of Heimat for Stanley Kubrick
• Visual Essay by Daniel Bird
• 50 page limited edition soft cover book featuring liner notes by Carmen Gray, ‘The Collaboration with Gernot Roll’ by Edgar Reitz and ‘Germany as Memory’ by Anton Kaes

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_ ... %2As%2As-R" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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GaryC
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Re: The Heimat Saga (Edgar Reitz, 1984-2013)

#47 Post by GaryC » Sat Mar 03, 2018 3:41 pm

I've received checkdiscs of Second Sight's Blu-ray - or rather five of the six discs so far, as I'm missing the extras disc and don't have a copy of the book as yet. I'll be checking with the PR company after the weekend.

I've looked it it very briefly, and will start watching it during the week. This will be my fourth viewing and my first in higher-than-standard definition, as I didn't see Heimat in the cinema in 35mm when it was first released. My three previous viewings were once on TV and twice on DVD.

As has been mentioned, it is now in seven episodes rather than eleven, but that's been achieved by joining shorter episodes together so that they still start and end in the same places. The longer episodes, such as the first two and "Little Hermann", the original ninth episode, remain as single episodes. Where two have been joined together, the original end credits which would now have appeared in the middle have been removed, and it seems that some but not all of the Glasisch recaps at the start of episodes have gone. More detail on these as I watch the episodes and eventually review them for The Digital Fix.

The aspect ratio is 1.66:1. I've only seen Heimat before in 4:3, but as this was always intended to be shown in cinemas as well as on TV, it may well be the case that 1.66:1 is the intended OAR. As I've said, I've not seen it in the cinema. The soundtrack is mono, which is definitely correct. The transfer is 1080i50, which preserves the correct 25fps frame rate.

As for the restoration, my first impressions is that it looks very good indeed, both in colour and in black and white.

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GaryC
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Re: The Heimat Saga (Edgar Reitz, 1984-2013)

#48 Post by GaryC » Sat Mar 17, 2018 4:47 am

Further to the above, I've now watched this up to the original episode eight (The American) or the end of episode five in the current configuration.

The discs are Region B and the English subtitles are fixed.

As for the aspect ratio, shots are often quite tightly framed in 1.66:1 but I'm even more sure than I was that this is the intended ratio, though it was shown open-matte on TV and on the previous DVDs. There are giveaways such as small camera movements to make frame adjustments which wouldn't have been necessary if 1.37:1 or 1.33:1 was the intended ratio. One example is right at the start of "Soldiers and Love" where the camera tilts up slightly to get a crescent moon fully into shot just as Glasisch's narration mentions it.

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TMDaines
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Re: The Heimat Saga (Edgar Reitz, 1984-2013)

#49 Post by TMDaines » Sat Mar 17, 2018 5:35 am

Subtitles are fixed? No buy.

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denti alligator
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Re: The Heimat Saga (Edgar Reitz, 1984-2013)

#50 Post by denti alligator » Wed Oct 17, 2018 6:06 pm

Can you double-check whether subs on the Blu-ray are fixed? That would really be unfortunate.

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