BFI (British Film Institute)

[TMDaines]

The BFI officially launched their summer Hitchcock retrospective - The Genius of Hitchcock - today. It looks like a big-budget affair, the cinematic equivalent of the Da Vinci exhibition at the National Gallery last year!

You'd think there was only one city in the whole of the UK.

Looks great though.

[Calvin]

I know, it's quite upsetting. You'd think that they could do the screenings with a satellite link (like the numerous Opera/National Theatre cinema screenings nowadays) but the BFI sometimes give one of the films a limited theatrical release. They distributed Days of Heaven after the Malick retro and Ordet during/after the recent Dreyer one.

[colinr0380]

I just received the latest BFI Newsletter today and it mentions a couple of new titles:

On the cards is BRITISH TRANSPORT FILMS COLLECTION VOLUME 10 - due for release in July 2012 and also CHILDREN'S FILM FOUNDATION VOLUME 1 - LONDON TALES

We are delighted to announce that starting with August 2012 we bring to you the most asked for and long awaited GHOST STORIES. Great films with a passionate following of fans with titles such as Whistle and I'll Come To You (1968 & 2010 versions), The Stalls of Barchester and A Warning To The Curious. September 2012 brings Lost Hearts, The Treasure of Abbot Thomas and The Ash Tree; The Signalman, Stigma and The Ice House. October 2012 includes View From A Hill and Number 13. Five volumes here to collect and what a collection to have for keeps!

[Calvin]

Appears that the BFI have managed to make another deal with the BBC (see Ghost Stories thread). Fingers crossed for Russell and Watkins then?

[MichaelB]

Just out of curiosity, since the BFI was able to strike an agreement with the BBC for Ghost Stories, is there a chance that they may be able to get the rights to some of Ken Russell's BBC films?

It looks as though the BFI has indeed secured Ken Russell's BBC Monitor film about Bruce Lacey - or rather, Ken Russell is listed as one of the contributors to the Lacey Rituals DVD, and I'm not aware of any other collaborations.

Which is very good news indeed, as it suggests that the BBC really has changed its licensing policy.

[knives]

Between this and the Warner releases I've got to think that BFI has some of the best negotiators in the biz.

[criterion10]

It looks as though the BFI has indeed secured Ken Russell's BBC Monitor film about Bruce Lacey - or rather, Ken Russell is listed as one of the contributors to the Lacey Rituals DVD, and I'm not aware of any other collaborations.

It's reasons like this that I'm glad I own a region free player. \:D/ Very happy to hear this, and thanks for your help.

Between this and the Warner releases I've got to think that BFI has some of the best negotiators in the biz.

The BFI have been doing really good with negotiations lately. Just getting The Devils off the hands of WB is a miracle in itself. I'm wondering if WB will start to licence out more frequently, which would be great for companies like Criterion, BFI, etc.

[MichaelB]

Four down, five to go: the BFI has confirmed that restoration work on The Farmer's Wife, The Lodger, The Manxman and The Ring has been completed - but they're still soliciting donations for the other Hitchcock silents.

[dustybooks]

Weirdly, their website shows they've already booked screenings of Blackmail and The Pleasure Garden in June. Is that a discrepancy or are they counting on the work being complete by then?

[MichaelB]

I imagine the work's scheduled to be complete by then - The Pleasure Garden was in the final stages last time I heard about it.

In any case, the Czech National Film Archive restored Marketa Lazarová in just six weeks last year, although admittedly from much younger and less fragile source materials.

[RossyG]

Maggie Thatcher Eady snatcher!

I think the BFI needs to rethink their new advertising campaign.

[Wes Moynihan]

The BFI have been doing really good with negotiations lately. Just getting The Devils off the hands of WB is a miracle in itself. I'm wondering if WB will start to licence out more frequently, which would be great for companies like Criterion, BFI, etc.

At the risk of spinning this thread off on a tangent I'd love to see BFI do something with Performance and Sebastiane - two films that wouldn't look out of place on the BFI roster...

[MichaelB]

At the risk of spinning this thread off on a tangent I'd love to see BFI do something with Performance and Sebastiane - two films that wouldn't look out of place on the BFI roster...

They're both out in the UK on other labels (Warner and Second Sight), so there's no chance of that at present.

[Wes Moynihan]

They're both out in the UK on other labels (Warner and Second Sight), so there's no chance of that at present.

The BFI has been so eclectic in their releases in recent years, it's very easy to make a wish list, but after the Encounters and Peter de Rome discs, something like Thundercrack! doesn't seem that much of a stretch ! Okay, that's enough off-topic business from me...

[MichaelB]

I doubt Thundercrack! would be a stretch at all, and at least two people currently in decision-making capacities at BFI DVD Publishing are very familiar with it indeed.

But I also know that they ran into BBFC difficulties when they attempted to put out a DVD before they joined the BFI - basically, the BBFC offered them a cut 18 or an uncut R18, which turned out to be a deal-breaker. There's absolutely no point releasing a film like that in a cut version, but an R18 effectively makes it undistributable by a "normal" label, because all their usual channels (high street retailers, mail order) are instantly cut off, and it's pretty much impossible to make a profit for a one-off title on the sex-shop circuit, even in the wildly unlikely event that Thundercrack! would have any appeal to Ann Summers patrons. And I think it's pretty safe to say that it wouldn't.

So that particular ball is very much in the BBFC's court - though I have to say that if they're prepared to pass the Peter de Rome films at 18, I really don't see why they'd have a problem with Thundercrack!. It's ages since I've seen it, but I don't recall anything in it that's more graphic than the stuff in those films, and it should also easily pass the "artistic and cultural merit" test. So while it would certainly have been an eye-opener if it had been given an 18 ten years ago, it really shouldn't be much of one now.

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

Just out of curiosity, since the BFI was able to strike an agreement with the BBC for Ghost Stories, is there a chance that they may be able to get the rights to some of Ken Russell's BBC films?

It looks as though the BFI has indeed secured Ken Russell's BBC Monitor film about Bruce Lacey - or rather, Ken Russell is listed as one of the contributors to the Lacey Rituals DVD, and I'm not aware of any other collaborations.

Which is very good news indeed, as it suggests that the BBC really has changed its licensing policy.

Have we heard all there is to hear about the raft of London 'celebratory' films coming in 2012? Why I ask, and have tacked it onto the comment from above, is that I have just watched Ken Russell's 'London Moods" and thought it would be ideal for some such compilation in view of the (partial) opening up of the BBC archive.
In a few short minutes our Ken subverts the Pathé style pomp and pageantry of Royalty with parades of sandwich board men and leather boys before switching to a Rudy Burckhardt inspired tour though greasy spoons as niftily as flipping an egg on a griddle. The last act swoons into a Delius? orchestrated Jennings-ode, linking dappled light from willow banked rivers to the silhouetted commuter traffic over London Bridge. Hopefully there will be follow up volumes to the 20's/30's footage of the ' Wonderful London' release to include this.

[Calvin]

I don't see a thread on it but I've been really enjoying the BFI's Free Cinema set recently. I don't suppose that they've been restored since that release? It would be lovely to see them on Blu-Ray.

[RossyG]

We Are the Lambeth Boys appears in HD on the Saturday Night Sunday Morning Blu-ray; Momma Don't Allow is in HD on the Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner BD.

I also loved Free Cinema, probably my favourite of all the BFI sets. I don't imagine it'd get a full HD re-release, but I'd like to see some of the other films used as extras on future BDs.

[Calvin]

I forgot about them! Mazzetti's Together is probably my favourite in the set, it would be great if that got an HD release but I can't think of anything that it could be paired with and I doubt the BFI will release it by itself.

[terratrema]

Hello. A quick question:

Forgive me if this has been tackled elsewhere, but I was wondering why it is that the BFI's Dual Format releases tend to have some, if not all, of the special features on the DVD only? After all it can't be that the Blu-ray and not the DVD is stuck for space.

It's never a deal-breaker, of course. It's just slightly annoying.

[swo17]

It's BFI policy to include everything on the DVD but only HD material on the Blu-ray.

[JamesF]

The BFI has been so eclectic in their releases in recent years, it's very easy to make a wish list, but after the Encounters and Peter de Rome discs, something like Thundercrack! doesn't seem that much of a stretch ! Okay, that's enough off-topic business from me...

Only just seen this so wanted to quickly add that while the BFI aren't working on it just yet, Synapse Films are working on a restoration of it in the US (no release date set yet) with the aid of Melinda McDowell, which will almost certainly go out in a Dual Format release.

[Wes Moynihan]

Thanks. I thought Synapse had cooled on this release, considering they missed the 35th Anniversary in 2010 (?) I seem to remember asking Don May on Facebook if there were any updates, but no answer - that was 2011...

[MichaelB]

BBC report on the BFI's silent Hitchcock restoration project (includes video).

[MichaelB]

The BFI has just extensively revamped its website.

And I've added a second post to the BFI Master Index thread, listing confirmed upcoming releases.