7 / BD 70 Interrogation

[What A Disgrace]

Excellent news, although it looks increasingly unlikely that most or all of the rumored titles, such as the remaining Szulkin film or the other two Polish Skolimowski titles, will make it before 2024.

[Ribs]

Why? I’d think there’ll be at least two more releases this year after this one, maybe three if they have their ducks in a row. Second Run is pretty good at announcing a title and getting it out in just over two months.

[What A Disgrace]

Well, there's some half dozen titles either confirmed (The Fifth Seal, Extreme Private Eros, the two Skolimowski titles, the two Paulo Rocha titles) or rumored (the Szulkin), only four months to go, and a whole wide world of films to release, choices from which Second Run has a habit of surprising with - not to mention the (very welcome) double dips, like this. The odds just seem stacked in favor of 2024 and beyond for those releases.

[rapta]

To be honest there are lots of different titles that might take longer for whatever reason to get sorted out. I just listened to the Film Graze podcast from last year where Tsai's Days was mentioned as an upcoming release but we still don't have that yet (obviously Film Movement already released theirs).

I imagine we'll get Interrogation before the end of the year if it's on their 'Coming Soon' page, and maybe one or two of the others - the Skolimowski would make sense to get out soon, since BFI have released a few of his already; same with the Szulkin (if they have it, and it's not with Eureka), seeing as Radiance have their three out at the very end of the year. That said, the Rocha and Hara have been mentioned quite a while ago too (as with the Tsai), so you'd think at least one of those would be ready too. And more Hungarian titles were mentioned as well...

[MichaelB]

For various reasons, but chiefly my own extras delivery deadline, I’m anticipating the Skolimowskis later this year.

[ianthemovie]

Thanks for the insider info about the Skolimowskis, Michael.

Personally I'm hoping there is still room on Second Run's 2023 calendar for Three Wishes for Cinderella. It would make a great holiday release given its status as a Christmas film.

[What A Disgrace]

Do out on September 18th.

• Interrogation (Przesłuchanie, 1982) presented complete and uncut from an HD transfer of the new 2K restoration of the film produced by WFDiF, Poland.
• Ryszard Bugajski on ‘Interrogation’: an in-depth 2005 interview with the late director in which he discusses the film’s contextual history, its production, the controversy surrounding its release and its eventual withdrawal and banning by Polish authorities.
• 40-page booklet with writing on the film by Michael Szporer and the complete transcript of the 1982 hearing before the so-called ‘co-laudation commission’ ahead of the film’s suppression.
• New and improved English subtitle translation.
• World premiere release on Blu-ray.
• Region free Blu-ray (A/B/C)
+ MORE TBC

[Bikey]

Full details now at our website

[sabbath]

Beaver

[Bikey]

"Very few films can match the level of political controversy that accompanied the production and prevented the timely release of Ryszard Bugajski’s scorching INTERROGATION. [...]
[It] openly questioned not only the communist system itself but also dared to touch upon the hitherto repressed history of state-controlled terror."

Michał Oleszczyk writes about Bugajski's INTERROGATION in the latest Cineaste magazine.
A taster here...

[ryannichols7]

this movie is strangely absent from all the US importers - Orbit, Diabolik, Grindhouse, and Atomic all lack it. wonder why that is? hoping to catch it before our 1982 project ends, but if I get it from the UK I probably won't be able to

[fdm]

They were asked not to sell it in the US, more or less, probably by whoever is releasing it here. (I apparently deleted the email I got when I asked one of them, so can't provide their actual wording.)

[ryannichols7]

They were asked not to sell it in the US, more or less, probably by whoever is releasing it here. (I apparently deleted the email I got when I asked one of them, so can't provide their actual wording.)

great, another spineless US label I won't support again who will probably sit on it and charge a fortune for their edition. very annoying! but that would make sense and certainly explain it. disappointed all four stores were made to do that....guess Rarewaves it'll be

[fdm]

I figure it won't be too much longer before it's in one of Arrow's sales.

[brundlefly]

this movie is strangely absent from all the US importers - Orbit, Diabolik, Grindhouse, and Atomic all lack it. wonder why that is? hoping to catch it before our 1982 project ends, but if I get it from the UK I probably won't be able to

If it does not arrive in time, it is among the many Polish titles streaming with English subtitles (though perhaps not Second Run's improved subs) at 35mm.online.

[MichaelB]

It would technically qualify for a 1990 project as well, what with that being the year of its extremely belated premiere.

[swo17]

Which is not how I run the lists project. (We all use the same year assignments so that when a film is eligible, it gets votes from all that support it, instead of some people voting for it in one project and others voting for it in another.) That being said, Interrogation is eligible for the overall 1980s list that will be tabulated next January

[TechnicolorAcid]

great, another spineless US label I won't support again who will probably sit on it and charge a fortune for their edition. very annoying! but that would make sense and certainly explain it. disappointed all four stores were made to do that....guess Rarewaves it'll be

Correct as Vinegar Syndrome just announced a preorder for this title on their website. It does shock me why they just didn’t say they had this title when Second Run did this rather than blacklist it from second hand shops.

[ryannichols7]

great, another spineless US label I won't support again who will probably sit on it and charge a fortune for their edition. very annoying! but that would make sense and certainly explain it. disappointed all four stores were made to do that....guess Rarewaves it'll be

Correct as Vinegar Syndrome just announced a preorder for this title on their website. It does shock me why they just didn’t say they had this title when Second Run did this rather than blacklist it from second hand shops.

of course it's Vinegar Syndrome. I was blocked by their "operations manager" or whatever he calls himself on another forum after I pointed out how this practice is pretty scummy. Vinegar Syndrome has now done this with quite a few releases (two of Radiance's, for example) and I think it's revolting the amount of pull they have with Diabolik, Orbit, Grindhouse, and Atomic. Vinegar Syndrome tries to say "support independent cinema" and "support indie shops" when in practice, they're now hurting the indie shop. if someone wants the "blacklisted" UK edition of any given title, they're more likely to order it on Amazon, Rarewaves, etc than go through the label direct, as transatlantic shipping rates are quite high. while I'd love to support more of the UK labels directly, budgets are tight and paying a disc's worth of shipping price is something I really would not like to do

when I pointed this out to the "operations manager", his claim was that "Vinegar Syndrome is the exclusive rights holder in the US", which sure they are. but you don't see Criterion or Kino crying to the indie US stores not to carry MoC or Arrow editions. and if he wants to say those labels are bigger than VS (and sure, he can), you can purchase the Second Run Twilight, Eureka's Son of White Mare, as well as their editions of Samurai Wolf right off of any of the American shops. you don't see Arbelos and Film Movement (a "partner label", mind you!) crying to Diabolik or Orbit not to sell these editions either. I'll admit, I'll buy some VS products (partner labels only) but I am not a fan of them as a label at all. I think their practices are anti-consumer.

I'm not shocked at all unfortunately, this is what we've come to expect from them

[Timec]

In light of that policy, it also seems kind of scummy that Vinegar Syndrome has referred to this as the "English friendly Blu-ray debut" of the film in multiple promotional emails this week.

[nicolas]

great, another spineless US label I won't support again who will probably sit on it and charge a fortune for their edition. very annoying! but that would make sense and certainly explain it. disappointed all four stores were made to do that....guess Rarewaves it'll be

Correct as Vinegar Syndrome just announced a preorder for this title on their website. It does shock me why they just didn’t say they had this title when Second Run did this rather than blacklist it from second hand shops.

of course it's Vinegar Syndrome. I was blocked by their "operations manager" or whatever he calls himself on another forum after I pointed out how this practice is pretty scummy. Vinegar Syndrome has now done this with quite a few releases (two of Radiance's, for example) and I think it's revolting the amount of pull they have with Diabolik, Orbit, Grindhouse, and Atomic. Vinegar Syndrome tries to say "support independent cinema" and "support indie shops" when in practice, they're now hurting the indie shop. if someone wants the "blacklisted" UK edition of any given title, they're more likely to order it on Amazon, Rarewaves, etc than go through the label direct, as transatlantic shipping rates are quite high. while I'd love to support more of the UK labels directly, budgets are tight and paying a disc's worth of shipping price is something I really would not like to do

when I pointed this out to the "operations manager", his claim was that "Vinegar Syndrome is the exclusive rights holder in the US", which sure they are. but you don't see Criterion or Kino crying to the indie US stores not to carry MoC or Arrow editions. and if he wants to say those labels are bigger than VS (and sure, he can), you can purchase the Second Run Twilight, Eureka's Son of White Mare, as well as their editions of Samurai Wolf right off of any of the American shops. you don't see Arbelos and Film Movement (a "partner label", mind you!) crying to Diabolik or Orbit not to sell these editions either. I'll admit, I'll buy some VS products (partner labels only) but I am not a fan of them as a label at all. I think their practices are anti-consumer.

I'm not shocked at all unfortunately, this is what we've come to expect from them

Their behavior is unfortunate for customers particularly as I don’t think they’d need to fear losing an exorbitant number of sales to an international label if both editions are offered. There are so many people who still collect BDs but aren’t equipped for region-free playback, so these sales are guaranteed for the US label if people have the choice. Another thing is quality. In the case of Interrogation, VS probably have the better encode compared to Second Run anyway, so what do they have to worry about? If they strive to deliver BDs as good and comprehensive as possible, it should be them intimidating the competition and not otherwise.

[PillowRock]

There are so many people who still collect BDs but aren’t equipped for region-free playback, so these sales are guaranteed for the US label if people have the choice.

The Second Run is an ABC disk, so that customers wouldn't be limited to people with multi-region players.

[Cash Flagg]

you don't see Criterion or Kino crying to the indie US stores not to carry MoC or Arrow editions.

Severin told Diabolik not to stock the Arrow UK 'Love Death Apocalypse' set, so it does seem to be an increasingly common practice, unfortunately.

[DeprongMori]

Anyone have any informed comments on the Second Run Blu-ray of The Interrogation versus the Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray? Are they the same source/quality for the film presentation? Any comments on the supplements?

I just watched Bugajski’s 1991 film Clearcut on the first All the Haunts Be Ours set. I hadn’t realized he was the director of The Interrogation, which I had read reviews of a couple years back.