FILMOKAZ: I Even Met Happy Gypsies

[djvaso]

The very first Blu-ray from the recently established Croatian label FILMOKAZ:

FILMOKAZ presents classics of ex-yu cinematography!
First release: SKUPLJAČI PERJA (I Even Met Happy Gypsies) by Saša Petrović!
In addition to the film itself, the following special features have been confirmed so far:
Two short documentary films by Saša Petrović (both remastered):
- PUTEVI (Roads) (1958; 18 min)
- SABORI (Assemblies) (1965; 11 min)
- ZABRANJENI BEZ ZABRANE (Forbidden Without a Ban) (Milan Nikodijević and Dinko Tucaković; 2007; 57 min) – a documentary about the most prolific and most celebrated era of former Yugoslav cinema, the so-called Black Wave
A booklet including the following texts:
- IVANA RALOVIĆ: On Collecting What Can Never Be Collected – On the Roma in the Works of Aleksandar Saša Petrović
- Between Freedom and Morality – A Conversation with Aleksandar Petrović from '68

[Calvin]

The very first Blu-ray from the recently established Croatian label FILMOKAZ:

FILMOKAZ presents classics of ex-yu cinematography!
First release: (I Even Met Happy Gypsies) by Saša Petrović!
In addition to the film itself, the following special features have been confirmed so far:
Two short documentary films by Saša Petrović (both remastered):
- PUTEVI (Roads) (1958; 18 min)
- SABORI (Assemblies) (1965; 11 min)
- ZABRANJENI BEZ ZABRANE (Forbidden Without a Ban) (Milan Nikodijević and Dinko Tucaković; 2007; 57 min) – a documentary about the most prolific and most celebrated era of former Yugoslav cinema, the so-called Black Wave
A booklet including the following texts:
- IVANA RALOVIĆ: On Collecting What Can Never Be Collected – On the Roma in the Works of Aleksandar Saša Petrović
- Between Freedom and Morality – A Conversation with Aleksandar Petrović from '68

Is there a purchase link yet?

[djvaso]

Is there a purchase link yet?

From the owner of the label:

Once I know the exact release date, I'll also post the purchase link. I believe by the end of next month. Yes, the subtitles will be more complete. With two options (Roma-only and for all dialogue).

[vertovfan]

Wonderful news, both for the more complete subtitles, and the bonus films!

[Matt]

Is there any kind of website link for the company? I'd love to get this disc, but I'm afraid I'll forget about it if I don't have some sort of bookmark for it.

[djvaso]

Is there any kind of website link for the company? I'd love to get this disc, but I'm afraid I'll forget about it if I don't have some sort of bookmark for it.

Not at the moment. I will continue to report news here.

[Peacock]

Is there a purchase link yet?

From the owner of the label:

Once I know the exact release date, I'll also post the purchase link. I believe by the end of next month. Yes, the subtitles will be more complete. With two options (Roma-only and for all dialogue).

Apologies if I’ve missed something here. So the press release (?) shared is in English. Are these two sets of subtitles English or Croatian? (Seems odd to offer two different sets of English subtitles in a Croatian label.) You’d more likely expect Croatian subs for the entire movie or just Croatian subs for the Roma dialogue..,

This release sounds great, it would be sad if it’s not English friendly.

[djvaso]

Apologies if I’ve missed something here. So the press release (?) shared is in English. Are these two sets of subtitles English or Croatian? (Seems odd to offer two different sets of English subtitles in a Croatian label.) You’d more likely expect Croatian subs for the entire movie or just Croatian subs for the Roma dialogue..,

This release sounds great, it would be sad if it’s not English friendly.

This is the translation of the original Facebook post:

A Croatian Blu-ray label is being launched! The first release will be the worldwide Blu-ray premiere of a classic of ex-Yu cinema. Limited to 1000 copies. So, there aren't even enough for all the group members, so hurry up and buy! Especially since the release will also include English subtitles. A concrete announcement will come within a month. As for the packaging and extras, you can expect something in the style of Criterion / Radiance / Indicator.

[Peacock]

Thank you for clarifying, fantastic stuff!

[djvaso]

From Mondo Macabro newletter:

2026 AND BEYOND

So that's it for now. But know that this is just the start of a stellar year for Mondo Macabro. We have more amazing films coming, every single one of them being new to US releases.

Yes, you read that correctly. As of right now, our entire remaining slate consists of nothing but films that have never been released in the US before. Not just new-to-disc or new-to-HD, never before released at all in the United States of America.

Maybe there is hope for our country after all.

We plan on getting the next batch out by the middle to end of the summer, and the final batch for the Halloween Sale (which we are going to try and get out before the end of the year, and not wait until 2027).

What's in that next batch? You won't know until we are ready to put them on sale but I can give you some hints here, if only geographic/temporal ones: We'll have one 70s Spanish film and one 80s French one. So far, par for the course for MM. But then it gets weird: We have an incredible double bill of films from the former Yugoslavia and then going even further afield for the final title, a truly insane film from a post-Soviet era Uzbekistan. That's right, our first Central Asian film! Mondo Macabo knows what the kids are clamoring for, and it's 90s Uzbek artsploitation cinema.

[Aunt Peg]

I would love to see a release of Okupacija u 26 slika (Occupation in 26 Pictures) (1978) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079659/re ... 20pictures from the former Yugoslavia. I don't know if it has ever been seen in the U.S. but it is hard to imagine it was screened at festivals at the time.

[djvaso]

The official announcement of "Skupljači perja" with the front cover at Blu-ray.com:
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=403195

[MichaelB]

An instant buy. My now ancient Serbian DVD was only barely adequate even at the time (a good two decades ago), and is most likely borderline unwatchable now. And the film deserves far better; it’s clearly the wellspring from which much of Emir Kusturica and Tony Gatlif’s work sprang.

[Matt]

Filmokaz has a website, but there's nothing on it yet but a link to their Facebook page

[djvaso]

Filmokaz has a website, but there's nothing on it yet but a link to their Facebook page

Filmokaz's website will probably be operational in September, because it doesn't make sense to me to start sales during the summer. I hope their first release won't suffer from the usual teething problems that such releases tend to have (see, for example, the Polish label Second Hand Video). However, I think the long-term problem will be securing the rights to release subsequent films.

[MichaelB]

What's the issue with Second Hand Video?

[djvaso]

What's the issue with Second Hand Video?

According to Polish buyers, there are three or four problems:
- they used an inferior x264 encoder instead of the superior h264; about 20% of the space on the single-layer disc was left unused;
- some logos and the barcode were used as JPG images in lower resolution;
- a price change (increase then reduction) of the collector's edition during the subscription period.

[Matt]

Filmokaz has a website, but there's nothing on it yet but a link to their Facebook page

Filmokaz's website will probably be operational in September, because it doesn't make sense to me to start sales during the summer. I hope their first release won't suffer from the usual teething problems that such releases tend to have (see, for example, the Polish label Second Hand Video). However, I think the long-term problem will be securing the rights to release subsequent films.

I just want to make sure I get an order in as soon as it's possible. Wasn't certain what the timeline for this release is.

[djvaso]

Filmokaz has a website, but there's nothing on it yet but a link to their Facebook page

Filmokaz's website will probably be operational in September, because it doesn't make sense to me to start sales during the summer. I hope their first release won't suffer from the usual teething problems that such releases tend to have (see, for example, the Polish label Second Hand Video). However, I think the long-term problem will be securing the rights to release subsequent films.

I just want to make sure I get an order in as soon as it's possible. Wasn't certain what the timeline for this release is.

To confute myself, "The website will go live next week."

[djvaso]

AI translation:

Today, quality control of all materials currently in preparation for printing has been completed. Next week, confirmation of the release date will arrive, and pre-orders will open at https://filmokaz.com/For disc authoring, we selected the best in Europe – LSP Medien. The video is in 1080p / 24fps / AVC format. The audio is 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio Mono. The menu is bilingual: Croatian and English. Subtitles for I Even Met Happy Gypsies include Croatian, Serbian, Serbian (Romani dialogue only), and English. For the short films (Putevi and Sabori), Croatian and English subtitles are included. For the documentary Banned Without Ban, there is an option to watch with English subtitles. The accompanying booklet contains 40 pages.

[Matt]

Pre-order link is now live: https://filmokaz.com/proizvod/blu-ray-skupljaci-perja/

I don’t think they accept any other payment option than bank transfer, so be prepared.

EDIT: Cost is €30 plus €18 shipping to the US (about $56 USD). If your bank does not offer international transfers, Xoom (a service of PayPal) allows you to use your PayPal account. No fee* if you use your PayPal balance or bank account, under $1 for debit card, under $5 for credit card.

* Xoom makes money off their conversion rates. At this moment, they've got $1 at €0.77. XE.com has $1 at €0.86, so you're paying $5-6 for the transfer.

[Lowry_Sam]

Is any retailer (US/UK/EU) going to sell this? (t looks like their only title and rather buy it with a larger order).

[MichaelB]

I've just experimentally ordered a copy - to the UK it's €42 total, or a whisker under £36 at the current exchange rate. Which is expensive, but I'm a big fan of the film and very much support what they're doing.

You do indeed need to do a direct bank transfer, although this was very straightforward with my banking app (Barclays) - I only needed to type in "Filmokaz" and the IBAN number and it did the rest.

I'll report back when it arrives.

Oh, and for what it's worth, this was my capsule review of the now redundant Serbian DVD, published some 19 years ago in Sight & Sound:

I Even Met Happy Gypsies

Aleksandar Petrović; Yugoslavia 1967; Delta Video/Region 0 PAL; 82 minutes; Aspect Ratio 1.66:1 Non-Anamorphic; Features: none (MFB No. 411)

Film: Lauded at the time (the Cannes Grand Prix, an Oscar nomination), all but forgotten by the West since, Aleksandar Petrović's film is one of the milestones of Yugoslav cinema and also laid the foundations on which Emir Kusturica and Tony Gatlif built their careers. Their fans will find plenty to recognise here, but the complexity of Petrović's portrait of the Roma people and their uneasy relationships with each other, outsiders and the Church (the nun and the priest are particularly well drawn) is very much his own. It follows the adventures of Bora (Bekim Fehmiu), a trader in goose-down (the original title Skupljači perja translates as The Feather Buyer) who gets embroiled in a star-crossed romance with Tisa (Gordana Jovanovic), whose guardian is Bora's commercial rival.

Disc: The non-anamorphic image of this Serbian DVD is very soft and the colours seem faded, though the print is in acceptable condition for its age. The English subtitles are rough and ready, and occasionally poorly synchronised, but one is grateful to have them at all.

[djvaso]

From the owner of the label:

Great news! The shipment arrived today. We will be sending out all pre-orders over the course of this week.

[djvaso]

Regarding shipments outside the EU, we are still awaiting Customs' resolution. It should be forthcoming shortly. The packages are prepared and ready to be sent.