BFI Brings Three Lost British Films to Blu-ray

Posted June 17, 2009 01:34 PM by Juan Calonge

The British Film Institute (BFI) has announced that it will release on Blu-ray three films directed by Jane Arden and Jack Bond: 'Separation', 'The Other Side of the Underneath' and 'Anti-Clock', on July 13, day-and-date with the DVD. These films have remained unseen since Arden committed suicide in 1982.

Born in Wales in 1927, Jane Arden was an actress, author and filmmaker whose screenwriting and directorial work of the late 60s and 70s explored themes of sexual politics, radical feminism, social alienation and ‘madness'. Made at a time when there were very few distinctive female voices in British cinema, the films she wrote and directed with director-producer Jack Bond ('Dali in New York', 'It Couldn't Happen Here') constitute a unique and unclassifiable body of work, ranging from Separation's counter-cultural flamboyance of swinging 60s London to Anti-Clock's boundary-pushing psycho-exploration.

Special features are as follows:

Separation

New full-feature audio commentary with Jack Bond
Beyond Image (Mark Boyle & Joan Hills, 1969, 14 minutes) – a rare liquid light film co-created by leading British artist Mark Boyle, whose visual effects are used throughout Separation. With music by The Soft Machine
Trailer for Anti-Clock (Jane Arden/Jack Bond, 1979)
Illustrated booklet with essays by William Fowler, Claire Monk, Amy Simmons, Maria Walsh; biographies and credits

The Other Side of the Underneath

‘Workprint' version of feature (Blu-ray only)
Extended sequences
Filmed interviews with Sheila Allen (2008) and Natasha Morgan (2007)
Trailer for Anti-Clock (Jane Arden/Jack Bond, 1979)
Illustrated booklet with essays by Susan Croft, Sophie Mayer, Amy Simmons, Penny Slinger; reviews, biographies and credits

Anti-Clock

Jack Bond's 2005 re-edit of feature
Vibration (1974, 36 minutes): Arden and Bond's experimental Super-8 visual ‘tone poem'
Original trailer
Illustrated booklet with contributions by Jack Bond, Chris Darke, and Penny Slinger; reviews, biographies and credits

Source: Blu-ray.com | Permalink |

[Country settings]

News comments (5 comments)

Top reviewer

Top contributor

jacobb1313

Jun 17, 2009

This is really exciting - the kinds of films I had been hoping HD and BD could bring (it could be seen, by some, as an archival medium). Now hopefully these BFI discs are not region locked...

skygreenleopard

Jun 17, 2009

Agree completely with jacobb1313 - BD's fidelity should hopefully be the last stop for many, many great films of times gone by. I hope more studios follow suit.

Top contributor

aardvark77

Jun 18, 2009

BFI has all too many region locked blus, they'll probably do it againh with these ones :^(

Top reviewer

Top contributor

pro-bassoonist

Jun 18, 2009

Simply put, one of the most exciting labels releasing on Blu-ray. With a terrific selection of films!

Pro-B

rojorile

Jun 18, 2009

These titles have been announced as region free by Michael Brooke, a BFI contributor, over at criterionforum.org. He usually announces the region coding of titles well before they are released at that site so it is the best resource to determine region coding of the BFI blu-ray discs.