Cult Labs - View Single Post - The BFI Blu-ray and DVD Release Thread

Susan Foreman · #**552** 20th March 2018, 03:53 PM

Released April 2nd: 'Derek Jarman Volume One: 1972 -1986 (5-disc Limited Edition Blu-ray box set)'

Amazon UK - £65.73

"Derek Jarman Volume One: 1972 -1986 is a 2018 set by Derek Jarman, consisting of:

In the Shadow of the Sun (1972-1974)
Sebastiane (1976)
Jubilee (1978)
The Tempest (1979)
The Angelic Conversation (1985)
Caravaggio (1986)

UK: Passed an aggregate 18 uncut

Sebastiane is a 1976 UK romance by Paul Humfress and Derek Jarman.
Starring Leonardo Treviglio, Barney James and Neil Kennedy

Sebastiane in the upcoming Derek Jarman Blu-ray box set from the BFI contains the infamous erection footage (BBFC advice states There is a prolonged sex scene, which includes sight of an erect penis. There is also a scene showing a pagan ritual dance, in which men wearing giant fake phalluses appear to ejaculate white fluid over a male dancer's face and body.)

The erection was never officially censored by the BBFC for the film's original theatrical release. As Jarman later said: We hid it!......We shot the film in Academy [the 4x3 screen ratio of older films], but showed it to the censors with a widescreen mask on the projector. Sebastiane's hard-on was hidden below the frame-line, and they passed the film uncut. When we projected it in 4x3, the hard-on was still there!

The shots were, however, matted out from subsequent video releases and TV showings.

Jubilee is a 1978 UK drama by Derek Jarman.
With Jenny Runacre, Nell Campbell and Toyah Willcox

Cut by the BBFC for 1978 cinema release. Uncut on home video, 18 rated until 2001, and then 15 rated from 2014.

By 2017, the script had to be censored for political correctness for a stage version. In the film, a character named Amyl Nitrate used her opening speech to say Hindley instantly became my hero when she was 15. She also said Hindley was a true artist because she knew how to make her desires a reality, and dismissed those who said her crimes were unimaginable because that showed the poverty of your imagination.

Director Chris Goode, who has adapted the script for its stage premiere, said the lines were in the original film to show how punks deliberately wanted to shock society and smash taboos. He initially resisted requests to take out the reference to Hindley but was 'convinced' to do so by a member of the senior artistic leadership of the Royal Exchange.

Promotional Material

Derek Jarman Volume One: 1972-1986 5-disc Limited Edition Blu-ray box set

Jarman's multi-faceted work is inspirational in its fearlessness, yet remains touchingly personal. The dynamism of these features evokes comparison with the bold romanticism of directors like Ken Russell (an early champion) and Michael Powell, as well as artists Paul Nash and John Piper. But Jarman was also a subversive force in film. Beginning with his psychedelic debut feature, In the Shadow of the Sun (1972-1974), then came the provocative Jubilee (1978), the evocative Shakespeare adaptation The Tempest (1979) and The Angelic Conversation (1985), in which he invoked Elizabethan occultist Dr John Dee and explored alchemical imagery, a subject in which he was well versed. In Sebastiane (1976) and Caravaggio (1986) he revived key gay and homo-erotic figures from the past with edgy and unmistakable style.

Derek Jarman's first six feature films have all been newly scanned at 2K from original film elements and are presented in this lavish box set alongside an exciting array of new and archival extras drawn from Jarman's archive of workbooks and papers held in BFI Special Collections. Newly interviewed exclusively for this box set are some of the people who worked on these films; punk legend Jordan, producer and filmmaker Don Boyd, production designer Christopher Hobbs and artist filmmaker John Scarlett-Davis.

Special features

All films presented in High Definition for the first time in the UK
Sebastiane : A Work in Progress (c.1975): newly remastered from 16mm film elements held by the BFI National Archive, this sadly incomplete early black and white work-print of Sebastiane differs significantly from the finished film. This previously unseen alternate edit assembled in a different order, featuring a different soundtrack was never subtitled or released
The Making of Sebastiane (Derek Jarman & Hugh Smith, 1975): previously unseen Super 8 footage shot on location in Sardiniai
Jazz Calendar (1968): a rarely screened documentary record of the 1968 ballet by Frederick Ashton, performed by The Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House, for which Jarman designed sets and costumes
Message from the Temple (1981)
TG: Psychic Rally in Heaven (1981)
Pirate Tape (WS Burroughs Film) (1982)
Toyah Willcox: Being Mad (2014); the singer and actress looks back on her role in Jubilee
Jordan remembers Jubilee (2018): punk icon Jordan looks back on her friendship with Derek Jarman and the making of Jubilee
Stormy Weather: the Magic Behind The Tempest (2016): Toyah Willcox and Stuart Hopps share their memories of working on Derek Jarman's 1979 production of The Tempest
Don Boyd remembers The Tempest (2018): Producer and filmmaker Don Boyd remembers the production, release and critical reception of The Tempest
A Meeting of Minds: Christopher Hobbs on collaborating with Derek Jarman (2018): production designer Christopher Hobbs looks back on his long and fruitfully creative friendship with Derek Jarman
Fully illustrated 80-page book with new writing on the film, contemporary reviews and full film credits
...plus lots more