Winstanley
Kevin Brownlow, Andrew Mollo, 1975
SD RRP: £19.99
Blu-ray RRP: £24.99
Release date: 4/27/09
DVD/Blu-ray Extras:

* It Happened Here Again (Mival, 1976)
* New 39 min interview with Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo
* Booklet written by Marina Lewycka
* Kevin Brownlow's short film about the last Glasgow Tram.

The Bed Sitting Room
(Richard Lester, 1969)

In the hazy aftermath of World War III, the fallout from a ‘nuclear misunderstanding’ (which lasted two minutes and twenty eight seconds, including the signing of the peace treaty) is producing strange mutations amongst the survivors, and the noble Lord Fortnum finds himself transforming into a bed sitting room…

This vividly imagined, darkly satirical filmic vision of a post apocalyptic England, directed by Richard Lester (A Hard Day’s Night, How I Won the War, The Knack), is based on the highly-regarded play by Spike Milligan and John Antrobus. It also boasts great performances by the cream of ‘60s British comedy and acting talent: Rita Tushingham, Ralph Richardson, Peter Cook, Harry Secombe, Dudley Moore, Spike Milligan, Michael Horden, Roy Kinnear, Arthur Lowe, Dandy Nichols and Marty Feldman.

Sam Dunn, Head of BFI Video Publishing, comments: ‘Lots of people talk about “lost classics”, but The Bed Sitting Room is a film that truly deserves that description. It beggars belief that such a startling piece of British cinema could have remained hidden away for so long.’

Special features

Archival interviews with Richard Lester (1967, 17 mins), Spike Milligan (1967, 40 mins) and Peter Cook (1967, 30 mins)
Original trailer
Illustrated booklet with essay by Michael Brooke (BFI Sight and Sound contributor) and original review and promotional material.


UK / colour / Cert tbc / 91 mins + 90 mins extra material / ratio 1.85:1 / optional subtitles for hearing-impaired / DVD cat no: BFIVD834 / BD cat no: BFIB1019

Central Bazaar
A film by Stephen Dwoskin

Director, artist and advocate of independent film, Stephen Dwoskin gathered a group of strangers together for five weeks in 1974 and filmed them as they explored their fantasies within a single room. The results of this experiment are seen in this extraordinary and gorgeous looking experimental epic, released for the first time on 25 May.

Inspired by the post-hippy encounter groups that developed on America’s West Coast, this poetic precursor to TV’s Big Brother explores the relationship between intimacy and performance, often to extreme effect. Men and women don make-up, stockings and ceremonial gowns while emotional and physical interactions form and rupture, pushing some participants to their very limits.

Through his involving camerawork and dynamic use of sound – including a compelling drone score by celebrated composer Gavin Bryars – Dwoskin creates a truly unique film that drives us to examine our own sense of ‘fantasy’ and to question our relationships to both the people around us and the film itself.

As well as the DVD release, the BFI is offering a rare opportunity to see the distinctive work of Stephen Dwoskin at BFI Southbank in An Intimate Cinema: The Films of Stephen Dwoskin – a season of films, workshops and a special in conversation event all taking place from 1 – 31 May.

Working initially as a graphic designer and art director for CBS Records in New York, Dwoskin began making films in 1961, a few years before Andy Warhol, an artist with whom he is often compared. He left the underground US film scene in the mid-Sixties and, on moving to England, quickly became involved in the foundation of the London Filmmakers’ Co-op. His reputation as a bold and distinctive filmmaker was established in this early period and, to this day, remains one of the most visually rich and emotionally intense filmmakers in British cinema.

Special features
- New high definition transfer created from new film elements
- Laboured Party (1974, 20 mins), Dwoskin’s on-set companion piece to Central Bazaar. An unsuspecting Labour Party canvasser calls at the house and falls under the provocative and playful influence of the feature film’s participants
- Illustrated booklet with contributions from Jonas Mekas, Paul Willemen and William Fowler

Release date: 25 May 2009
RRP: £19.99 / cat. no. BFIVD817 / cert 15
UK / 1975 / colour / English / 142 mins / DVD-9 / original aspect ratio 1.33:1 / Dolby Digital mono audio (320 kbps)

The BFI have announced the UK DVD and Blu-ray Disc release of Magick Lantern Cycle on 25th May 2009. This collection of ten experimental short films by Kenneth Anger is priced at £22.99 RRP on DVD and £24.99 RRP on Blu-ray Disc.

The Magick Lantern Cycle, released in a 2-disc set, contains the following films: Fireworks (1947); Puce Moment (1949); Rabbit's Moon (1950/1971, the rarely seen 16 mins version); Eaux d'Artifice (1953); Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954); Scorpio Rising (1964); Kustom Kar Kommandos (1965); Invocation of My Demon Brother (1969); Rabbit's Moon (1979); Lucifer Rising (1981).

Features include:

* Newly recorded commentaries by Kenneth Anger
* The Man We Want to Hang (2002) – Anger’s film on the art of Aleister Crowley
* Restoration work demo
* Anger Me (2006) – Elio Gelmini’s portrait of Kenneth Anger
* Illustrated booklet containing Modesty and the Art of Film (1951), an original article by Kenneth Anger; The Crowned and Conquering Child (2008), a newly commissioned essay by author Gary Lachman; and film credits


The content is spread across a DVD9 + DVD5 on DVD and a BD50 + DVD5 on Blu-ray.

(Anchoress is) confirmed as a June release in the current BFI DVD/Blu-ray catalogue. Here's the entry:

Quote:
Directed by Chris Newby (Madagascar Skin) and starring Pete Postlethwaite and Christopher Eccleston, Anchoress is a visually arresting story of religious conflict set in the Middle Ages, in which a young girl's transcendental vision threatens to upset the foundations of her community. Mastered from original negatives with special features including short films by Chris Newby.