Blu-ray Series

BFIB1001

The BFI is proud to present its first Blu-ray release. Banned, censored and reviled the world over since its release, Pasolini's final and most controversial masterpiece is presented here fully uncut and uncensored in a brand new restoration. The content and imagery of Salo is extreme: it retains the power to shock, repel and distress. But it remains a cinematic milestone: culturally significant, politically vital, visually stunning. Based on a novel by the Marquis de Sade - and taking as it setting the miniature fascist republic which Mussolini established in 1944 in Italy - this is a film about power, corruption, and the degradation of the human body. It is a devastating, angry cry from one of the most controversial auteurs in cinema history.

Street date: 10/2/2008

UPC: 5035673010013

Catalog: BFIB1001

BFIB1002

Antonioni's mid-career masterpiece - his first film in colour - tells the story of Giuliana (Monica Vitti), a young woman suffering a mental and emotional crisis and embarking tentatively on an affair. Vitti - Antonioni's lover and muse, and the star of his earlier films L'avventura, L'eclisse and La notte - gives a magnificent, startling performance. She is ably accompanied by Carlo Chionetti as her unemotional husband Ugo, and Richard Harris as Corrado, the restless associate of Ugo's who finds himself drawn to her. Red Desert is a stunning film from the great Italian auteur, deserved winner of the Golden Lion at the 1965 Venice Film Festival and a high point in modern cinema. This is a brand new restoration with new improved English subtitle translation.

Street date: 10/27/2008

UPC: 5035673010020

Catalog: BFIB1002

BFIB1003

Colin (Tom Courtenay) is a defiant teenager who rebels against the system, refusing to follow his dying father into a factory job, railing against the capitalist bosses and preferring to make a living from petty thieving.
Sent to borstal, Colin discovers his talent for cross-country running. The borstal governor (Michael Redgrave) offers him the chance to redeem himself in a race against a local public school, and tensions build as the day approaches.
Following the huge success of Karel Reisz's Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Alan Sillitoe here adapted another of his works for the screen. Newcomer Tom Courtenay is compelling as the sullen, disillusioned delinquent in the British New Wave classic, a passionate, explosive tale of rebellion.

Street date: 3/23/2009

UPC: 035673010037

Catalog: BFIB1003

BFIB1004

In the industrial streets and factories of Nottingham, Arthur Seaton (Albert Finney) spends his days at the factory bench, his evenings in the local pubs and his nights in the arms of Brenda (Rachel Roberts), the wife of a fellow factory worker. Irresistibly handsome and brimming with animal vitality, Arthur is anti-authority and unashamedly amoral. Based on Alan Sillitoes largely autobiographical novel, and with powerful central performances, crackling dialogue and a superb jazz score by Johnny Dankworth, the film stands as a vibrant modern classic. This Seminal film of the British New Wave was a great box-office success - audiences were thrilled by its anti-establishment energy, gritty realism, and above all its fresh, outspoken working-class hero.

Street date: 3/23/2009

UPC: 035673010044

Catalog: BFIB1004

BFIB1008

Jeff Keen began making films at the age of 37 when his art school film society needed things to show. And so began over forty years of unique, imaginative, irrepressible filmmaking. This release contains over 9 hours of films and videos by the visionary filmmaker, from his 60s beatnik movies to his multi-layered videos of the 90s - a criminally overdue opportunity to explore the alternative cinematic world of one of Britain's most important experimental filmmakers.

Street date: 2/23/2009

UPC: 5035673010082

Catalog: BFIB1008

BFIB1010

Renowned as the author of the scandalous best-selling book Hollywood Babylon, Kenneth Anger is a legend in this own time. The mythology that has grown around him has many sources, from his involvement with the occult, astrology and the pop world of Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull and Jimmy Page, to the announcement of his own death in the pages of the Village Voice, and the destruction, loss and banning of his films. At the heart of all this mythology is a filmmaker of prodigious talent, whose skill and imagination create films of great visual force, influencing filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese, David Lynch and RW Fassbinder.
Contains: Fireworks (1947), Puce Moment (1949) ,Rabbit's Moon (1950/1971, the rarely seen 16mins 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 version), Lucifer Rising (1981)

Street date: 5/25/2009

UPC: 5035673010105

Catalog: BFIB1010

BFIB1011

Jane Arden's violent and powerful adaptation of her work with The Holocaust women's theatre troupe looks into the mind of a woman labelled schizophrenic and finds, not madness, but tortured sexual guilt created by the taboos of society. 'I don't know of anyone in cinema who has penetrated the psyche to the extent she has or evolved visual language of such richness and strength to convey what she has to say' (Molly Plowright, Glasgow Herald)

Street date: 7/13/2009

UPC: 5035673010112

Catalog: BFIB1011

BFIB1012

The epic story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, six Dorset labourers deported to Australia in the 1830s for forming a trade union. Unfolding in the pastoral haze of Dorset and blinding light of Australia, this beautiful film is rich with carefully layered visual illusions an nuances. With moving, profound performances from a magnificent cast - including Alex Norton, Imelda Staunton, Robin Soans, Philip Davis, Vanessa Redgrave, Keith Allen and Barbara Windsor - this is a compelling account of struggle and injustice.

Street date: 7/27/2009

UPC: 5035673010129

Catalog: BFIB1012

BFIB1013

My Childhood (1972, 48 mins) My Ain Folk (1973, 55 mins) My Way Home (1978, 72 mins). Douglas's magnificent, award-winning Trilogy is the product of an assured, formidable artistic vision. These are some of the most compelling films about childhood ever made. Presented here in a High-Definition restoration, the Trilogy follows Jamie (played with heart-breaking conviction by Stephen Archibald) as he grows up in a poverty-stricken mining village in post-war Scotland. This is a cinematic poetry: Douglas contracted his subject matter to the barest essentials - dialogue is kept to a minimum, and field, slag heaps and cobbled streets are shot in bleak monochrome, yet with its unexpected humour and warmth, the Trilogy brims with clear-eyed humanity, and affection for an ultimately triumphant young boy.

Street date: 7/27/2009

UPC: 5035673010136

Catalog: BFIB1013

BFIB1014

1649. With poverty and unrest sweeping England, a group of impoverished men and women, known as the diggers, form a settlement on St George's Hill, Surrey. Inspired by the visionary leadership of Gerrard Winstanley, the commune's tireless, yet peaceful, attempts to assert their right to cultivate and share the wealth of the common land, are met with crushing hostility from local landowners and government troops. With Winstanley, filmmakers Brownlow and Mollo (the creators of It Happened Here) have produced an astonishingly authentic historical film, and a powerful, moving story of one extraordinary man's vision.

Street date: 7/27/2009

UPC: 5035673010143

Catalog: BFIB1014

BFIB1015

When Nighthawks was first released 30 years ago our world was undoubtedly a different place. Key gay rights had still yet to be won, and low-budget independent British films were influenced by international arthouse directors such as Pasolini, Fassbinder, Warhol/Morrisey, Wenders and Chantal Akerman. Nighthawks defies categorisation, its compelling cyclical structure interspersing the daily work of schoolteacher with his documentation of changing urban spaces and nights spent cruising bars and clubs in search of Mr Right. Leading a mixed cast of actors and non-professionals, Ken Robertson excels in a brave performance that confounded critics at the time. This stunning restoration by the BFI reveals Nighthawks to be one of the great undervalued films of the 1970s. Nighthawks II: Strip Jack Naked was made thirteen years after Nighthawks, the film tells of the struggle to get Nighthawks made and released and the directors life as a gay man growing up in Britain. 2 disc Blu-ray and DVD editions include fully restored presentations and a number of rare short films.

Street date: 3/30/2009

UPC: 5035673010143

Catalog: BFIB1015

BFIB1016

The final part of Pasolini's Trilogy of Life was two years in the making. The locations - Yemen, Ethiopia, Iran and Nepal - form a rich, exotic backdrop to these tales of slaves and kings, potions, betrayrals, demons and, most of all love and lovemaking in all its myriad forms. Engrossing, mysterious, profound and liberating, Arabian Nights is an exquisitely dreamlike, sensuous and adult interpretation of the original folk tales, presented here in a beautiful new High-Definition restoration.

Street date: 4/27/2009

UPC: 5035673010167

Catalog: BFIB1016

BFIB1017

The first part of Pasolini's colourful and highly erotic Trilogy of Life is full of bawdy, earthy spirit, romping through tales of lusty priests, cuckolded husbands, murdered lovers and grave-robbers - with five of the stories linked by the character of an intriguing artist, played by Pasolini himself. Pasolini's visual notes for an unrealised film project, 'Notes for an African Oresteia', is also included here, fully restored to High-Definition by Cineteca di Bologna.

Street date: 4/27/2009

UPC: 5035673010174

Catalog: BFIB1017

BFIB1018

The second instalment of Pasolini's Trilogy, with its depiction of unbridled fornication and a comically blasphemous visit to Hell in the closing five minutes, proved to be one of his bawdiest and most controversial films. Presented here in a transfer from the original negative, and with special features including alternative audio options, and a new documentary on Pasolini and the Italian genre film.

Street date: 4/27/2009

UPC: 5035673010181

Catalog: BFIB1018

BFIB1019

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 version of a post apocalyptic England, directed by Richard Lester ( A Hard Days 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

Street date: 5/25/2009

UPC: 5035673010198

Catalog: BFIB1019

BFIB1020

The sensational follow-up to London in the Raw sets out to reflect society's decay through a sideshow spectacle of 1960s London depravity - and manages to out do its predecessor. Here, we confront mods, rockers and beatniks at the Ace Cafe, cut some rug with obscure beat band The Zephyrs, witness a seedy Jack the Ripper re-enactment, smirk at flabby men in the sauna and goggle at sordid wife-swapping parties as we discover a pre-permissive Britain still trying to move on from the post-war depression of the 1950s.

Street date: 5/25/2009

UPC: 5035673010204

Catalog: BFIB1020

BFIB1021

'The World's greatest city laid bare! Thrill to its gay excitement, its bright lights, but be shocked by the sin in its shadows!' Following on from his Take Off Your Clothes and Live, and influenced by the world-wide success of Italian 'Mondo' movies, which combined documentary footage with staged sequences of salacious effect, legendary British low budget movie mogul Arnold Miller concocted this fascinating exploitation-style documentary. Peering voyeuristically behind the grimy net-curtains of London life into seedy bars and clubs for beatnik 'art lovers, and burrowing beneath the glittering facade of the capital's glamorous cocktail lounges and casinos, London in the Raw provides a cynical, sometimes startling vision of life on and off the rain-spattered streets of 1960s London.

Street date: 5/25/2009

UPC: 5035673010211

Catalog: BFIB1021

BFIB1022

Separation, scripted and starring Jane Arden, concerns the inner life of a woman during a period of breakdown - marital, and possibly mental. Her past and (possible?) future are revealed through a fragmented but brilliantly achieved and often humorous narrative, in which dreams and desires are as real as the 'swinging' London (complete with Procol Harum music and Mark Boyle light show) of the film's setting.

Street date: 7/13/2009

UPC: 5035673010228

Catalog: BFIB1022

BFIB1023

'A complex and fascinating experimental exploration of time and identity. 'Anti-Clock' is a film of authentic, startling originality. Brilliantly mixing cinema and video techniques, Arden and Bond have created a movie that captures the anxiety and sense of danger that has infiltrated the consciousness of so many people in western society. Filled with high tension and high intelligence, Anti-Clock is mysterious, disturbing, fascinating and exciting'. (Jack Kroll, Newsweek)

Street date: 7/13/2009

UPC: 5035673010235

Catalog: BFIB1023

BFIB1026

BFIB1027

In a world of gangs and villains, one man - Moon - will stop at nothing to get the girl and take the spoils. Pete Walker's affectionate low-budget homage to the gangster thriller is packed with sights and sounds from a Britain about to swing out of the Sixties and into a somewhat less optimistic decade. It offers not only rare glimpses of a world gone by, but also some unexpected twists on generic convention. The cast includes Hammer girls Luan Peters (Lust for a Vampire, Twins of Evil) and Virginia Wetherell (Doctor Jekyll & Sister Hyde, Demons of the Mind). Presented here in a stunning new High Definition transfer from the original negative, this release also includes Pete Walker's earlier thriller The Big Switch (aka Strip Poker).

Street date: 8/24/2009

UPC: 5035673010273

Catalog: BFIB1027

BFIB1028

Two valuable early Peter Sellers performances, rescued from obscurity and restored by the BFI National Archive. Penny Points to Paradise sees all the Goons beside the seaside in a cheap and cheerful comic escapade climaxing in a Brighton waxworks. Shot around the same time Lets Go Crazy, is a madcap selection of variety turns, with memorable performances from Spike Milligan and Sellers in multiple roles. Both films provide an important insight into British comedy history and, specifically, chart the beginnings of Sellers' rise to stardom. A must-have for all Goons fans.

Street date: 8/3/2009

UPC: 5035673010280

Catalog: BFIB1028

BFIB1029

Originally sold with the provocative tagline 'Is 15 too young for a girl? Is one wife enough for one man?', this time-capsule of a film concerns itself with the story of a young married man who has an affair with a teenage girl, and forms part of a peculiarly 1960s British wave of films exploring such sensitive subject matter (others included Term of Trial, Age of Consent, and Three into Two Won't Go). Starring Olivia Hussey, in her first post-Romeo and Juliet role, and the inimitable Tom Bell (The L-Shaped Room, Prime Suspect), this wonderful slice of British cultural history is one of only a handful of feature films directed by Gerry O'Hara, better know for his assistant-director work with such cinema giants as Tony Richardson, Carol Reed and Otto Preminger.

Street date: 8/24/2009

UPC: 5035673010297

Catalog: BFIB1029

BFIB1035

BFIB1037

When Max, a young poet (played by the iconic Michael Gothard) hires a marketing company to turn his suicide-by-jumping into a mass-media spectacle, he finds that his subversive intentions are quickly diluted into a reactionary gesture, and his motivations are revealed as a desperate attempt to seek attention through celebrity. Unseen since its limited release in 1967, this audacious and prescient - yet criminally overlooked - work by experimental filmmaker Don Levy left a profound mark on the landscape of late-1960s British cinema, with echoes of its visual style evident in the more celebrated work of such notable directors as Stanley Kubrick, Nicolas Roeg and Michael Winner.

Street date: 8/24/2009

UPC: 5035673010372

Catalog: BFIB1037