| | Second Run Newsletter
March 2020 | Dear Friends, Welcome to our latest newsletter with details of our current, new and upcoming releases together with a round-up of film resources we feel might be of interest to you. For all of us, these last few weeks have seen extraordinary events unfolding before our eyes. With almost all countries now in varying states of lockdown, and with social and commercial gatherings outlawed, you are in our thoughts and we wish good health to you and your loved ones. In these alien and difficult times, we want to thank all our customers, subscribers and friends for their continued enthusiasm and support for Second Run and our releases. We'd also like to express our heartfelt thanks to all the filmmakers and the cinemas and retailers who have supported us not just in recent times but over the years. Organisations like the ICA, HOME, the BFI, Close-Up, Watershed, the Czech National Archives and Czech Centre London, the Polish Cultural Institute and their Kinoteka Festival - and very many other institutions, venues, festivals and the people who run them. They all need our support too in this difficult time - and when this terrible pandemic has passed please continue to support them. May we all meet again safe and well once this crisis is over. Instead of a 'News' section this month, we've selected a number of resources that might be useful and/or welcome in these coming weeks to stem the boredom of being at home and to promote a community spirit among film lovers. With that in mind we're also pressing ahead with new and future Blu-ray and DVD releases and will do our best to maintain our planned release schedule. We began 2020 with a new Blu-ray Special Edition of one of our most popular titles - Jaromil Jireš' enchanting and sensual Valerie and Her Week of Wonders. Mixing horror, fairy tale and surrealism, and with stunning visuals and a transcendent score by the great Luboš Fišer, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders casts a powerful spell and is amongst the most enduring and influential fantasies ever made. Our next release is a film from a Canadian director whose work we've long admired and wanted to release. Curling is Denis Côté's enigmatic 2010 feature making its world premiere on Blu-ray. Unsettling, sparse and darkly humorous, the film is a meditation on isolation and the universal need for human connection - something more relevant than ever at the moment. Full details on this release are below. During early March we embarked upon our second-ever theatrical release - with Pedro Costa's exquisite Vitalina Varela being released in UK cinemas on March 6. Winner of the prestigious 'Best Film' and ‘Best Actress' Awards at the 2019 Locarno Film Festival, and the Silver Hugo Jury Prize at the Chicago International Film Festival, Vitalina Varela also polled at #10 in Sight & Sound magazine’s ‘50 Best Films of 2019’. However, recent events have meant that all cinemas in the UK have closed and many planned screenings of Vitalina Varela can no longer go ahead as listed. As a result, we have brought our Blu-ray and DVD release forward to May, and also hope to have it present on UK streaming sites and VOD sites shortly. More details on our Blu-ray and DVD editions are below. Also coming soon is Alfréd Radok's extraordinary Distant Journey (Daleká cesta). Set in the concentration camp and ghetto Terezín, this 1948 film, the first feature to tackle the subject of the Holocaust, is present from a brand-new 4K restoration that recently premiered at the 2020 Berlin Film Festival. A stark and harrowing warning from history, Distant Journey marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Terezín. More details on this release are below. Full details and reviews of all our releases are at our website and all films from our entire catalogue can be purchased directly from there too.. Please browse and experience some more of the diverse selection of great international cinema in the Second Run catalogue. Second Run also has its own Twitter, YouTube and Facebook pages - do visit us there, 'like' us and get regular news and updates. | | | New release Curling
A film by Denis Côté BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION “Unusually beautiful... A clever reworking of Hitchcock's Psycho... You don't often see a film
this good.” Jean-François Rauger, The Guardian.
A unique voice in contemporary cinema, Denis Côté is renowned for his unsettling, sparse and formally daring films.
Winner of the Best Director and Best Actor (Emmanuel Bilodeau) awards at the 2010 Locarno International Film Festival, Curling is set in the starkly beautiful winter landscape of rural Québec. The film portrays the strange lives of taciturn loner Jean-François and his daughter Julyvonne, who he insists should never leave their home. Their isolation, and the fragile balance of their relationship, is jeopardised by Julyvonne’s encroaching adolescence, her curiosity about the outside world and the troubling secrets they both carry. Haunting, enigmatic and at times menacing, the film is a meditation on isolation and the universal need for human connection.
Our region-free, world premiere Blu-ray edition boasts a new HD transfer of the film approved by director Denis Côté (with 2.0 Stereo and 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio options), and includes an exclusive, newly filmed interview with the director and his acclaimed 2015 short film May We Sleep Soundly (Que nous nous assoupissions) - plus a 24-page booklet featuring essays by film critics and writers Adam Nayman and Tom McSorley.
“Haunting, humane, a bit mysterious, and often very funny” Cinema Scope
Available now at our webstore
Order now at Amazon UK Order now at HMV UK | | | Coming soon Vitalina Varela
A film by Pedro Costa
On Blu-ray and DVD May 2020
“We were all stunned, overwhelmed, by this film, a major film in the history of cinema from here on out. Something incredible happened at this festival: to have seen and rewarded a film that will enter the heritage of world cinema.” Catherine Breillat, filmmaker and President of the Locarno Film Festival Jury
Following on from his extraordinary works Horse Money, Colossal Youth, Casa de Lava and Blood, Vitalina Varela is the latest film from Pedro Costa. Winner of the prestigious 'Best Film' and ‘Best Actress' Awards at the 2019 Locarno Film Festival, and the Silver Hugo Jury Prize at the Chicago International Film Festival, Vitalina Varela also polls at #10 in Sight & Sound magazine’s ‘50 Best Films of 2019’. Costa's film follows the titular Vitalina, a woman left behind in Cape Verde when her husband leaves to find work in Portugal. Years later, she finally makes the journey to Lisbon herself but arrives three days after his funeral. Alone and isolated in her late husband's home, Vitalina is determined to persevere and confront the ghosts of the past.
“Looks and feels like nothing else ever made.”
David Jenkins, Little White Lies - 100 Best Films of the Decade
View the Teaser here
Pre-order now at Amazon UK
Pre-order now at the Arrow Video Store
Pre-order at our webstore Official Website | | | Distant Journey
(Daleká cesta)
A film by Alfréd Radok
On Blu-ray and DVD May 2020
“Distant Journey is a masterpiece. [...] Like Orson Welles, Radok was a man of the theatre and his use of film form has a comparable audacity.”
Jim Hoberman, Village Voice
Made in 1948, just a few short years after the horrors it strives to process, Distant Journey is the first feature film to tackle the subject of the Holocaust, and was the debut film from the controversial avant-garde visionary of Czech theatre, Alfréd Radok.
Set in the Bohemian town of Terezín as the Nazi transports to German extermination camps began in earnest, Radok's vividly experimental film blends documentary footage with a fictional love story between a Jewish woman and her gentile husband. A mix of raw expressionist intensity and analysis, Distant Journey presents a harrowing account of the Nazi horrors of the recent past and remains a stark, ever-relevant warning from history.
Our region-free Blu-ray and DVD Special Edition features a new Projection Booth commentary featuring Mike White, Kat Ellinger and Samm Deighan; and also includes two extraordinary short films: Butterflies Don't Live Here (Motýli tady nežijí, 1958), Miro Bernat's documentary about the Terezín ghetto; and The Opening of the Wells (Otvírání studánek, 1960), Alfréd Radok’s acclaimed film comprising the words of poet Miloslav Bureš and set to Bohuslava Martinů's cantata of the same name; plus a booklet featuring new writing on the film by Jonathan Owen. “As much a revelation to all of us as were the films of Věra Chytilová, Miloš Forman, or Jan Němec [all of whom were profoundly influenced by this] tragically premature and anachronistic work of art.”
Josef Škvorecký, A Personal History of Czech Cinema
See the Trailer here
Order the Blu-ray now at Amazon UK
Order the DVD now at Amazon UK | | | Out Now Valerie and Her Week of Wonders
(Valerie a týden divů)
A film by Jaromil Jireš BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION “It's best to strap yourself in and allow a dizzying melange of visual and sonic flights of fancy to just wash over you and consider the result after the fact. It's powered by pure sensory overload [...] This new Blu-ray edition arrives on the film's 50th anniversary, and it's definitely worth celebrating.”
David Jenkins, Little White Lies
With its stunning visuals and transcendent score by the great Luboš Fišer, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders is a potent mix of fairy tale, horror and surrealism, drawing the audience into the fantastical world inhabited by a young girl on the threshold of adulthood. Haunting and poetic, Jireš' enduring and influential film casts a powerful spell and has become a cult classic.
Our region-free Blu-ray Special Edition features two expert audio commentaries (an all-new discussion of the film from The Projection Booth and featuring Mike White, Kat Ellinger and Samm Deighan; the other with Peter Hames and Daniel Bird), a filmed introduction by Michael Brooke, and an interview with 'Valerie' herself, Jaroslava Schallerová. Our edition also includes three acclaimed short films by Jaromil Jireš: - Uncle (Strejda, 1959); the complete 21-minute version of Footprints (Stopy, 1960) – previously only available in a truncated form; and The Hall of Lost Footsteps (Sál ztracených kroků, 1960) with original colour sequences missing from previous releases - plus a 24-page booklet featuring writing on the film by Peter Hames and Joseph A Gervasi.
“A collection of dream adventures, spurred by guiltless and poly-sexual eroticism. Virtually every shot is a knockout” Jonathan Rosenbaum
See the Trailer here
Available now at our website Order now at Amazon UK | | | The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On
(Yuki Yukite, Shingun)
A film by Kazuo Hara BLU-RAY & DVD SPECIAL EDITION “It was like I had this soul brother in Japan... I was inspired, I was exhilarated. I had never seen anything like this.” Michael Moore Conceived by Shôhei Imamura, Kazuo Hara’s infamous and audacious documentary follows Kenzo Okuzaki, an ageing Japanese WW2 veteran, on a mission to uncover the truth about atrocities committed as the war in the Pacific reached its bloody end. His obsessive pursuit of those he deems responsible soon escalates. Willing to confront the taboos of Japanese society in his fanatical quest for justice, Okuzaki is driven to unsettling acts of violence.
Harrowing and extraordinarily powerful, Hara’s film forces us to face the disturbing realities of war and, crucially, to question the complicity between filmmaker, subject and audience. Our region-free Blu-ray and DVD special editions also include a new filmed interview with director Kazuo Hara, shot by the filmmaker especially for this release; the 2018 Open City Documentary Film Festival Masterclass with Hara and a booklet featuring writing by film historians Tony Rayns, Jason Wood and Abé Mark Nornes.
“I first saw The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On at the San Francisco Film Festival. Werner Herzog and I were sitting together. We couldn’t believe it. Here was one of the weirdest, most dramatic stories ever. And the movie itself? What can I say? It’s on my list of the 10 best movies ever” Errol Morris
Available now at our website Order now at Amazon UK | | | Journey to the Beginning
of Time
(Cesta do pravěku)
A film by Karel Zeman BLU-RAY AND DVD SPECIAL EDITION “Karel Zeman is a name that deserves to be as well-known as Georges Méliès, Willis O’Brien, George Pal and Ray Harryhausen as one of cinemas master magicians” John Stevenson, director Kung Fu Panda Presented from a glorious new 4K restoration, Second Run are delighted to follow their hugely popular releases of The Fabulous Baron Munchausen and Invention for Destruction by the visionary Czech animator and filmmaker Karel Zeman, with his groundbreaking work of fantasy Journey to the Beginning of Time. A joyous adventure that celebrates science and nature, Journey to the Beginning of Time sends four schoolboys on an epic and perilous voyage through prehistory encountering mammoths, cavemen, monstrous creatures and dinosaurs along the way. Using a variety of innovative techniques (cel animation, stop-motion, puppetry and animatronics) Zeman evokes worlds of wonder and discovery to produce his most beguiling and magical work. Our region-free Blu-ray and DVD special editions also includes a new filmed introduction by filmmaker and animator John Stevenson, a reconstruction of the English dubbed US release version of the fim with alternate opening and closing scenes, a 'Making of' documentary and a booklet featuring new writing by film historian Michael Brooke.
“An opportunity to succumb to the unique enchantment of Zeman’s purity of spirit, his boundless imagination and artistic vision” Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
See the Trailer here
Available now at our website
Order now at Amazon UK
| | | The Ear
(Ucho)
A film by Karel Kachňya BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION “A boldfaced, haunting satire in the vein of Juraj Herz’s wicked, legendary The Cremator, Karel Kachyna’s Czech New Wave classic is as arresting as early Cassavetes and as paranoid as The Conversation” UCLA
In Karel Kachyňa's terrifying The Ear, a Communist Party official and his wife find their home under surveillance and riddled with listening devices planted by his own bureau, and a harrowing night of dread and paranoia ensues.
One of the most courageous and innovative films of its time, fearlessly referring to many taboo subjects of the Stalinist era, The Ear was banned by the Czech authorities, and remained unseen for twenty years. This landmark film is an extraordinary mix of one of the most direct indictments of life under an oppressive totalitarian system and a not-so-private examination of a disintegrating marital relationship. This world premiere, region-free Blu-ray special edition also includes a filmed introduction by writer Peter Hames, a newly-recorded Projection Booth commentary with Mike White, Ben Buckingham and Martin Kessler, plus Vlastimil Venclík's chilling short film The Uninvited Guest (Nezvaný host, 1969) and a booklet featuring writing on the film by Peter Hames, producer Steven Jay Schneider and journalist Graham Williamson.
“By far the best of the Czech movies banned when Dubček was toppled in 1969... the bitterest and most scathing account of what it takes to get ahead in a Communist bureaucracy" Time Out
Available now at our website
Order now at Amazon UK | |
| | | | | | R.I.P. Kirk Douglas, Actor, Producer
(9 Dec 1916 – 5 Feb 2020) Max von Sydow, Actor
(10 Apr 1929 - 8 Mar 2020) Stuart Gordon, Filmmaker
(11 Aug 1947 - 24 Mar 2020) Stuart Whitman, Actor
(1 Feb 1928 - 16 Mar 2020) Genesis P-Orridge
Musician, Artist, Provocateur
(22 Feb 1950 - 14 Mar 2020) Roy Hudd, Actor, Comedian
(16 May 1936 - 15 Mar 2020)
Michael Medwin, Actor, Producer
(18 Jul 1923 – 26 Feb 2020) Lucia Bosè, Actor
(28 Jan 1931 - 23 Mar 2020) | | We Like... Night Tide (Curtis Harrington, US, 1961) Harrington's strange and wonderful underground classic comes to UK Blu-ray in a typically excellent package from Indicator. This special limited edition also includes a packed bonus Blu-ray of Harrington’s short films. | | Full detailed specs on all our films as well as reviews, information and connections about the films and the filmmakers can be seen at our website. Please do browse there.
With best wishes
Second Run
March 2020 |
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