Black Girl / Borom Sarret

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antnield · #1 Post by **antnield** » Fri Jul 31, 2015 7:06 am

Minkin · #2 Post by **Minkin** » Fri Jul 31, 2015 8:27 am

Seems odd, given that both films were restored by the World Cinema Project, thus I think everyone had the expectation that these would come from MoC. I wonder what happened (I'm assuming the films are not PD in the UK?). The WCP acquires worldwide rights, thus I wonder if this is the last gasp of the existing rights, or whether the poor sales of WCP vol 1 cause some swaps to take place.

Calvin · #3 Post by **Calvin** » Fri Jul 31, 2015 11:37 am

Minkin wrote:The WCP acquires worldwide rights, thus I wonder if this is the last gasp of the existing rights, or whether the poor sales of WCP vol 1 cause some swaps to take place.

From what Craig Keller has said, it doesn't sound like the WCP does (or did) acquire worldwide home video rights as rights issues have been the reason that there haven't been any further volumes. In fact, I believe that it was the BFI that were holding up Manila in the Claws of Light.

But it sounds like this is DVD-only - perhaps MoC have got Blu-Ray rights?

Drucker · #4 Post by **Drucker** » Fri Jul 31, 2015 1:54 pm

Calvin wrote:
Minkin wrote:But it sounds like this is DVD-only - perhaps MoC have got Blu-Ray rights?

In the last week, we've seen BFI announce Nosferatu and Birth of a Nation, and it's fair to speculate someone besides BFI (hopefully MOC) got the UK distribution rights to the new restoration of Man With a Movie Camera. Needless to say, as a consumer, this is very frustrating. I want to support these labels, but not be forced/enticed to buy the same thing twice. And considering how important early sales figures apparently are to all of these label's releases, that will only become more likely.

#5 Post by **swo17** » Fri Jul 31, 2015 2:08 pm

Drucker wrote:I want to support these labels, but not be forced/enticed to buy the same thing twice.

I don't mind this so much with silent films that offer substantially different options for presentation of the film itself.

Calvin wrote:But it sounds like this is DVD-only - perhaps MoC have got Blu-Ray rights?

The Amazon listing says this will be dual format.

Minkin · #6 Post by **Minkin** » Fri Jul 31, 2015 6:12 pm

I'd hazard to guess that we'll find out when the cover / extras are announced - as I'm sure both would have "MARTIN SCORSESE'S WORLD CINEMA PROJECT" plastered all over it. If that doesn't turn out to be the case, then it will be safe to assume they don't have access to the latest restoration (thus making this more of a Tati situation "get it out quickly while we have the rights"). I'm curious and rather skeptical as to this being the WCP restorations, and I think it might be best to wait until confirmation of source used (as there exists an expensive, well-done restoration, which BFI might not have access to - thus this could be another Man with a Movie Camera). I think the rights situations might do with either music (Brighter Summer Day) or previous rights that are still in existence, otherwise perhaps WCP only have certain market's rights (US), or just exclude certain markets on a title by title basis (UK). Have any WCP restorations come out in any other country other than US/UK?

antnield · #7 Post by **antnield** » Sun Aug 02, 2015 6:18 am

More info, thanks to Amazon:

BLACK GIRL + BOROM SARRET (Sembène) (Dual Format Limited Edition)
A film by Ousmane Sembène

This limited, Dual Format Edition brings together two acclaimed films by the Senegalese director Ousmane Sembène, one of the first filmmaker directors from an African country to achieve international recognition.

Black Girl, the first major work by Sembène is widely recognised as one of the founding works of African cinema. The film tells the story of Diouanne Therese N'Bissine Diop, a young Senegalese nursery maid who returns to France with her white employers to quickly find their relationship altered and her role changing to housemaid rather than nurse, a painful reminder of her racial identity. Along with its French dialogue, the film shares the visual style of the French cinema of the period.

Borom Sarret aka The Wagoner is often considered to be first film ever made in Africa by a black African. The short film follows a cart driver in Dakar who is hard pressed for cash and illustrating the wider issue of poverty in Africa. It was shown as part of the Cannes Classics section in the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.

Special Features

- Sembène: The Making of African Cinema (Manthia Diawara, Thiong'o Ngugi-wa, 1994)
- Interview Thérèse M'Bisine Diop, star of Black Girl (14 mins)
- Profile of Ousmane Sembène (12 mins)
- Ousman Sembène interviewed at the National Film Theatre (2005, audio only)
- Illustrated booklet

What A Disgrace · #8 Post by **What A Disgrace** » Sun Aug 02, 2015 10:19 am

The best of this bunch of announcements by a wide margin.

rapta · #9 Post by **rapta** » Thu Aug 06, 2015 8:14 am

Asked the BFI via Twitter to confirm that these were indeed the WCP restorations and they just replied that they certainly were, so I'm definitely looking forward to this one in particular now (and with Rocco and His Brothers, The Wages of Fear, Night and the City and the Otto Preminger Collection too, they're unstoppable this year...plus Eyes Without A Face, Vivre Sa Vie and Rashomon to look forward to even sooner than those)!

FrauBlucher · #10 Post by **FrauBlucher** » Thu Aug 13, 2015 11:25 am

I just watched the New Yorker Films DVD of Black Girl. It was only 55:46 minutes but it is listed on IMDB and Wiki as 65 minutes. Was there an edited version for the states?

Gregory · #11 Post by **Gregory** » Thu Aug 13, 2015 12:11 pm

There are two different versions. The full version was 65 minutes, which contained a color section shot in Antibes and the start of the film took place in Senegal. As a French coproduction, it had to meet a set of requirements of the French National Center for Cinematography (CNC), such as having an approved technical crew, but Sembene and his crew hadn't followed these stipulations. They could get around the problem by having the film classified as a short rather than a full-length film, which is why it was shortened by 5 minutes. The New Yorker DVD is probably 56 minutes rather than 60 (roughly speaking) because they used a PAL source. The version seen on that DVD is the one missing the color section, and the film's action begins in Antibes.
The full 65-minute version was screened at festivals in 1966, though, and was the one awarded the Prix Jean Vigo.

FrauBlucher · #12 Post by **FrauBlucher** » Thu Aug 13, 2015 12:19 pm

Is it possible that the BFI will release the version with the color sequence?

Gregory · #13 Post by **Gregory** » Thu Aug 13, 2015 12:51 pm

The WCP site lists it as 65 minutes, so it seems like this restoration is definitely the long version.

#14 Post by **swo17** » Fri Aug 14, 2015 10:45 am

rapta · #15 Post by **rapta** » Fri Aug 14, 2015 11:31 am

Love it! Very colourful and will surely draw the attention of people who might otherwise overlook it. Can't wait for this one!

What A Disgrace · #16 Post by **What A Disgrace** » Fri Aug 14, 2015 12:44 pm

I really hope these are just the first two of many. This little announcement makes me nearly as happy as Arrow's recent explosive reveals.

rapta · #17 Post by **rapta** » Fri Aug 14, 2015 9:50 pm

What A Disgrace wrote:I really hope these are just the first two of many. This little announcement makes me nearly as happy as Arrow's recent explosive reveals.

Yeah this is definitely the most surprising title! It wasn't listed on Amazon at first, then I saw it when they made the official announcement on their site and assumed it would be DVD-only (not knowing WCP had restored it). Then someone pointed out the restoration, and I saw it was Dual Format and was over the moon! Particularly can't wait for this one of BFI's latest lineup (though The Wages of Fear and Night and the City are great announcements...as was Rocco and His Brothers before that got cancelled).

As some have pointed out, this should technically be the only World Cinema Project restoration released by the BFI unless things have changed with Eureka - they are supposed to be the official UK partners and until now have had exclusive UK rights for all of their restorations. I reckon what happened here is that there are (or were) issues with Eureka wanting to release Lino Brocka's Manila in the Claws of Light (mentioned here around the 32 minute mark) and apparently with it having been restored by WCP from a BFI print, the BFI technically own the materials...so there's some bureaucratic stuff going on, hence why there have not been any more WCP titles on UK Blu-ray for a while. And I may be speculating, but perhaps Eureka allowed the BFI to release these Sembene titles as a straight trade, to let Eureka release Manila in the Claws of Light (perhaps in the new year, or as part of a World Cinema Project Vol. 2 set for MoC). Of course, that could never happen and this is just me reading between the lines, but that would explain why we haven't had anything WCP-related since that first box set from MoC. It is worth pointing out the fact that WCP are not mentioned on the artwork nor in the description/press release, so my guess is that this is indeed a one-off from the BFI, but we will certainly see some more from Eureka.

FrauBlucher · #18 Post by **FrauBlucher** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 11:16 am

Gregory wrote:There are two different versions. The full version was 65 minutes, which contained a color section shot in Antibes and the start of the film took place in Senegal. As a French coproduction, it had to meet a set of requirements of the French National Center for Cinematography (CNC), such as having an approved technical crew, but Sembene and his crew hadn't followed these stipulations. They could get around the problem by having the film classified as a short rather than a full-length film, which is why it was shortened by 5 minutes. The New Yorker DVD is probably 56 minutes rather than 60 (roughly speaking) because they used a PAL source. The version seen on that DVD is the one missing the color section, and the film's action begins in Antibes.
The full 65-minute version was screened at festivals in 1966, though, and was the one awarded the Prix Jean Vigo.

BFI tweeted that they will present the two versions on the dual format release.

MichaelB · #19 Post by **MichaelB** » Thu Sep 24, 2015 12:56 pm

Full specs announced:

Black Girl
Borom Sarret
Two films by Ousmane Sembène

Senegalese director Ousmane Sembène was the first Sub-Saharan African filmmaker to achieve international recognition, and is widely regarded as the father of African cinema. On 19 October 2015 the BFI will release his first major work, Black Girl, in a Dual Format Edition (DVD and Blu-ray), together with his directorial debut Borom Sarret, the first ever indigenous Black African film. Both films will be screened during October’s BFI London Film Festival.

Black Girl is the uncompromising story of Diouana (played by Thérèse M'Bisine Diop), a young Senegalese nanny whose hopes of an exciting life in France are dashed when her white employers expect her to work as their servant.

Samba Gadjigo, who has written several books on Sembène and co-directed the new documentary Sembène! (2015) describes it as ‘a masterpiece of revolutionary World Cinema. It is a masterfully constructed story about race, class and gender; trust and deceit; oppression and rebellion.’

The film has been restored this year by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project in association with INA. Martin Scorsese, founder and chair of The Film Foundation has commented:

‘Black Girl was the first of Ousmane Sembène’s pictures to make a real impact in the West, and I can clearly remember the effect it had when it opened in New York in 1969, three years after it came out in Senegal. An astonishing movie – so ferocious, so haunting, and so unlike anything we’d ever seen.’

Sembène’s directorial debut, Borom Sarret, also included here in a restoration, is an allegorical tale exploring poverty and inequality. It charts a day in the life of a hard-up cart driver in Dakar, whose good deeds are rewarded with great injustice.

Special features
• New 4K restorations of both films
• Theatrical and alternative colour-sequence versions of Black Girl
• Snatches of a Conversation with M'Bissine Thérèse Diop (2005, 14 mins): interview with the star of Black Girl
• Sembène: The Making of African Cinema (Manthia Diawara, Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʼo, 1994, 60 mins): award-winning documentary about the pioneering filmmaker
• Sembène: A portrait (D Sentilhes and B Josse, 2003, 12 mins): illustrated chronology of the director’s life in film
• Illustrated booklet featuring new essays by Samba Gadjigo and Alain Sembène; full film credits

Product details
RRP: £19.99 / Cat. no. BFIB1223 / Cert 15
Senegal, France / 1966 + 1963 / black and white, and colour / French language, with optional English subtitles / 60 mins + 20 mins / Original aspect ratio 1.33:1

Disc 1: BD50 / 1080p / 24fps / PCM mono audio (48k/24-bit)
Disc 2: DVD9 / PAL / Dolby Digital mono audio (320kbps)

Drucker · #20 Post by **Drucker** » Thu Sep 24, 2015 1:06 pm

Should be an easy candidate for non-box set release of the year. Incredible.

FrauBlucher · #21 Post by **FrauBlucher** » Thu Sep 24, 2015 2:36 pm

I think I read somewhere that Janus will be touring this. Which means that CC will also be releasing. But this BFI looks like a tough one to pass up.

rapta · #22 Post by **rapta** » Fri Sep 25, 2015 2:26 pm

I hope Eureka come back with something as exciting as this in the new year. Been way too long since they released that WCP set...I was surprised BFI got this, and they have to have done a deal with Eureka to get access too it (unless Eureka are no long the sole WCP partners in the UK).

Can't wait for this one. Glad it hasn't been delayed like The Wages of Fear has done...fingers crossed it stays that way. Loads of great extras and additions to this set. And that artwork!

Drucker · #23 Post by **Drucker** » Tue Oct 06, 2015 3:53 pm

DVD Beaver.

Stunning. Can't wait.

rapta · #24 Post by **rapta** » Tue Oct 06, 2015 7:09 pm

Agreed, not only do both films look amazing but the extras sound brilliant too. This is a must-have release and maybe even the most exciting BFI title in some time...and that's saying a lot if you look at their slate this year (especially in this quarter)!