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Re: Quay Brothers - The Short Films 1979-2003

Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2016 2:39 pm
by knives
Two bad it's region B. If it's dual format though...

Quay Brothers - The Short Films 1979-2003

Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2016 2:39 pm
by MichaelB
They've done a fabulous job - I knew they wanted to include more films than were on the Zeitgeist disc, but I never imagined it would be quite this many. And some titles, like Inventorium of Traces (their typically oblique tribute to Jan Potocki, author of The Saragossa Manuscript), I haven't seen since they played festivals when still lab-fresh.

The archival interview is no great loss - I nearly didn't include it in the DVD edition because I didn't have time or budget to edit it properly, but in the end I thought I might as well shove it on there as supplied.

Re: Quay Brothers: The Collected Animation Films 1979-2013

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2016 11:17 am
by MichaelB
MichaelB wrote:I'm very happy to confirm that the producer has a copy of the longest version of the Quay Brothers Dictionary, very substantially expanded from the original 2006 version in 2010 and 2015, although the 2010 version was published exclusively in Polish and the 2015 version (accompanying the Zeitgeist release) was substantially cut to remove anything not deemed relevant to the contents of the disc - which, sadly, included some of the more eccentric (and Quay-suggested) entries.

I have no control over how much the BFI will reproduce, of course, but I understand they'll try their best to squeeze it all in.
I've had a sneak preview of the final booklet, and it does indeed appear that they've managed to squeeze everything in.

Re: Quay Brothers: The Collected Animation Films 1979-2013

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2016 10:04 pm
by bugsy_pal
Great news Michael. I can't wait for this one to land on my doorstep!

Re: Quay Brothers: The Collected Animation Films 1979-2013

Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2016 9:49 am
by MichaelB
Full specs announced:
Inner Sanctums
Quay Brothers: The collected animated films 1979-2013


“Wonderful, brilliant stuff.” Terry Gilliam

This comprehensive two-disc Blu-ray set, released by the BFI on 10 October 2016, provides an overview of the Quay Brothers remarkable career. It contains twenty-four of their short films – three UK premieres and five world premieres – and also includes Christopher Nolan’s new short documentary, Quay (2015), which reveals the inner workings of the brothers’ studio.

Since the late 1970s, the identical twin Quay Brothers have made a unique contribution to animation in general and the puppet film in particular. Filtering arcane visual, literary, musical, cinematic and philosophical influences through their own utterly distinctive sensibility, each Quay film rivets the attention through hypnotic control of décor, camera, lighting, music and movement, evoking half-remembered dreams, fascinating and yet deeply unsettling in turn.

The Films

Nocturna Artificialia (1979)
The Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer (1984)
This Unnameable Little Broom (1985)
Street of Crocodiles (1986)
Rehearsals for Extinct Anatomies (1988)
Stille Nacht I: Dramolet (1988)
Ex-Voto (1989)
The Comb (1990)
Anamorphosis (1991)
The Calligrapher (Parts I, II, III) (1991)
Stille Nacht II: Are We Still Married? (1992)
Stille Nacht III: Tales from Vienna Woods (1993)
Stille Nacht IV: Can't Go Wrong Without You (1994)
In Absentia (2000)
The Phantom Museum (2003)
Songs for Dead Children (2003)
Eurydice, She So Beloved (2007)
Alice in Not so Wonderland (2007)
Kinoteka Ident (2008)
Inventorium of Traces (2009)
Wonderwood for Comme des Garçons (2010)
Maska (2010)
Through the Weeping Glass (2011)
Unmistaken Hands: Ex Voto F.H. (2013)

Special features
Newly remastered presentations
Introduction by the Quay Brothers (2006, 20 mins)
Quay (2015, 8 mins): a film by Christopher Nolan
Quay Brothers audio commentaries for This Unnameable Little Broom, Street of Crocodiles, Stille Nacht I-III and In Absentia
The Falls [excerpt] (1980, 5 mins)
BFI Distribution ident (1991, 30 secs)
The Summit (1995, 12 mins)
No Bones About It: Quay Brothers (2010, 12 mins)
Behind the Scenes with the Quay Brothers (2013, 31 mins)
Unmistaken Hands: Ex Voto F.H. trailer (2 mins)
Extensive booklet containing Michael Brooke’s ‘A Quays Dictionary’ (updated) and the 2013 dialogue ‘On Deciphering the Pharmacist's Presсriptiоn fοr Lip-Reading Puppеts’

Product details
RRP: £24.99/ Cat. no. BFIB1236 / Cert 15
UK / 1979-2013 / colour, black and white / English language / 305 mins / various original aspect ratios // BD50 x 2 / 1080p, 24fps / PCM audio (48kHz/24-bit)

Re: Quay Brothers: The Collected Animation Films 1979-2013

Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2016 7:34 pm
by knives
I assume the lack of mention means that this is Region ABC?

Re: Quay Brothers: The Collected Animation Films 1979-2013

Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 5:12 am
by MichaelB
I'm afraid it's definitely Region B - I've just checked with the producer. Sorry!

Re: Quay Brothers: The Collected Animation Films 1979-2013

Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 8:52 am
by dda1996a
Are there any plans for a Blu ray release of the Piano Tuner? And does it mean that with this along with Institute and Svankmajer's Alice all their shorts are available?
And what's The Summit?

Quay Brothers: The Collected Animation Films 1979-2013

Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 9:22 am
by MichaelB
Artificial Eye had/has the UK rights to The Piano Tuner of EarthQuakes.

As for the shorts, "all" essentially equates to "films that they haven't disowned" - there are some from the early to mid 80s that they now regard as juvenilia and whose continued circulation they've strongly discouraged. (This includes Nocturna Artificialia, but the BFI funded it originally and owns it outright.). So it's probably fair to say that this package is as comprehensive as you're likely to get while the twins are still around to influence its content.

The Summit was on the old DVD - it's an experimental live-action short made as a pilot for a TV project that was never commissioned. I believe it was adapted from an existing stage piece.

Re: Quay Brothers: The Collected Animation Films 1979-2013

Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 1:52 pm
by dda1996a
Correct me if I'm wrong but this will include those shorts on the blus of Alice and Institute?

Re: Quay Brothers: The Collected Animation Films 1979-2013

Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 1:54 pm
by MichaelB
Yup - they're all there.

Re: Quay Brothers: The Collected Animation Films 1979-2013

Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 11:02 pm
by knives
MichaelB wrote:I'm afraid it's definitely Region B - I've just checked with the producer. Sorry!
That's unfortunate, but thanks. This package sounded like a major improvement over the American release.

Re: Quay Brothers: The Collected Animation Films 1979-2013

Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2016 9:20 pm
by bugsy_pal
I managed to score this on Amazon for under 10 UK Pounds - it was briefly available to non-Prime folks, and then strangely went back to Prime-only. Not sure what the status is now.

Anyway, this is a stunning set. Absolutely magnificent.

Re: Quay Brothers: The Collected Animation Films 1979-2013

Posted: Fri May 12, 2017 3:23 pm
by nothingface
Anybody else noticed image quality problems with this blu-ray release? In Street Of Crocodiles, the whole image seems to be slightly wobbling horizontally, and flickering. It's particularly noticeable in static shots, for example at 14:51 with the map and the scissors.

The US Zeitgeist blu-ray exhibits exactly the same problems.

Howewer, on the BFI "Quay Brothers 1979-2003" dvd, the image seems solid, devoid of all these problems, so perhaps this is an issue with the new hd transfer?

My other blurays all look fine, so it's not likely a hardware/player issue.

Re: Quay Brothers: The Collected Animation Films 1979-2013

Posted: Sat May 13, 2017 9:01 am
by denti alligator
Does the BFI Blu include both versions of Rehearsals? The Zeitgeist only includes the scope version, which I don't like as much.

Re: Quay Brothers: The Collected Animation Films 1979-2013

Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2017 11:50 pm
by denti alligator
denti alligator wrote:Does the BFI Blu include both versions of Rehearsals? The Zeitgeist only includes the scope version, which I don't like as much.
To answer my own question: it includes only the scope version, which is too bad. Though apparently this was approved by the Brothers.

Re: Quay Brothers: The Collected Animation Films 1979-2013

Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2018 11:17 am
by razumovsky
I'm a bit slow off the mark with this, but the Quays designed the set for the current production of Pinter's Birthday Party at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London. The set is brilliant, as is the production (Toby Jones and Zoe Wannemaker both wonderful). It runs until April 14, and is well worth catching. Pinter and the Quays are a good match.