More Kieslowski

[Malick]

Artificial Eye have now added both "No End" and "Camera Buff" (has anyone seen the latter?) to their impressive Kieslowski DVD catalogue - release dates 24.11.03.

Hopefully, both will include yet more Kieslowski shorts that have already accompanied the DVD releases of 'A Short Film About Love', 'A Short Film About Killing', 'The Scar' and 'Blind Chance'.

[Michael Brooke]

I've seen <I>Camera Buff</I> - it was actually the first Kieslowski film to get a release in this country and the only one for five years or so (<I>Blind Chance</I> never got a British theatrical release). If I remember rightly, it's about a man whose amateur Super 8 films of his factory colleagues get reinterpreted as covert political statements by the authorities when he enters one of them for a competition.

It's fascinating to watch it in the light of his later films - at the time, it felt very safe to assume that he was some kind of sardonic political satirist, especially as the timing of its British release more or less coincided with the imposition of martial law in Poland, though in retrospect it's clear that it contains plenty of his favourite themes in embryonic form.

[byronsp]

but when do we get Double Life of Veronique???

[Michael Brooke]

I don't know who currently owns <I>The Double Life of Veronique</I> - it used to be Gala (theatrically) and Tartan (video), but I'm sure the rights must have expired ages ago.

In any case, I'll probably go for a French version when it appears - they're far more likely to get it right, and I've seen the film enough times for the potential lack of subtitles not to be a problem!