Film / Not Film (DVD & Blu-ray)

A Film by Samuel Beckett and a Kino-Essay by Ross Lipman

3-Disc Dual Format Edition (DVD/Blu-ray) release on 22 May 2017

Film (1965), Nobel Prize winner Samuel Beckett’s lone work for projected cinema, is a beguiling experimental short film in which a probing camera pursues a character named “O”, played by silent screen legend Buster Keaton.

In his Kino-Essay, Notfilm (2015), Ross Lipman explores the history surrounding the production of Film. Citing the work of Buñuel, Vertov, Vigo and Eisenstein,

and featuring interviews with cinematographer Haskell Wexler, Billie Whitelaw, producer Barney Rosset and others, Notfilm examines Film's genesis, production, themes, and philosophical implications.

Special features

•   New restoration of Film (1965) by Ross Lipman and the UCLA Film and Television Archive

•   Film (David Rayner Clark, 1979, 26 mins): rare British remake starring comedian Max Wall

•   The Street Scene (6 mins): a lost scene reconstruction from the Film outtakes

•   The Dog and Cat Takes (8 mins): outtakes from the 1965 version of Film

•   'What if E's Eyes Were Closed?' (7 mins): audio recordings of Beckett, Kaufman

  and Schneider

•   Buster Keaton and Film: James Karen in Conversation (42 mins)

•   Memories of Samuel Beckett: An Afternoon with James Knowlson (8 mins)

•   Jean Schneider: Memories of Alan Schneider (11 mins)

•   Jeanette Seaver: Beckett and Godot (4 mins)

•   Photos Galleries

•   Photographing Beckett (7 mins)

•   Notfilm trailer

•   The Music of Notfilm: downloadable MP3 recording by Mihály Víg (DVD only)

•   Illustrated booklet with new writings by Ross Lipman, Michael Brooke and Vic

  Pratt

  Product details
  RRP: £19.99/ Cat. no. BFIB1235 / Cert PG
  Film/Notfilm: USA / 1965 + 2015 / black and white / 22 mins and 129 mins / English language, with optional hard-of-hearing subtitles / original aspect ratio 1.37:1 // BD50: 1080p, 24fps, Film: PCM 2.0 mono (48kHz/24-bit) Notfilm: 5.1 DTS-HD master audio (48kHz/24-bit) DVD9 x 2: PAL, 25fps, Film: Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (224kbps) Notfilm: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround (224kbps)