Quay Brothers: The Collected Animation Films 1979-2013

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Rsdio
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Re: Quay Brothers - The Short Films 1979-2003

#76 Post by Rsdio » Fri Apr 06, 2012 11:54 am

If anyone's anywhere near here (Leeds) or wants to make the trip:
One of 12 Artists Taking the Lead commissions established by the UK Arts Councils for the Cultural Olympiad in the run-up to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, internationally acclaimed artist filmmakers, The Quay Brothers, will bring their mysterious, darkly beautiful & ethereal ideas to some of Leeds’ most impressive public spaces.

OverWorlds & UnderWorlds will involve live performance and installations to create a large-scale public event involving music, dance, theatre, film and light. Rivalling the scale, complexity & ambition of a major feature film, it goes on location in the centre of Leeds from 18-20 May 2012 where the event will be staged for free, for one weekend only.

Lead artists working with The Quay Brothers to produce OverWorlds & UnderWorlds:

• Gavin Bryars: Musician & Composer

• Mic Pool: Sound Designer

• Daniel de Andrade: Choreographer

• Gary Clarke: Dancer & Choreographer

• Blake Morrison: Librettist, playwright & writer

• Charlotte Vincent: Dancer & Choreographer

• Douglas Thorpe: Choreographer

The weekend of free public performances and installations, which will be shrouded in secrecy until May 2012, begins on Briggate, a pedestrian street that runs through the heart of the city. It will also involve impressive landmarks and sites around the city centre including the subterranean Dark Arches, a complex of tunnels that spread beneath Leeds Train Station, and bridge the River Aire.
Website here.

Drawingoflamporstick
Joined: Wed Sep 07, 2011 4:16 pm

Re: Quay Brothers - The Short Films 1979-2003

#77 Post by Drawingoflamporstick » Mon May 07, 2012 9:06 pm

Through the Weeping Glass: On the Consolations of Life Everlasting (Limbos & Afterbreezes in the Mütter Museum) is available on dvd from the Mütter Museum store for $14.95 and $8.50 shipping in the US. I just ordered a copy myself.

Here's some info from the museum site:
"Through the Weeping Glass: On the Consolations of Life Everlasting (Limbos & Afterbreezes in the Mütter Museum)" is a documentary on the collections of books, instruments, and medical anomalies at The College of Physicians of Philadelphia and the Mütter Museum. This short film, commissioned by the College, is the first made by the internationally recognized Quay Brothers in the United States. The coupling of the Quay Brothers’ vision with the collections of the Mütter Museum and the College’s Historical Medical Library has produced a riveting experience of contemplative set pieces in which the Quays find poetry in the ill-fated, true-life stories of the “ossified man” Harry Eastlack and famed Siamese twins Chang and Eng Bunker. Adding to the film’s visual strength is a powerful musical score by composer Timothy Nelson and a resonant voice-over by Derek Jacobi.

DVD EDITION • 2012 • 31 minutes • black & white and color • Dolby sound • aspect ratio 16:9 The disc also includes the documentary “Behind the Scenes with the Quay Brothers” and the complete original music, from which the soundtrack was composed, as mp3 downloadable audio files.

NTSC Format.
I wish these guys would let someone know when they release new work. It's interesting that this short along with Maska have narration. I feel that the shift from the Brothers Quay to the Quay Brothers somehow reflects this.

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MichaelB
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Re: Quay Brothers - The Short Films 1979-2003

#78 Post by MichaelB » Tue May 08, 2012 2:27 am

Drawingoflamporstick wrote:I wish these guys would let someone know when they release new work. It's interesting that this short along with Maska have narration. I feel that the shift from the Brothers Quay to the Quay Brothers somehow reflects this.
There's no shift - they've alternated throughout their career. For instance, Street of Crocodiles (1986) is credited to the Quay Brothers.

Narration isn't new either, but this has been muddied by the brothers' refusal to sanction most of their pre-1984 works being distributed.

Drawingoflamporstick
Joined: Wed Sep 07, 2011 4:16 pm

Re: Quay Brothers - The Short Films 1979-2003

#79 Post by Drawingoflamporstick » Tue May 08, 2012 4:24 am

MichaelB wrote:There's no shift - they've alternated throughout their career. For instance, Street of Crocodiles (1986) is credited to the Quay Brothers.

Narration isn't new either, but this has been muddied by the brothers' refusal to sanction most of their pre-1984 works being distributed.
Interesting, thanks MichaelB. Quay Brothers still feels backwards to me, but there it is like you said.

I also recently picked up Conjunctions: 46 which features Ten Unproduced Scenarios by The Quay Brothers although I don't see it saying so on the amazon page. I learned of this through The Quay Brothers: Into a Metaphysical Playroom book.

Do you know if their actually produced films had similar "scenarios"? I never imagined from interviews that they would be anything but cryptic. These are fascinatingly constructed as they are just on the page.

Drawingoflamporstick
Joined: Wed Sep 07, 2011 4:16 pm

Re: Quay Brothers - The Short Films 1979-2003

#80 Post by Drawingoflamporstick » Fri May 18, 2012 6:54 am

OverWorlds & UnderWorlds is/are? going to be streamed live for free on the space today and tomorrow at 6-8 pm U.K. time.
10 am PST

bommelbot
Joined: Wed Aug 04, 2010 3:53 pm

Re: Quay Brothers - The Short Films 1979-2003

#81 Post by bommelbot » Wed Jun 20, 2012 3:12 pm

MichaelB wrote:
Drawingoflamporstick wrote:I wish these guys would let someone know when they release new work. It's interesting that this short along with Maska have narration. I feel that the shift from the Brothers Quay to the Quay Brothers somehow reflects this.
There's no shift - they've alternated throughout their career. For instance, Street of Crocodiles (1986) is credited to the Quay Brothers.
Their company is also named Atelier Koninck QBFZ, Ltd, isn't it?

Which will stand for "Quay Brothers Frank Zappa" in my mind, until someone tells me otherwise.

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antnield
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Re: Quay Brothers - The Short Films 1979-2003

#82 Post by antnield » Thu Aug 30, 2012 6:18 pm

Interview with the brothers from the BBC's Talking Movies to coincide with the MoMA retrospective. (Not sure if this will play outside of the UK.)

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denti alligator
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Re: Quay Brothers - The Short Films 1979-2003

#83 Post by denti alligator » Thu Aug 30, 2012 10:30 pm

Still love to see Ghelderode and Punch and Judy, which I've never seen...the really early stuff is apparently lost forever, AFAIR "a flood" destroyed Der Loop de Loop, Il Duetto and Palais en Flammes.
The really early stuff is indeed lost forever - it was on a single reel which fell victim to a basement flood. Ghelderode and Punch and Judy are still distributed by the Arts Council, as far as I'm aware - I've never seen them myself, and one of the Quays told me that he thought that Ghelderode was their worst film by far, but they should still be viewable with a bit of effort.
These can't have been lost entirely. Der Loop de Loop, Il Duetto and Palais en Flammes are all playing at the MoMA exhibit. I saw them a few weeks ago, along with a bunch of other rare material. The exhibit is really stunning!

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MichaelB
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Re: Quay Brothers - The Short Films 1979-2003

#84 Post by MichaelB » Fri Aug 31, 2012 4:11 am

Well, the "destroyed in a flood" story was the official word on the films, as described in detail in Afterimage magazine and confirmed to me personally when we were going over their filmography when putting the shorts compilation together.

I've long been aware that anything the twins tell me should be taken with the proverbial pinch of salt, but in a situation like this you can't really say "I don't believe you - I insist that you let me search your studio from top to bottom!"

merzbau
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Re: Quay Brothers - The Short Films 1979-2003

#85 Post by merzbau » Wed Apr 23, 2014 7:03 pm

Hello all- longtime lurker, finally convinced to create an account after learning of Arrow's Borowczyk box set during an idle browse of the forums.

I have a question for anyone who's bought the Through the Weeping Glass DVD. I bought a copy directly from the Mütter Museum here in Philly, but unfortunately, my PS3 is refusing to play anything but the menu- when I try to play the feature, I get an error message telling me the PAL broadcast format is not supported and I'm immediately booted out of the disc. Has this happened to anyone else in R1? I'm wondering if it's a problem specific to the PS3 firmware, since the packaging says the disc should be in NTSC, and there's no reason whatsoever why a product made for sale in the United States would be in PAL.

Second, does anyone know if Maska has home video distribution in any territory? I saw a brief mention of a R2 DVD on someone's blog a few months ago, but haven't been able to confirm this anywhere.

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antnield
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Re: Quay Brothers - The Short Films 1979-2003

#86 Post by antnield » Thu Apr 24, 2014 7:26 am

merzbau wrote:Second, does anyone know if Maska has home video distribution in any territory? I saw a brief mention of a R2 DVD on someone's blog a few months ago, but haven't been able to confirm this anywhere.
It appeared on this set. (Region-free PAL.)

merzbau
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Re: Quay Brothers - The Short Films 1979-2003

#87 Post by merzbau » Thu Apr 24, 2014 8:39 am

Thanks! I'm torn on whether to track it down immediately or hope that a follow-up DVD might happen, especially since Songs for Dead Children has never been released in the US- Zeitgeist's DVD of Institute Benjamenta only includes Eurydice, She So Beloved. Between Maska, Songs, Eurydice, Stille Nacht V, and other odds and ends (a high-res copy of their 16 Horsepower video would be lovely), there's certainly enough material to justify it.

The issue with the Through the Weeping Glass DVD won't be a problem for much longer, since the Borowczyk box and a few other R2-only releases (Away With Words, White of the Eye, The Conformist, Deep End, the recut of Wild Side, a Svankmajer set that wasn't haphazardly slapped together, etc) finally convinced me to pick up a multi-region, PAL-converting player, but it's still pretty weird.

lefeufollet
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Re: Quay Brothers - The Short Films 1979-2003

#88 Post by lefeufollet » Thu Feb 19, 2015 10:10 pm

There's not much by way of specific detail yet, but Zeitgeist and Syncopy will be issuing a Quay Brothers short films collection on Blu-ray this fall, per Variety.

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jbeall
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Re: Quay Brothers - The Short Films 1979-2003

#89 Post by jbeall » Sun Aug 16, 2015 9:04 pm


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NABOB OF NOWHERE
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Re: Quay Brothers - The Short Films 1979-2003

#90 Post by NABOB OF NOWHERE » Thu Aug 20, 2015 3:25 pm

Do we stand firm in the face of Zeitgeist's blu set in the hope that BFI conjure this up in the new year or cave in before Xmas?

AK
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Re: Quay Brothers - The Short Films 1979-2003

#91 Post by AK » Wed Dec 02, 2015 2:19 pm

MichaelB wrote:For those who are Region B-locked, the Quays' regular producer Keith Griffiths has just confirmed that there'll be a BFI edition at some point in 2016. No surprise at all, of course - most of the contents of the Zeitgeist disc came from them - but it's good to know for sure.
Thanks for the info. I'll surely get that one too. Nocturna might be included here, right? I'd also be interested to know whether they'll put in Eurydice and Songs for Dead Children for completion's sake, or whether they'll want them only to be available on the Institute Benjamenta disk.

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rapta
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Re: Quay Brothers - The Short Films 1979-2003

#92 Post by rapta » Thu May 05, 2016 7:58 pm

Excellent news...Quay Brothers Collection (Blu-ray) set for September 19th: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Quay-Brothers- ... B01F72POIS" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Glad to hear this confirmed after some quiet rumours over the past year or so. I wonder if they'll include the Nolan short. I expect a proper announcement will appear soon detailing the full Q3 slate.

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MichaelB
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Re: Quay Brothers - The Short Films 1979-2003

#93 Post by MichaelB » Fri May 06, 2016 5:39 am

I would assume specs would be broadly similar to the Zeitgeist set, given that Zeitgeist drew heavily on the BFI's own materials. And they're more than welcome to use my updated Quay Brothers Dictionary - in fact, I might drop them a line to make sure that they're aware that it's been expanded from the original 2006 version.

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rapta
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Re: Quay Brothers - The Short Films 1979-2003

#94 Post by rapta » Fri May 06, 2016 1:31 pm

MichaelB wrote:I would assume specs would be broadly similar to the Zeitgeist set, given that Zeitgeist drew heavily on the BFI's own materials. And they're more than welcome to use my updated Quay Brothers Dictionary - in fact, I might drop them a line to make sure that they're aware that it's been expanded from the original 2006 version.
So that presumably that would add Maska (2010), Through the Weeping Glass (2011), and Unmistaken Hands (2013), as well as the Nolan film. I wonder if the content on the second disc of the DVD release will be included too?

Either way, this is one I'll certainly be upgrading. Happy to see more Brothers Quay on Blu-ray from the BFI!

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tenia
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Re: Quay Brothers - The Short Films 1979-2003

#95 Post by tenia » Fri May 06, 2016 2:54 pm

I was looking to buy the US set since quite some time but I'd happily support a BFI release if it proves to be equivalent (ie if we don't lose anything valuable from the US set).

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Re: Quay Brothers - The Short Films 1979-2003

#96 Post by swo17 » Thu Aug 04, 2016 9:21 pm

Image

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rapta
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Re: Quay Brothers - The Short Films 1979-2003

#97 Post by rapta » Thu Aug 04, 2016 9:28 pm

Delayed to October 3rd too, and "1979-2013" seems to confirm what was suspected - this looks like it will include everything from the Zeitgeist set from last year as well as all the extra material from the second disc of the previous BFI DVD set, which would make this the definitive Brothers Quay set to date!

Hopefully all the extras will be included as well as everything booklet-wise from both releases. Anything extra would obviously be even more amazing! Looking forward to this, and hope it means more animation on Blu-ray in the coming years.

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MichaelB
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Re: Quay Brothers - The Short Films 1979-2003

#98 Post by MichaelB » Sat Aug 06, 2016 5:33 am

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.

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rapta
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Re: Quay Brothers - The Short Films 1979-2003

#99 Post by rapta » Sat Aug 06, 2016 9:20 am

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.
It sounds like they're doing that disc-wise so glad to hear they're going to attempt to do the same booklet-wise too! Great stuff.

billfitzgerald
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Re: Quay Brothers - The Short Films 1979-2003

#100 Post by billfitzgerald » Thu Aug 11, 2016 2:27 pm

Some more details from Amazon UK:
This comprehensive two-disc set provides an overview of the Quays' career, containing twenty-four of their short films - three UK premieres and five world premieres - and also includes Christopher Nolan's new short documentary, Quay (2015), revealing the inner workings of the brothers studio.

The Films:

Nocturna Artificialia (1979)
The Cabinet of Jan Svankmajer (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 l, Stille Nacht ll, Stille Nacht lll 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 Prescription for Lip-Reading Puppets'

UK | 1979-2013 | colour, and black and white | English language | 305 minutes | Various original aspect ratios | BD50 x 2 | 1080p | 24fps | PCM audio (48kHz/24-bit) | Cert 12 | Region B
For those keeping score, this set will have all of the films from the Zeitgeist Blu-ray plus nine more, four of which don't seem to have been on home video before. It looks like all of the extras from the BFI and Zeitgeist DVD sets, with the exception of the "Archival Interview", will be on this new set too.

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