Frederick Wiseman on DVD

[Dadapass]

Zipporah Films will release La Danse on Blu-ray! In late July

[domino harvey]

Don't do backflips yet, what are the odds it won't be a BD-R

[perkizitore]

The Blu-ray seems to be available now.

[Oedipax]

It's kind of absurd to pay $51.90 for a single disc bluray, but it seems I just did exactly that. $6.95 for UPS ground shipping, quite the bargain! I'll report back sometime next week (hopefully).

[Person]

I love ballet and have heard of this film but... $52? What's that in Her Majesty's money... £34? Whew!

[perkizitore]

The French blu-ray costs 24 euros plus shipping, but it hasn't been released yet.

[Oedipax]

The French blu-ray costs 24 euros plus shipping, but it hasn't been released yet.

We also don't know what the subtitle status will be.

[yoshimori]

The Zipporah blu-ray seems to have non-removable English subs - if anyone cares. And yes! $52 is steep. But I'm sure I once paid $52 for a r2jp of Ballet ... and that had burned in Japanese subs.

PQ looks good to me. Crisp. Seems to be bdr. Crappy photocopied cover art.

[Dadapass]

Wiseman is now working on a new film about UC Berkeley.

[zedz]

Apropos of not much, I finally watched my spiffing DVD-R of Welfare last weekend and loved it. The long sequence at the centre of the film between the racist veteran and the incredibly patient black cop calmly batting away every stream of invective is one of the best-crafted dramatic scenes I've ever seen on film, even though it wasn't crafted at all and isn't a 'dramatic scene' (and is the scene in the film least 'on topic'). The big monologue (i.e. crazy rant) at the end also gives the film a certain 'literary' quality, further expanding the texture of a film that was already incredibly rich and complicated.

[Niale]

I emailed ziporah films to see if they were remastering in hd yet... and although I did not get the news I was hoping for...
I DID GET SOME GOOD NEWS!!

Hi there,

We plan to begin offering streaming options of the films in the future, but there is no concrete time frame for this. There are no current HD remastering projects in the works.

Thanks!

Natalia

Natalia Naman
Office Manager
Zipporah Films, Inc.

[Perkins Cobb]

Uh, what's the good news?

[Matt]

I was going to make an unkind joke about this, something about Wiseman charging $40 per single-view 128kbps RealPlayer stream, but then I thought better of it.

[henry001]

I have been trying to purchase DVDs from Zipporah Films web site past a couple of weeks now, but the server did not respond. Amazon has a few titles, but none that I want. Do you guys have any idea why the server is down and for how long?

[rockysds]

English-subtitled Hong Kong blu-ray of Crazy Horse: $20.99 at YesAsia.

[Oedipax]

Thanks for the heads up - comes out to just under $25 shipped to the U.S.

[Oedipax]

Just noticed At Berkeley is up for purchase on Zipporah. DVD-only, however, which makes me wonder if it might be worthwhile to wait/hope for a bluray release in some other territory. Probably not, huh.

Considering the site does list a blu-ray copy available for screening rentals, I wonder if only selling DVDs is a way to keep that end of the business more lucrative. More power to Wiseman for doing what he needs to in order to keep making films and being financially viable, but it sure is annoying sometimes.

[Aunt Peg]

At Berkeley is only available for sale to North American residents at this stage.

[Oedipax]

Gotta protect those foreign territory rights sales, I guess. Meanwhile it's already popping up online, so uh, way to go I guess.

[Oedipax]

So I finally got around to watching La Danse the other night, the Zipporah blu-ray version, and lo and behold, neither of my players could recognize or play the disc.

Has anyone else had this problem? My primary player is my PS3 but I also have an oddball Harmon Kardon that I believe is basically a modified Momitsu; I use it as a region-free player.

[Ashirg]

I wish they would already license The Cool World to Milestone Film. It's not like they plan anything to do with it themselves (nothing new happened with it since 2010 update).

[Gregory]

The way they've done nothing with it for so many years is unconscionable. After the January 2010 update posted by Cash Flagg on the previous page, I checked with them later that year (they'd told me I should keep checking in with them for any updates). Their reply was that they had no news for me except that they'd hoped to work on plans for restoration work by the end of the year. I checked with them again in late 2011 and got no reply, so I've all but given up on it since then.

[swo17]

Back by popular demand, for a limited time only. Create your own DVD BOX SET of the documentaries of Frederick Wiseman! Choose from 38 films at a great holiday discount. The holidays are a perfect time to share your favorite Wiseman films with loved ones (shipped in a festive holiday box) or to complete your own collection. Check out the classics, like TITICUT FOLLIES and HIGH SCHOOL; acquire recent favorites like AT BERKELEY, BOXING GYM, and CRAZY HORSE; or discover a new favorite like CENTRAL PARK, RACETRACK, or BELFAST, MAINE.

For 3 DVDs: BOX3 (10% off)
For 4 DVDs: BOX4 (15% off)
For 5 DVDs: BOX5 (20% off)

This is a limited time offer through January 6, 2015—so don’t wait! To order your box set of Wiseman documentaries, choose from the full catalogue at http://www.zipporah.com/films" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and enter the promotional code at checkout. And don’t forget to include a gift message!

[rockysds]

National Gallery coming out on bluray in France from Blaq Out, who also did a dvd of At Berkeley earlier this year.

[isakborg]

I received the Blaq Out release of Wiseman's National Gallery from Amazon fr, and cannot get it to play on my modified all-region Oppo. (I am native to Region A, the disc is Region B.) On one try I received the wrong region message, on another try I got to the Blaq Out logo, which then went to gray and would go no further, and other times I would get the loading icon and then - nothing. I've never had this problem before (I do a lot of non-Region A buying.) Has anyone had this problem with this release? Or any other blu-ray Blaq Outs?