Salo On Blu-ray and DVD in the UK from BFI
Salò
or The 120 Days of Sodom
A film by Pier Paolo Pasolini
NOTE: The BFI Blu-ray release of Salo will be coded for Region B.
The world’s most controversial film comes to DVD and Blu-ray in 2-disc editions on 29 September. Presented fully uncut and in its most complete version, the film has been re-mastered from the original Italian restoration negatives.
Pier Paolo Pasolini’s final and most shocking film has been banned, censored and reviled the world over since its first release in 1975. Salò did not receive UK certification until late 2000, when it was passed uncut. The BFI then released it on DVD in 2001 and, despite having been out of print for almost three years, the title still ranks amongst BFI’s all-time top 10 best-selling DVDs.
The film’s content and imagery is extreme and it retains the power to shock, repel and distress even today. A brutal allegory based on the novel 120 Days of Sodom by the Marquis de Sade, the film is a cinematic milestone – culturally significant, politically vital and visually stunning.
Disc one (DVD and Blu-ray) - Salò
•Complete and uncut, re-mastered from original Italian restoration negatives
•Original Italian language version (with optional English subtitles)
•Original English language version (with optional subtitles for the hearing-impaired)
•Original Italian trailer (with optional English subtitles)
•Coil - Ostia (the Death of Pasolini) The original 1986 track from Coil’s celebrated second album, Horse Rotorvator, with a newly created video accompaniment, shot especially for this release by Peter Christopherson
Disc two (standard def PAL DVD disc, included in both DVD & Blu-ray editions)
•Open Your Eyes! (2008, 21 mins) - Newly created on-set documentary using full colour footage shot in 1974 by acclaimed film journalist and Pasolini expert Gideon Bachmann.
•Walking with Pasolini (Roberto Purvis, 2008, 21 mins) - New documentary exploring the meaning and impact of Pasolini’s film, with Neil Bartlett, David Forgacs, Noam Chomsky and Craig Lapper (Chief Examiner, BBFC).
•Whoever Says the Truth Shall Die (1981, 58 mins) Philo Bregstein’s classic documentary on the life and death of Pier Paolo Pasolini.
•Fade to Black (Nigel Algar, 2001, 24 mins) - Documentary with Mark Kermode exploring the ongoing relevance and power of Pasolini’s controversial masterpiece, with Bernardo Bertolucci and other leading directors.
•Ostia (Julian Cole, 1991, 25 mins, with optional director commentary track) – Cole’s rarely seen short film about the last days of Pasolini, starring Derek Jarman.
Extensive illustrated booklet including:
•Newly commissioned essay by Sam Rohdie (Italian film scholar and author of The Passion of Pier Paolo Pasolini)
•Sight & Sound feature by Gideon Bachmann incorporating his on-set diary
•1979 review of the film by Gilbert Adair
•James Ferman’s (BBFC) letter of appeal to the Director of Public Prosecutions
•Pasolini biography by Italian film specialist Geoffrey Nowell-Smith
•Photographs of Pasolini at work on set
•Cast and credits for the film
Release date: 29 September 2008
Italy, France / 1975 / colour / cert 18
DVD RRP £22.99 / cat no: BFIVD791
1.85:1 (16×9 Enhanced) / PAL DVD9 / DD mono (320 kbps)
BD RRP £24.99 / cat no: BFIB1001
1.85:1 (1080p, 24fps) / BD25 / PCM mono
Coil - Ostia (the Death of Pasolini) (1.77:1/1080p, 24fps)
Available from the Filmstore at BFI Southbank, London SE1 and all good DVD retailers; by mail order from the Filmstore on 020 7815 1350 or online www.bfi.org.uk/filmstore
