presents:
1970 Bergamo Film Festival / Winner: Grand Prix – Best Film
„It’s best to strap yourself in and allow a dizzying melange of visual and sonic flights of fancy to just wash over you and consider the result after the fact. It’s powered by pure sensory overload […] This new Blu-ray edition arrives on the film’s 50th anniversary, and it’s definitely worth celebrating.“ — David Jenkins, Little White Lies
„A collection of dream adventures, spurred by guiltless and poly-sexual eroticism. Virtually every shot is a knockout.“ — Jonathan Rosenbaum
„Valerie and Her Week of Wonders has transcended film, its country of origin, and everything that tethers it to a specific time and place. It is a cultural touchstone that will continue to find relevance as long as people sustain the ability to live free, love freely and dream outside all boundaries.“ — Greg Weeks, Espers/The Valerie Project
„Its overall effect is stunning.“ — Time Out
„Surreal and, at times, achingly beautiful.“ — All Movie Guide
„Once seen, Valerie is difficult to forget.“ — Kinoeye
„A work of both visceral immediacy and lingering allure, a uniquely influential film, one of intoxicating sensation and unconscious immersion — and one, for that matter, often recognised and referenced more than actually seen. […] his surrealist fantasy from 1970 represents both the spiritual culmination of the Czech new wave and a brave bid for a newly liberated filmic sensibility.“ — Slant magazine
With its stunning visuals and transcendent score by the great Luboš Fišer, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders is a potent mix of fairy tale, horror and surrealism, drawing the audience into the fantastical world inhabited by a young girl on the threshold of adulthood.
Caught between waking and dreaming, Valerie’s enchanted realm is inhabited by vampires and phantasmagorical creatures evoked in a marvellous kaleidoscope of intoxicating imagery. Haunting and poetic, Jaromil Jireš‘ audacious film casts a powerful spell. Recognised as one of the most enduring and influential fantasies ever made, it has become a cult classic.
Our region-free Blu-ray Special Edition features two expert audio commentaries (an all-new discussion of the film from The Projection Booth and featuring Mike White, Kat Ellinger and Samm Deighan; the other with Peter Hames and Daniel Bird), a filmed introduction by Michael Brooke, and an interview with ‚Valerie‘ herself, Jaroslava Schallerová. Our edition also includes three acclaimed short films by Jaromil Jireš: – Uncle (Strejda, 1959); the complete 21-minute version of Footprints (Stopy, 1960) – previously only available in a truncated form; and The Hall of Lost Footsteps (Sál ztracených kroků, 1960) with original colour sequences missing from previous releases – plus a 24-page booklet featuring writing on the film by Peter Hames and Joseph A Gervasi.
Czechoslovakia, 1970
Length / Main feature: 77 minutes
Length / Special features: 69 mins
Sound / 2.0 Stereo LPCM (48khz/24-bit)
Colour
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Language: Czech
Subtitles: English
Blu-Ray BD50 / 1080p / 24fps / Region ABC
RRP: £19.99
Release Date: 27 Jan 2020
SRBD 027
