A box set of pioneering Polish film director Walerian Borowczyk’s work is currently in the offing from Arrow Films, set to include all of his shorts and features up to his 1975 film La bête. Arrow have launched a Kickstarter to restore his Goto, l’île d’amour, which is currently, nearing its target of £20,000. We’d encourage you to donate if you can, so have a watch of the Terry Gilliam introducing the director’s work above, with Arrow’s Anthony Nield filling us in on the project below:
"The UK-based DVD and Blu-ray label Arrow – responsible for bringing various cult and classic movies onto shiny disc – are currently in the midst of a Kickstarter campaign to restore Goto, l’île d’amour, the feature-length, live-action debut of Walerian Borowczyk, the Polish-born animator and filmmaker.
"A hugely influential albeit somewhat forgotten and misunderstood figure, Borowczyk is to be the subject of an impressive multi-disc boxed-set in mid-2014; one that hopes to reclaim his status as one of the greats in world cinema. To date Arrow have undertaken extensive restoration work on a number of his short films and two early features (the animated Le théâtre de M. et Mme. Kabal and Blanche), plus they’ve acquired new masters of Contes immoraux and La Bête.
"Where the Kickstarter comes in is in assuring that Goto, l’île d’amour matches the standards already set. Should it prove successful, all of the surviving elements from the French National Film Archive will be shipped to London where they will be transferred and restored in high definition. Currently, Arrow only has access to a dated video master – should the Kickstarter fail, this is what will appear on the set.
"The main enticement, besides aiding in the rescue of a masterpiece, is that all pledges of £60 or more will receive a copy of boxed-set come release date. That’s four Blu-ray and seven DVDs, or five features and 14 shorts, all for a price that’s going to be much cheaper than retailers will be offering next year. (Arrow haven’t yet set an RRP, but £99.99 is being mooted.)
"At the time of writing, the tally currently stands at £19,483 of the £20,000 target. So please do watch the video above and then head over the Kickstarter page and help Arrow achieve their final goal.
"Should the target be exceeded over the coming weeks, then any additional funds will be used solely to work on some of Borowczyk’s short films that would benefit from new transfers and restorations."
