Following on the heels of the recent DVD release of Punishment Park regular Twitch reader fired off a note to find out if there were any more Watkins releases coming and got himself an interesting response from the folks at Morningstar. Check it out:
"I asked Norm Wilner about why Morningstar Entertainment decided to release Watkins' Punishment Park a couple of weeks ago, and I thought you might be interested in how that came about. Anyway, the letterSorry it took so long to get back to you, but I've only just been able to find the answer to your Peter Watkins questions. Basically, it seems Morningstar got the gig because Watkins' people were referred to them by the director Ron Mann, who's worked with them a number of times and really liked the results.
And yes, there will be additional Watkins releases -- "Edvard Munch", "The War Game", "Culloden" and "The Commune" among them. Dates and specs have yet to be locked down, though; I wouldn't expect to see anything for a while. But at least we don't have to order his stuff from the UK anymore ...
Again, sorry for the delay ... hope it's of some help to you now.
Thanks for writing,
Norm Wilner
I'm somewhat familiar with Ron Mann's work, but I wasn't too thrilled with Grass and I don't know much about him to gauge his worth as a documentary filmmaker. Still, I thought it was interesting that Mr. Comic Book Confidential managed to convince Morningstar to release his stuff on R1. I wonder how Morningstar managed to get War Game on its long-list, considering the issues between BFI and Watkins.It's sort of a small-interest thing, but perhaps the time for him is now. Wonder how the five-to-ten-hour films of his will do, though."
-Cameron
Thanks for publishing this, kind of weird to publish the letter outright (unfocused as it is) but I really hope Morningstar doesn't stop at Punishment Park.
Hopefully, his films won't end up at Giant Tiger $6.88/$9.88 bins like I've seen happen to a lot of Morningstar product. I have that feeling Watkins will be sandwiched between two Air Farce DVD's by 2006-7, y'know?
Hi,
Since I'm the person working with Peter Watkins on making his films newly available in North America, I thought I'd correct some small inaccuracies and let you know what's happening.
Pretty soon we'll be starting the authoring of THE GLADIATORS, followed quickly by EDVARD MUNCH (long 220 min version). Both of these will be for Sep/Oct release. THE WAR GAME and CULLODEN will be out at the end of the year. THE FREETHINKER is planned for the early part of next year. Other titles are being discussed but there are certain logistical and rights issues to resolve first. Hopefully, in the end, we'll have a good collection (maybe even comprehensive) of Watkins films on DVD.
The licensing of THE WAR GAME is with the BBC, not the BFI. That took about a year and a half to nail down but at least it's done and now we have to deal with certain technical matters (eg getting the best possible master). Also, because THE WAR GAME is a mere 48 minutes, we need to put together an interesting package of extras since I'd rather not just take the simple route and pair it up with CULLODEN (70 mins). Any interesting ideas would be gratefully received!
Finally the tie-up with Morningstar Entertainment came about because of their handling of the Criterion Collection, Home Vision and Facets titles in Canada. Ron Mann wasn't involved.
Oliver Groom
Project X Distribution, Toronto
e: oliver@torontobritpics.com