Cinematic Sorceress: The Films of Nina Menkes [New Blu-ray] Full Frame, Subtit

Description: This comprehensive Blu-ray 2-disc Set features new restorations of Menkes’ trailblazing narrative works.Over the past 30 years “cinematic sorceress” Nina Menkes has produced a visually stunning and uncompromising body of work that stands alone in the landscape of American Independent cinema. Beginning with a quartet of films — The Great Sadness of Zohara (1983), Magdalena Viraga (1986), Queen of Diamonds (1991) and The Bloody Child (1996) — that Menkes produced, wrote, directed, and shot, all of which star her sister and early muse Tinka Menkes, and concluding with a pair of surreal black and white psychodramas — Phantom Love (2007) and Dissolution (2012) — CINEMATIC SORCERESS:THE FILMS OF NINA MENKES IS a comprehensive survey of one of the most essential filmmakers working today.Arbelos is proud to present The Great Sadness o f Zohara and Magdalena Viraga in new 2K restorations, Queen of Diamonds and The Bloody Child in new 4K restorations courtesy of the The Academy Film Archive and The Film Foundation, with funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation and Phantom Love in a newly remastered version. Magdalena Viraga and Queen of Diamonds are co-presented with Eos World Fund.The Great Sadness of Zohara (1983)40 minutesFull Screen 1.33:1PCM MonoAlienated from her Orthodox Jewish community in Jerusalem, a young woman opens to the world of the spirit. Surrounded by dark sounds of the ‘Other Side’, she is drawn into remote and increasingly desolate regions of Arab lands. Her journey, like a mystical quest through her own inner landscapes, culminates in her return to Jerusalem. There, indelibly marked, she confronts her deeper loneliness and devastating sense of exile.Magdalena Viragra (1979)90 minutesFull Screen 1.33:1PCM MonoSet in decaying boudoirs and bloody dance falls, within the brutal confines of an oppressive regime and the back reaches of the protagonist’s mind, Magdalena Viraga is a tale of murder and crucifixion, alienation and friendship, past and present. It leaves us empty of hope but full of desire. It is a story of a story that cannot be told, a story that has been forgotten for all time; it is a tale of the Second Coming that has been and can never be.Queen of Diamonds (1991)77 minutesHigh Definition 1080p 1.66:1DTS 5.1 HDQueen of Diamonds follows the life of Firdaus (Tinka Menkes), a Blackjack dealer in Las Vegas landscape juxtaposed between glittering casino lights and the surrounding barren desert landscapes. Negotiating a missing husband and neighboring domestic violence, Firdaus’ world unfolds as a fragmented but hypnotic interplay between repetition and repressed anger. Shot with beautiful compositional rigor, Queen of Diamonds is a remarkable and demanding masterpiece of American independent filmmaking.The Bloody Child (1996)86 minutesHigh Definition 1080p 1.66:1DTS 5.1 HDA young US Marine, recently back from the Gulf War, was found digging a grave for his murdered wife in the middle of the California Mojave. Inspired by this real event, Menkes turns the man’s arrest—a single moment in time—into a harrowing hallucinatory journey. Shot in North Africa and 29 Palms, California, The Bloody Child brings together Marines from Operation Desert Storm, playing themselves, with text from Shakespeare’s Macbeth to create a brutal and profound look at the desolation of violence. Newly restored, Menkes’ acclaimed third film was an official selection for the 2021 New York Film Festival.Phantom Love (2007)87 minutes, B&WHigh Definition 1080p 1.66:1PCM StereoPhantom Love is a surreal drama about an enmeshed family, in which violence and trauma are steadily percolating, just beneath the surface. The main character, Lulu (Marina Shoif) appears at first to be a continuation of the frozen heroine Tinka represented in Menkes’s earlier films and refers to her directly: she has alienated sex (like in Magdalena Viraga) and works in a casino (like in Queen of Diamonds). But midway into the story, this character explodes – literally. The ice shield shatters and a wounded, raw interior comes crashing out, finally leading to glimmers of light and liberation.Dissolution (2012)88 minutes, B&WHigh Definition 1080p 1.78:1DTS 5.1 HDLoosely inspired by Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, Dissolution combines an almost surreal fairy-tale energy with brutal black-and-white realism to explore the condition of violence which permeates contemporary Israeli society. Shot in Jaffa (the predominantly Arab area of Tel Aviv), the movie follows the moral collapse and possible redemption of a young, morose Jewish Israeli, powerfully played by a non professional actor, David (Didi) Fire.Special Features:New 2K restoration of MAGDALENA VIRAGA.New 4K restoration of QUEEN OF DIAMONDS.New 4K restoration of THE BLOODY CHILD.New remaster of THE GREAT SADNESS OF ZOHARA.New remaster of PHANTOM LOVE.New video interview with Nina Menkes and Mike Plante.Q+A with Nina Menkes and K.J. Relth-Miller.Q+A with Nina Menkes and Ann Hornaday.New video essay Cards on the Table by Jessica McGoff.Audio commentaries with Nina Menkes on four films.Original short feature The Lioness.Cinematic Sorceress theatrical retrospective trailer.U.S. theatrical trailer of QUEEN OF DIAMONDS.U.S. theatrical trailer of THE BLOODY CHILD.Booklet featuring a new essay by Elena Gorfinkel.English subtitles on all six films.

Price: 14.99 USD

Location: South San Francisco, California

End Time: 2024-07-25T23:42:31.000Z

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