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BFI Releasing Enys Men

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    JoeS
    Senior Member

  • JoeS
    replied
    Writer-Director Mark Jenkins' compellingly odd metaphysical tale set on a foreboding isle (the title translates as Stone Island). It's 1973. A lone Woman (Mary Woodvine) gets up every day, closely examines a half dozen flowers, takes the temperature of the soil they are planted in and drops a rock down a well to measure its water depth. She dutifully writes it all down in a diary. Her only contact with the outside world is through a ham radio which works sporadically due to an unsteady power source. She also receives some music and bits of news from a standard desktop radio.

    As time goes on, the Woman (unnamed) wanders around the island. Fragments and pieces of the place's history are strewn about or in a state of disrepair: a church, a mine and the remains of ship wreckage. There's a large standing stone looming over her small home that has taken on an almost human appearance. A few times, The Woman passes behind the rock and disappears from view, as if she were absorbed into it. The isle has seen boats and seamen come and go – and sometimes never pass by intact. The Woman also sees phantoms – a young girl, a Priest, male workers, a baby, a group of maidens etc.. Are they real? Is the Woman one or more of them? Jenkins isn't interested in answers, as much as evoking mysteries.

    Soon the flowers begin to show symptoms of lichen – a combination of fungus and algae that is consuming much of the habitat. ENYS MEN has its roots in folklore and there are even bits of body horror.

    Jenkins and his very small team create their own world. The physical movie itself is like an artifact from the 70s. It's shot on purposely grainy 16mm in the old school 1:33 aspect ratio. Jenkins also did the Cinematography, Editing and Score. Further, it's as if the whole film itself is an heirloom – a physical print with scratches, splices and even hairs in the gate. Is the print actually a movie or does it represent the woman's consciousness? Has it preserved actual events or just her memories and those of the villagers and seamen who have passed?

    ENYS MEN is a film to be experienced and contemplated. It won't satisfy those who want clear explanations, but, it's the kind of film that haunts the soul.

    ENYS MEN is currently available to stream on Hulu and Kanopy (free w/library card). It's on Blu Ray and DVD.

    Click image for larger version

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  • Ian Jane
    Administrator

  • Ian Jane
    started a topic BFI Releasing Enys Men

    BFI Releasing Enys Men

    Press release!

    ENYS MEN -A film by Mark Jenkin

    Mary Woodvine, Edward Rowe, Flo Crowe

    BFI Blu-ray/DVD and BFI Player Subscription Exclusive release on 8 May 2023
    Celebrated on May Day with a screening accompanied by live score at BFI Southbank



    This critically acclaimed mind-bending folk horror, set in 1973, unfolds atmospherically on an unpopulated island off the Cornish coast. There, a single volunteer (Mary Woodvine) recording data on an unfamiliar flower finds her lonely daily observations turning troublingly towards the strange and metaphysical, forcing her to question what is real and what is nightmare. Is the barren landscape not just alive... but also sentient?

    Shot by visionary filmmaker Mark Jenkin – the BAFTA award-winning director of BAIT – on grainy 16mm colour film and employing his trademark post-synched sound, ENYS MEN (pronounced ‘Mayne’) is technically innovative yet eerily evocative of the period it inhabits. Filmed on location around the disused tin mines of West Penwith, it is also an enigmatic ode to Cornwall’s rich traditions of folklore and the region’s rugged natural beauty.

    ENYS MEN was released in UK cinemas by BFI Distribution on 13 January 2023 and recently opened in the USA via Neon. The BFI’s Dual Format Edition Blu-ray/DVD and the simultaneous exclusive streaming release on BFI Player, are both available from 8 May 2023. To celebrate, BFI Southbank is presenting the film with a live score that sonically reimagines its source material on May Day, Monday 1 May at 18:40. The score will be performed by writer/director Mark Jenkin and Dion Star, known under the banner of their collaborative music project ‘The Cornish Sound Unit’, who employ improvised and composed pieces using tape machines, analogue synths, feedback and field recordings.

    Special features on the Dual Format Edition include an audio commentary by Mark Jenkin and Mark Kermode, recently filmed interviews, two complementary archival films and more.

    Special features
    • Presented in High Definition and Standard Definition
    • Audio commentary by director Mark Jenkin and film critic Mark Kermode (2023)
    • Mark Jenkin and Mary Woodvine in conversation with Mark Kermode (2022, 29 mins): the film’s director and its star discuss the making of Enys Men in an onstage Q&A filmed at BFI Southbank
    • Film Sounds (2023, 86 mins): Mark Jenkin and filmmaker Peter Strickland (Berberian Sound Studio, Flux Gourmet) discuss the subtleties of sound in film
    • Haunters of the Deep (1984, 61 mins): a Children’s Film Foundation adventure that shares many West Cornwall locations with Enys Men, and made quite an impression on Mark Jenkin
    • Recording the Score (2022, 6 mins): Mark Jenkin at work on the film’s distinctive soundtrack
    • Mark Jenkin’s audio diaries (2022, 90 mins): the director charts his filmmaking process
    • The Duchy of Cornwall (1938, 15 mins): the strange beauty of Cornwall resonates through this iconic film from the vaults of the BFI National Archive
    • Image gallery
    • Newly created audio description track
    • Theatrical trailer
    • ***First pressing only*** illustrated booklet with a Director’s Statement; essays by Tara Judah, Rob Young, William Fowler and Jason Wood; credits and notes on the special features

    Product details
    RRP: £19.99 / Cat. no. BFIB1483 / 15
    UK / 2022 / colour / 90 mins / English language with optional subtitles for the Deaf and partial hearing, plus optional audio description / original aspect ratio 1.45:1 // BD50: 1080p, 24fps, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 audio and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo audio / DVD9: PAL, 25fps, Dolby Digital 5.1 audio and Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo audio

    Pre-order ENYS MEN from the BFI Shop:
    https://shop.bfi.org.uk/enys-men-dua...condition.html

    Subscribe to BFI Player here:
    www.bfi.org.uk/player

    Tickets for the BFI Southbank presentation with live score on Monday 1 May are on sale now:
    www.bfi.org.uk/southbank

    BFI Blu-ray/DVD releases can be ordered from home entertainment online retailers or from the BFI Shop at https://shop.bfi.org.uk/

    About the BFI
    We are a cultural charity, a National Lottery distributor, and the UK’s lead organisation for film and the moving image.
    Our mission is:
    ● To support creativity and actively seek out the next generation of UK storytellers
    ● To grow and care for the BFI National Archive, the world’s largest film and television archive
    ● To offer the widest range of UK and international moving image culture through our programmes and festivals - delivered online and in venue
    ● To use our knowledge to educate and deepen public appreciation and understanding
    ● To work with Government and industry to ensure the continued growth of the UK’s screen industries

    Founded in 1933, the BFI is a registered charity governed by Royal Charter.
    The BFI Board of Governors is chaired by Tim Richards.

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