Criterion’s Albert Lamorisse box set has hit the streets — so here’s my accompanying essay, published over at their place. Hope you enjoy it — thanks are due to Christine Leteux for digging into the French archives and translating what she found, so I could get the facts — and Albert’s voice — into the piece.
I only just realised I’m in a very (for me, anyway) unusual position. I have completed six jobs, video essays or text essays for Blu-ray releases, which I don’t have copies of yet. For four different companies.
But I can’t talk about all of them yet as they haven’t all been announced. The Albert Lamorisse box set from Criterion is one that has, and that was a pleasure to write a career overview for, renewing my collaboration with NATAN researcher Christine Leteux who dug up and translated lots of valuable stuff. And Masters of Cinema have announced PANDORA’S BOX, which Fiona and I both made pieces for, working with editor Chase Barthel. Review copies have gone out so our own comps should come soon.
Fiona and I, with Chase again, just finished a bunch of pieces (one big and three small) for a very exciting MoC release but I can say no more just now. I got a whole bunch of friends and strangers and students to contribute voice work to this, so the pieces will certainly SOUND interesting.
One I haven’t mentioned before is MURPHY’S WAR, the Peter Yates pic with Peter O’Toole — Chase and I made a video for Arrow’s US release of that. But I did another for the same company, with Timo Langer cutting, that’s still under wraps.
And I just finished my second video essay for Radiance, edited by Laura Wiggett, which went very smoothly and should be announced soon. A hint has already been given.
Finishing up a script for a seventh piece, which I might even get around to recording over the weekend — recording VO is my least favourite part of the process — so it’s always nice to get past that and into the edit…
THE RED BALLOON AND OTHER STORIES from Criterion is a Blu-ray box set of Albert Lamorisse’s LE BALLON ROUGE, BIM, CRIN BLANC / WHITE MANE, LE VOYAGE EN BALLON and FIFI LA PLUME / CIRCUS ANGEL — to which I have contributed a text essay.
Christine Leteux’s French research made it all possible, and the pay-off at the end was getting the approval of Pascal Lamorisse, son of Albert and star of his two balloon pics.
The set is released in December, an ideal Christmas gift for the miniature cinephile in your life.
shadowplay 