Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by jweiss (A) on December 24, 2005 at 13:49:06

Hi All,

I know its a glaring conflict of interest, but I thought I might draw Asylum Denizen's attention to the new release of a very, very special film, the long awaited adaptation of J.G. Ballard's infamous, non narrative novel of 1968, the Atrocity Exhibition. Ballard wrote Empire of the Sun (his autobiography, actually. Spielberg adapted it in the 80's.) and Crash, which David Cronenberg did a while back.

I can absolutely assure you that you have never seen a film like this one. I can do that because I directed it.

Normally, I hang out over at HiEff or the Vinyl boards. But since I doubt that there are too many directors who are die hard audiophiles (Vinny Gallo would be one) I will take the risk of getting flamed for promoting my own film. Since it only took me 12 years to finally get it released, you can forgive me, I hope.

Right now its only available as a PAL DVD, region free, so unless you have a multisystem monitor, N. American viewers will have to watch it on their computers. I hope to have US distribution this coming year. The company which produced the DVD is FilmFreak in Amsterdam. http://www.filmfreak.nl. Plenty of reviews online so I'll spare you on that score.

So what's the film about? Imagine a doctor in a mental institution who himself goes insane at the horror of the 20th century. Imagine insanity as an opening onto a new reality, perhaps a higher form of sanity.

Ballard did a full length commentary, too.

Jonathan Weiss