BFI Flipside is a series of Dual Format Editions ( DVD and

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

released together) which was launched in May 2009 and is published by the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

's Video label. The series so far features a total of 65 feature and short films, as well as 10 archive interviews with the likes of

Spike Milligan Terence Alan "Spike" Milligan (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was an Irish comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright and actor. The son of an English mother and Irish father, he was born in British Raj, British India, where he spent his ...

, Peter Cook and

Richard Lester Richard Lester Liebman (born January 19, 1932) is an American retired film director, who spent the majority of his professional life in the United Kingdom. He is known for the fast-paced, flamboyant directing he brought to his comedy films, mo ...

. The BFI Flipside charts "the untold history of British film", and includes performances by such celebrated actors as

John Hurt Sir John Vincent Hurt (22 January 1940 – 28 January 2017) was an English actor. Regarded as one of the finest actors of his time and known for the "most distinctive voice in Cinema of the United Kingdom, Britain", he was described by David Ly ...

Jane Asher Jane Asher (born 5 April 1946)''The International Who's Who of Women'', 3rd edition, ed. Elizabeth Sleeman, Europa Publications, 2002, p. 29 is an English actress and author. She achieved early fame as a child actress and through her associatio ...

, Ian McNeice,

Richard O'Brien Richard O'Brien (born Richard Timothy Smith; 25 March 1942) is a British-New Zealand actor, writer, musician, and television presenter. He wrote the musical stage show ''The Rocky Horror Show'' in 1973, which has since remained in continuous p ...

, Tom Bell, Peter Cook, Barry Evans, Denholm Elliott and Judy Geeson in films directed by the likes of Clive Donner,

, Barney Platts-Mills, John Irvin,

Stuart Cooper Stuart W. Cooper (born 1942) is an American filmmaker, actor and writer. Career Cooper was a resident of the United Kingdom in the 1960s and 1970s where his most notable film appearance was as one of ''The Dirty Dozen'', Roscoe Lever, in 1967. ...

, Guy Hamilton, Peter Watkins and James Hill. Each BFI Flipside edition includes a feature film presentation that is complemented by additional film content (sometimes a second feature film by the same director, or a selection of short films which are related to the main feature by subject, era, actor or director). Each release is packaged in distinctive artwork which carries the volume number on the spine and with a comprehensive booklet containing informative essays, full cast and credit information, original film reviews and reproductions of original promotional material. The Flipside is dedicated to releasing British film titles which have never been available on any home video format before (though some exceptions have been noted by the label's founder and programmerRugo, D (2011
Those Obscure Objects of (British) Desire: A Conversation with Flipside's Sam Dunn
, Mubi.com 11 October 2011) and all films are newly mastered to High Definition from the best available film materials from the BFI National Archive or from the collections of filmmakers. Each title was originally released on both DVD and

, but since ''The Pleasure Girls'' in a dual format release. A budget-priced DVD sampler entitled '' Kim Newman's Guide to The Flipside of British Cinema'' (2010), spine number "000", features a documentary in which the UK's leading cult film expert introduced and contextualized the first nine releases in the series and also included three complete short films as extras - John Irvin's ''Carousella'' (1966),

Gerry O'Hara Gerald O'Hara (1 October 1924 – 9 January 2023) was a British film and television writer and director. Life and career O'Hara was born in Boston, Lincolnshire on 1 October 1924, to James O'Hara, a bookmaker, and Jeannie O’Hara (née Beamont) ...

's '' The Spy's Wife'' (1972) and a short travelogue ''Tomorrow Night in London'' (1969, exclusive to the release).

External links

Official site

References

{{reflist Lists of British films Flipside Home video lines