Oscilloscope To Release DVD And Blu-ray Editions Of Bobbi Jene And Song of Granite On Mar. 13

Bobbi Jene Smith, dance legend with the Batsheva Dance Company, is the subject of documentary filmmaker Elvira Lind’s award-winning documentary, Bobbi Jene, which will be making its way to the home entertainment marketplace on Mar. 13 courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories as both DVD and Blu-ray product offerings.

The film made its debut at the Tribeca Film Festival last April, where it won the prestigious Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature, as well as Best Cinematography in a Documentary Feature and Best Editing in a Documentary Feature.   It continues to work the festival circuit, both domestically and internationally, and Bobbi Jene got an ever-so-brief arthouse run right after Labor Day (just three venues).   

For the record, the ARR comes in at 172 and box office receipts from the film’s limited showcase are $18,579.   

Oscilloscope’s Blu-ray and DVD release on Mar. 13 will afford fans — and curious — an opportunity to view Lind’s film (that wider audience that is not conveniently near one of the country’s major metro arthouse cinemas).

The film gives us a glimpse into her work with choreographer Ohad Naharin of the Batsheva Dance Company and the harsh reality that after ten years it is time to move on … Bobbi Jene needs to explore the world beyond “her” dance, to that of choreographer; of creating.

Through interviews with her contemporaries, intimate scenes with fellow dancer, Or Schraiber and a showcase of a provocative performance piece that she developed with the Jewish Museum, filmmaker Elvira Lind gives us a rare glimpse into Bobbi Jene’s world, where dedication to dance is everything!

Bonus features include director Derrick Belcham’s feature-length film, A Study on Effort (featuring Bobbi Jene Smith’s interpretative performance accompanied by violinist Keir GoGwilt), a dance performance title “Arrow,” with Bobbi Jene Smith and Oscar Issic, and a video session with Bobbi Jene Smith and filmmaker Elvira Lind titled “Onstage.”

Also being released on Mar. 13 as both DVD and Blu-ray editions is writer/director Pat Collins’ Song of Granite, a dramatic presentation of the life of famed “sean-nós” artist Joe Heaney.

The film opened at the South by Southwest Film Festival last March and worked the festival circuit both here and abroad until just before Thanksgiving, when it got a very limited domestic arthouse run.   The ARR is 116 days and box office receipts stand at $16,182.

As a young boy I would listen to my grandmother speak in Gaelic to her friend, Violet.   It was a mysterious language that I could not make heads or tails of, but it was so, so beautiful in its lyrical nature.   To hear the songs — the “old style” songs — of Joe Heaney (aka: Seosamh Ó hÉanaí) is to be, for me, whisked back to those days of Gaelic spoken among friends.

Collins’ has taken an interesting approach to the telling of Heaney’s career, he does this by blending documentary film techniques with a dramatic presentation of Heaney’s journey from Ireland to the Unites States … three different actors portray the artist at various points in his life.  The film is also bold in its presentation as it is filmed in stark black and white … there’s a melancholy nature to all of it; the songs; the visuals.

Writer/director Pat Collins’ Song of Granite is presented in Gaelic and English, with English subtitles.   There is also a “Behind the Scenes” featurette included.