Made in 1948, just a few short years after the atrocities it strives to process, Distant Journey is one of the first feature films to address the Holocaust, and was the debut film from the controversial avant-garde visionary of Czech theatre, Alfréd Radok.
Set in the TerezÃn ghetto as deportations to Nazi extermination camps escalate, Radok’s film interweaves the love story of a young Jewish doctor forcibly separated from her Gentile husband, and harrowing documentary footage. With striking, expressionist imagery, Distant Journey presents a harrowing account of the Nazi horrors of the recent past and remains a stark, still-relevant warning from history.
Presented from a new 4K restoration which premiered at the 2020 Berlin Film Festival.
Blu-ray Special Features:
• Distant Journey presented from a new 4K restoration of the film from original materials by the Czech National Film Archive.
• An all-new Projection Booth commentary with Mike White, Samm Deighan and Kat Ellinger.Â
• Two celebrated short films:
– The Opening of the Wells (Alfréd Radok, 1960) – the Laterna magica film of the great Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů’s famous cantata ‘OtvÃránà studánek’.
– Butterflies Don’t Live Here (Motýli tady nežijÃ, 1958) – a short documentary film by Miro Bernat about the children of the TerezÃn ghetto.
• Trailer.
• 20-page booklet featuring a new essay by film historian Jonathan Owen.
• New English subtitle translations.
• Region free Blu-ray (A/B/C)
Technical details:
• Language: Czech, German
• Subtitles: English
• Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
• Video: BD50 / 1080p / 24fps
• Audio: 1.0 Mono LPCM (48k/24-bit)
• Region A/B/C (Region Free)
