Jean Rollin

[wilder]

A new documentary about Jean Rollin directed by Kat Ellinger & Dima Bollin is premiering at Fantasia Fest

Has there been a genre artist more fundamentally misunderstood and inappropriately discussed than Jean Rollin? He remains one of genre cinema's most singular poets, a theatrical fantasist, interpreter of dreams, orchestrator of storms. His recurring use of twin or paired protagonists and surrealistic interpretations of vampirism, with tones that were often in the midnight space between gothic literature and fairy tale, his sense of humour and intellectual musings, his sumptuous visual ideas, coming together to make inspired works of genre art that ran against nearly all traditions of the times they were made in. Always produced on budgets lower than his ideas called for, pushed through with a resourceful ingenuity that can be felt in the finished films, lending them further layers of individuality and heart. Yet these qualities led many to dismiss his work without ever actually engaging with it, with proper distribution outside of France proving elusive for many of his films (though here in Quebec, most opened theatrically and had mass VHS releases in the early video boom). Rollin has always had a small and dedicated cult following – in the final years of his life, he was celebrated at a number of festivals and here at Fantasia, he was the recipient of our 2007 lifetime achievement award. Most of his works are now available on blu-ray across the world, yet he continues to remain a secret handshake of cinephelia in need of broader critical reassessment.

Made in close collaboration with the filmmaker's surviving family, Kat Ellinger and Dima Ballin's years-in-the-making documentary tells Rollin's story in a way we've not seen before. Beginning with his childhood raised by a mother who was close friends with Cocteau, Bataille and Blanchot and a father who directed avant-garde theatre (some of the photos shown from this period are worth the price of admission alone), ORCHESTRATOR OF STORMS explores Rollin's films through the context of his life and obsessions, his connection to French surrealists and poetry, his involvement with the '60s anarchist scene in France, bringing a deeper dimension to the ways his work can be understood. With the perspectives of his friends and collaborators, including Brigitte Lahaie and Françoise Pascal, and a range of cinema and cultural historians, including Howard Berger and Fantasia's 2022 Canadian Trailblazer Kier-La Janisse, who published lost girls: the phantasmagorical cinema of Jean Rollin (2017), and also co-executive produced. Deeply moving and downright revelatory, ORCHESTRATOR OF STORMS is a bona fide miracle.

[wilder]

Clip

[wilder]

Jean Rollin's ultra-rare SAGA DE XAM has been republished by Floating World Comics

Saga de Xam is one of the last forgotten gems of international comics from the 1960s. At the time, Eric Losfeld, a historical counterculture publisher, decided to publish a few comics, masterpieces like Barbarella by Jean-Claude Forest and Pravda la survireuse. And Saga de Xam, a Dantesque and unique work by its author, Nicolas Devil, with a script by the legendary filmmaker Jean Rollin.

Unquestionably, Saga de Xam is a milestone in the history of French-language comics, and in particular with regard to science fiction and heroic marvels. Its plastic power has never been equalled. A young author aged 24 in 1967, Nicolas Devil (1943) created his only comic book work, Saga de Xam. Very quickly he withdrew definitively from the world of comics, discouraged by the difficulties and the compromises required.

As for Jean Rollin (1938-2010), his co-screenwriter, he continued a long career as a filmmaker, making 25 films under his name and around twenty others under various pseudonyms. He also wrote more than twenty novels and short stories.

View this post on Instagram

[wilder]

Coming to 4K UHD blu-ray from Indicator UK in April 2023




Jean Rollin's third feature film, 1971's The Shiver of the Vampires (Le Frisson des vampires), established themes and visual motifs to which he would return throughout his career, blending horror, eroticism, fairy tale, and surrealism to create his unique cinema of the fantastique. Arriving at a decrepit chateau for their honeymoon, young newlyweds undergo a series of surreal and sinister encounters, and come to realise that they are the prey of the resident vampires...





Originally released in 1997, Two Orphan Vampires (Les Deux orphelines vampires) finds Jean Rollin, the master of the fantastique, returning to the vampire genre with which he had made his name. By day, blind orphans Henriette and Louise seem to be the picture of innocence. But when darkness falls, their sight returns, and they wander the streets of Paris, encountering the city's strange nocturnal denizens, and leaving a trail of corpses in their quest for fresh blood.

[wilder]

The documentary Orchestrator of Storms: The Fantastique World of Jean Rollin will premiere on Arrow's streaming service February 14, 2023

Orchestrator of Storms: The Fantastique World of Jean Rollin tells the story of one of Eurocult cinema's most singular voices. Deeply misunderstood and widely misrepresented, during his decades-long career as a film director (1958-2009), Rollin's work received absolutely no recognition in his native country of France, and was completely unknown anywhere else. In the nineties, because of home video, Rollin attained a marginal cult status in niche English speaking genre circles. Otherwise he has remained completely obscure.

Rollin was raised within the bosom of some of France's most influential and intellectual elites, thanks to his mother Denise's friendship with figures such as Maurice Blanchot, George Bataille, Jean Cocteau, as well as Jacques and Pierre Prévert. Similarly his father was a director in avant garde theatre, exposing Jean to some of France's most interesting aspects of culture. It is perhaps not surprising that when it came to making his films, Jean Rollin's were unlike anything else on the scene.

Once you dig into the director's life and passions, what emerges is a strong connection to the French surrealists, to symbolist art, to the poetry of Tristan Corbière, to the French anarchist scene in the sixties, and counterculture. Orchestrator of Storms: The Fantastique World of Jean Rollin sets out to tell this story in an attempt to elevate the director's work by exploring it in depth alongside these major influences, as well as other key themes such as the tradition of the French Fantastique. The film also looks at his frustrations, the way in which he had to constantly grapple and scramble for funding as one of the only filmmakers predominantly working within the horror genre through the sixties and seventies. Most importantly, it examines his singular vision, one that ran completely counter to other western traditions in genre film.

 The project began life on more modest terms, but after working very closely with Jean's family, including his surviving son Serge, and close family friend Véronique D-Travers, it became apparent there was a far deeper and richer story to tell. A story of struggle that led to the filmmaker falling into poverty and ill health in his later years, one in which he was never understood or given the credit he was due during his own lifetime, where he was forced to constantly battle to make the films he wanted to make. Filmmakers Dima Ballin and Kat Ellinger hope to change that in presenting Jean's story as never seen before, with the help of some of his key collaborators, close friends, and experts in both film and cultural history, as well as those responsible for ensuring his work never completely fell out of sight.

[wilder]

August 21, 2023

The Night of the Hunted (1980) on 4K UHD blu-ray from Indicator (UK)



One of Jean Rollin's least-seen and most underrated works, The Night of the Hunted (La Nuit des traquées) finds the director moving away from his trademark tales of vampirism to explore a nightmarish, dystopian world.

In the dead of night, Elisabeth is rescued from unknown pursuers by Robert and taken to safety. But, after she is kidnapped and taken to an austere clinic whose distressed and abused patients are suffering from progressive memory loss, Robert sets out to find her and discover what is taking place in the clinic.

Shot at night on a shoestring budget, with a cast mostly drawn from France's adult-film industry, The Night of the Hunted stars Rollin regulars Brigitte Lahaie (Fascination) and Natalie Perrey (Lips of Blood), and offers a stark and melancholic take on contemporary society.



August 21, 2023

The Rape of the Vampire (1968) on 4K UHD blu-ray from Indicator (UK)



Jean Rollin's startling debut feature, 1968's The Rape of the Vampire (Le Viol du vampire), introduces his unique take on vampirism, establishing the blend of surrealism, eroticism, and horror that would become his trademark.

In the film's first part, four strange women living in a decrepit château – and all believing themselves to be ancient vampires – are visited by a psychoanalyst who attempts to rid them of their apparent delusion. In the second, the Queen of the Vampires presides over a diabolical clinic, unaware that the head doctor is plotting against her.

With its surreal black-and-white images and riveting free-jazz score by François Tusques, The Rape of the Vampire was released in Paris to a scandalised response during the chaos of May '68, heralding the arrival of a major new talent in the fantastique cinema. This new edition also includes Rollin's 1965 short The Far Countries (Les Pays loin) restored in 4K.

[wilder]

October 23, 2023

Lips of Blood (1975) on 4K UHD blu-ray from Indicator (UK)



One of Jean Rollin's best-loved films, Lips of Blood (Lèvres de sang) finds the master of the fantastique marshalling all of his obsessions – ruined châteaux, remote beaches, abandoned graveyards, mysterious twins, and female vampires.

When a photograph of a decrepit seaside château evokes a childhood vision of an encounter with a mysterious girl, Frederick is compelled to investigate. Soon, he uncovers a surreal and erotic netherworld of vampirism from which he might never return.

Starring regular Rollin actors Jean-Loup Philippe (The Rape of the Vampire), Natalie Perrey (The Iron Rose), and twins Cathy and Marie-Pierre Castel (Requiem for a Vampire), Lips of Blood is a tour de force within Rollin's inimitable oeuvre.



October 23, 2023

Fascination (1979) on 4K UHD blu-ray from Indicator (UK)



Jealousy, vengeance, obsession, cannibalism, and blood-drinking collide in Fascination, director Jean Rollin's decadent fantasy of sex and death.

When a thief holes up in a remote château, taking two beautiful chambermaids hostage, the arrival of his accomplices and the château's aristocratic owners leads to an orgy of violence and ritualistic bloodletting.

With its standout performance from Brigitte Lahaie (The Night of the Hunted), as the scythe-wielding Eva, and an evocative score from Philippe D'Aram (The Living Dead Girl), Fascination is one of the purest expressions of Rollin's unique fantastique aesthetic.