In 2016, four reels of Derevensky Detektiv (‘The Village Detective’), a 1969 Russian film starring the Soviet-era character actor Mikhail Zharov, were found in a fisherman's net off the Icelandic coast.
The recovered reels lead filmmaker Bill Morrison (Dawson City: Frozen Time) on another cinematic odyssey of mystery and discovery. The decayed footage is combined with original music by David Lang, and interwoven with interviews and clips from Zharov's lengthy filmography to form an alchemical story of its star - and of Soviet cinema itself.
Morrison weaves another unique and mesmerising document reflecting how life, history, and art intersect, transform and forever endure on film.
Blu-ray Special Features:
• The Village Detective: A Song Cycle (2021) presented from a 4K master, supervised and approved by filmmaker Bill Morrison.
• New and exclusive interview with Bill Morrison.
• Bill Morrison's short films:
- Beyond Zero: 1914-1918 (2014)
- The Unchanging Sea (2018)
- Sunken Films (2020)
- Let Me Come In (2021)
• Booklet with new writing on the film by Peter N Walsh
• 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and 2.0 Stereo LPCM audio
• UK premiere on Blu-ray.
• Region Free (A/B/C) Blu-ray.
