Eureka! … Since 1981

Two films by the Maysles…

May sees the release of two definitive editions of classic documentaries by the brothers David and Albert Maysles. Salesman is a non-fiction portrait of a band of door-to-door Bible peddlers. It was deemed “culturally significant” by the United States Library of Congress; honoured as one of the 25 best American films ever made; and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. Grey Gardens has a worldwide cult following and inspired the current smash-hit Broadway production. It features Edith and “Little Edie” Beale, the bohemian black-sheep of the aristocratic Bouvier clan, as they go about their daily routines on a decrepit Long Island estate.

More Maysles films can be seen in London throughout May 2007 at the BFI Southbank’s Maysles season (our DVDs are available from the BFI shop in the same complex).

Also released this month, the MoC Series editions of General Idi Amin Dada Autoportrait (see the real Amin, as portrayed by Oscar-winning Forest Whitaker in The Last King of Scotland) and G. W. Pabst’s Diary of a Lost Girl.

Posted 10 May 2007, 4:00 AM