Watch the trailer for the restoration of Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker

The Criterion Collection are releasing a new digital restoration of Andrei Tarkovsky’s science fiction classic Stalker on 18th July 2017.

Fantastic news that we will be getting a cleaned up Blu-ray of this as it is quite brilliant.

One of the most immersive and rarefied experiences in the history of cinema, Andrei Tarkovsky’s STALKER embarks on a metaphysical journey through an enigmatic post-apocalyptic landscape. A hired guide – the “Stalker” of the title – leads a writer and a scientist into the heart of the Zone, the restricted site of a long-ago disaster, where the three men eventually zero in on the Room, a place rumored to fulfill one’s most deeply held desires. Adapting a science-fiction novel by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, and making what would be his final Soviet feature, Tarkovsky created a challenging and visually stunning work, his painstaking attention to material detail and sense of organic atmosphere further enriched by this vivid new restoration. At once a religious allegory, a reflection of contemporary political anxieties, and a meditation on film itself-among many other interpretations – Stalker envelops the viewer by opening up a multitude of possible meanings.

The film will also be getting a limited cinematic release on 5th May 2017.

It has been restored by Mosfilm from a 2k scan of the original negative.

Disc Features:

• New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• New interview with Geoff Dyer, author of Zona: A Book About a Film About a Journey to a Room
• Interview from 2002 with cinematographer Alexander Knyazhinsky
• Interview from 2002 with set designer Rashit Safiullin
• Interview from 2002 with composer Eduard Artemyev
• New English subtitle translation
• PLUS: An essay by critic Mark Le Fanu

Exclusive: STALKER TRAILER – New Restoration 2017 from The Playlist on Vimeo.

Via The Playlist