DREAMS THAT MONEY CAN BUY - surrealist shorts BFI DVD

Berlin-born Hans Richter - Dadaist, painter, film theorist and filmmaker - was for four decades one of the most influential members of the cinematic avant-garde. Richter assembled some of the century's liveliest artists as co-creators of Dreams That Money Can Buy, his most ambitious attempt to bring the work of the European avant-garde to a wider cinema audience. Among its admirers is film director David Lynch.

Joe, a young man down on his luck, discovers he has the power to create dreams, and sets up a business selling them to others. The 'dreams' he gives to his clients are the creations of Max Ernst, Fernand Lger, Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp, Alexander Calder and Richter himself, and the result is by turns playful, hypnotic, satirical, charming and nightmarish. Dreams That Money Can Buy is a film in seven segments namely:

* Desire Director, Writer - Max Ernst
* The Girl with the Prefabricated Heart Director, Writer - Fernand Lger
* Ruth, Roses and Revolvers Director, Writer - Man Ray
* Discs Director, Writer - Marcel Duchamp
* Ballet Director, Writer - Alexander Calder
* Circus Director, Writer - Alexander Calder
* Narcissus Director, Writer - Hans Richter

The DVD includes an exclusive alternative soundtrack by London-based Baroque pop band The Real Tuesday Weld, with narration by Brazilian chanteuse Cibelle and English alchemist David Piper. The band has previously performed this soundtrack live to accompany screenings of the film at the NFT in April 2005 and at Tate Modern in May 2006.

Dreams That Money Can Buy is part of BFI Video's A History of the Avant-Garde series, which features the best of radical and innovative filmmaking from the first hundred years of cinema.

Extras
* 3 short films by Hans Richter: Rhythmus 21 (1921); Ghosts Before Breakfast (1928) and Everyday (1929)
* Bonus alternative soundtrack by The Real Tuesday Weld
* Filmed interview with The Real Tuesday Weld and Cibelle on composing the soundtrack
* Fully illustrated 28-page booklet containing an interview with Hans Richter, film notes, biographies, credits and details on The Real Tuesday Weld

Threshold Studios aims to bring you a wide range of independent digital art, guerrilla shorts, avant garde classics and features from around the world.

Grassroots DV and film production has reached an unprecedented scale.  Festivals and informal club screenings reveal a groundswell of interest in alternatives to mainstream movies.  The form is changing, film and video, digital art crossing over boundaries into club visuals and art installations.  DVDs of independent movies and art film beyond the mainstream are now available online directly from the artists or from tiny labels dedicated to work from the edge.  The archive of work by past directors from the alternative histories of the cinema and the avant garde is now more accessible than ever it was before.  The work of contemporary guerrilla film makers is reaching wider audiences through their access to domestic DV cameras, computer editing and DVD authoring software.

Threshold Studios produce CD ROMS and DVDs of work by digital artists working in sound, single screen film and video, installation and on the web.  We commission five short films a year from Moving Image Artists, available here in our ebay shop on the Critical Mass DVD series.

We also aim to stock a growing range of interesting work by other people from all over the world.  We hope this work excites and inspires you.  We want to see an explosion of experimental work and new ideas from those in the margins of the art, film and TV industry.  Buying from us allows us to reinvest the money in further commissions, promote new talent and fresh visions on CD and DVD to the rest of the world.  We are always interested to hear from new directors and artists working in the experimental and avant garde.

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