Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt (1989)
History, Documentary • 1h 20m
Directors: Jeffrey Friedman & Rob Epstein
Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Sara Lewinstein, David Mandell, Suzi Mandell, Sallie Perryman, Vito Russo, Tracy Torrey, Gregg Baker, Gary Bauer, Robert Bazell, Kevin Boyle, Edward Brandt, Tom Brokaw, Bobbi Campbell, David C. Campbell, Marcus A. Conant, James Curran, Bolton Eckert, Jerry Falwell, Virginia Fedosky, Emil Guillermo, Bryant Gumbel, Tim Haas, Robert Hager, Charles Howard, Rock Hudson, Cleve Jones, C. Everett Koop, Larry Kramer, Roger Gail Lyon, David Mandell Jr., Kevin McCullough, Andrea Mitchell, Eddie Murphy, Mark Ostfield, Marcia Pally, John Palmer, Hampton Pearson, Robert Perryman, John Politano, Josie Politano, Randy Ray, Robert Ray, Ricky Ray, Ronald Reagan, Neil Schram, Heidi Schulman, Jeffrey Sevcik, Elizabeth Taylor, Tom Waddell, Gary Walsh, James Watkins, Linda Yee
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About the film
On the eve of 1987's Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, surviving families and friends of people who have died of AIDS prepare panels to be added to a large-scale memorial quilt project. Drawing from the sea of names memorialized, director Robert Epstein focuses on the lives of six people. Alongside the intimate profiles offered, through news footage and interviews, Epstein puts the AIDS crisis in the larger context of social and government response to the disease.
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- National Film Registry
Year of Induction: 2024
Director: Richard Brooks
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Arrow 4K Blu-ray > Criterion 4K Blu-ray > Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray
1991 Orion LaserDisc vs 2024 Arrow 4K Blu-ray
4K restoration from safety preservation elements
Director: Elaine May
Cinématographe 4K Blu-ray > MoC > Olive Films. From nicolas:
The master is good but it’s not that big an upgrade from the Olive Films disc and Vinegar Syndrome’ encode has some blocky highlights. A shame that they didn’t hire David Mackenzie here.
Cinématographe has unnecessary noise gating not present on the previous releases.
Director: Sidney Lumet
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
1.85:1: Kino Lorber 4K / Capelight 4K
1.66:1: Criterion 4K but low pass filtered
Comparison between the 4Ks, Criterion on the AR choice
Other discs have unnecessary filtering and sound worse, the difference isn't substantial but audible
Director: Dennis Hopper
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Flicker Alley 4K confirmed for 2027 https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=24404584&postcount=1
MoC audio is better https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=225532&page=3
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Included in the Complete Kubrick box set with FiM encode of the same master from the Universal release without the filtering.
DTS:X mix on Universal 4K Blu-ray most closely approximates original surround mix
Criterion DVD and Universal 4K Blu-ray has additional features not found on the Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
WB 4K
Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab)
An undeniably significant improvement from the BD yet still severely flawed. See DFIC's review.
Also available on Library of Congress Streaming
Directors: Winsor McCay & J. Stuart Blackton
Director: Winsor McCay
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