One of Jonathan Demme’s underseen but pivotal nonfiction films is coming to high-definition home video for the very first time.
“Swimming to Cambodia,” a condensed version of Spalding Gray’s two-night, four-hour monologue about his experiences in Southeast Asia while filming Roland Joffé’s Oscar-winning 1984 film “The Killing Fields,” is set for release on Blu-ray in May. Cinématographe, a subdivision of physical media distributor Vinegar Syndrome, has assembled a new release featuring remastered picture and sound, along with an extensive collection of bonus materials.
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Late playwright and performance artist Gray first performed “Swimming to Cambodia” on stage in 1985, two years after shooting Joffé’s film in which he played a U.S. Ambassador’s aide. Demme filmed the performance and condensed its original four-hour length to 85 minutes for theatrical release. Cinématographe’s new edition features a new 2K remaster of the film drawn from the original camera negative, along with the following extras:
New audio commentary with film critic Scout Tafoya
Lifting Up the Carpet – a new video interview with Roland Joffé, director of The Killing Fields
A Good Story is a Good Story – a new video interview with executive producer Ira Deutchman
The Great Sensorium of the World – a new video interview with producer Edward Saxon
Archival video interview with Jonathan Demme from 2013
Two episodes of the Pure Nonfiction podcast: Jonathan Demme’s Real Life Characters, recorded in 2016, featuring Demme discussing “Swimming to Cambodia;” and Jonathan Demme & Renée Shafransky on Spalding Gray, recorded in 2017
New text essays by film critics Marya E. Gates, Chris Shields, Keith Uhlich and David M. Stewart, author of There’s No Going Back: The Life and Work of Jonathan Demme
Though the release is available for purchase on its own, a special edition limited to 100 units will also be bundled with a paperback copy of Gray’s book of the same name. Both versions will only be sold via the Vinegar Syndrome website and will not be otherwise available from online or brick-and-mortar retailers.
“Working with Jonathan Demme in the last few years of his life was an honor for me and one of the great privileges of my career,” said Vinegar Syndrome director of operations Justin LaLiberty. “Last year, his rollicking Hitchcock homage ‘Last Embrace’ was finally given the treatment it has deserved for so long and now, it’s high time for his vital Spalding Gray performance film ‘Swimming to Cambodia’ to get the Blu-ray debut it has somehow dodged for so long.”
The film’s only previous DVD release was in 2013, via a single-disc standard-definition version from Shout Factory. Said LaLiberty, “I’m proud to present an exhaustive edition of ‘Swimming to Cambodia’ in memory of Jonathan and Spalding, introducing new fans to an often overlooked work from one of American cinema’s most singular voices while also giving longtime fans the release they — and I — have been waiting for.”
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