BFI Releasing Mark Jenkins Critically Acclaimed BAIT On Blu-Ray

BAIT, the debut feature by Mark Jenkin was this summer’s indie smash hit film. Released in cinemas by the BFI on 30 August, BAIT received widespread critical acclaim, huge box office success, multiple award wins and a terrific response from audiences of all ages around the UK.

On 20 January it will be released on DVD/Blu-ray in a Dual Format Edition with extras including a commentary by Mark Jenkin with Mark Kermode, a filmed Q&A, shorts by Mark Jenkin and more.

Modern-day Cornish fisherman Martin (Edward Rowe) is struggling to buy a boat while coping with family rivalry and the influx of London money, Airbnb and stag parties to his harbour village. The summer season brings simmering tensions between the locals and newcomers to boiling point, with tragic consequences.

Stunningly shot on a vintage 16mm camera using monochrome Kodak stock, BAIT is a timely and funny, yet poignant film that gets to the heart of a community facing up to unwelcome change.

We caught the film at Edinburgh Film Festival this year. Our writer Ewan Wood gave the film an glowing 5 star review. Describing the film…”Bait is unlike anything I have seen in the cinema in recent years. A testament to experimental film, Mark Jenkin transforms his typical locals v tourists into an expressionist piece of work that keeps you glued to the screen.”

Related: 2019 Edinburgh Film Festival Review – Bait (2019)

To launch the DVD/Blu-ray, BFI Southbank will present BAIT with a Live Score created and performed by Gwenno Saunders, with Georgia Ellery (who plays Katie) on Friday 17 January at 19:30 and director Mark Jenkin will be signing copies on the night. Also on 17 January 2020, Invada Records will release on vinyl BAIT – Original Score, composed by Mark Jenkin.

Special features

· Presented in High Definition and Standard Definition
· Feature-length audio commentary with director Mark Jenkin and film critic Mark Kermode
· Bait Q&A with Mark Jenkin (2019, 33 mins): filmmaker Mark Jenkin in conversation with Mark Kermode, recorded at BFI Southbank
· Dear Marianne (2015, 6 mins): a Cornishman’s travels in Ireland, through Wexford, Waterford and Cork in search of the familiar in this short film by Mark Jenkin
· The Essential Cornishman (2015, 6 mins): Mark Jenkin’s film is an homage to the spontaneous prose of The Beats, from the mythical Cornish west
· The Road to Zennor (2016, 2 mins): poetic travelogue by Mark Jenkin of a familiar journey to the small coastal town near St Ives
· The Saving of Bill Blewitt (1936, 25 mins): a charming docu-drama that sees two Cornish fishermen managing to save enough money to replace their boat after it’s lost at sea
· Scenes on the Cornish Riviera (c.1912, 19 mins): providing an early visual record of Cornwall, this Great Western Railway-sponsored tour visits among others, Saltash, Newquay, Truro, Falmouth and St Ives
· Trailers
· **FIRST PRESSING ONLY** Fully illustrated booklet with writing by director Mark Jenkin, writer, programmer and lecturer Jason Wood, film critic Jessica Kiang and writer and curator Tara Judah; notes on the extras by Katy McGahan and full film credits