Kino: Bill Gunn's Personal Problems Coming to Blu-ray

Kino Classics will bring to Blu-ray director Bill Gunn's film Personal Problems (1980), starring Vertamae Grosvenor, Walter Cotton, and Mizan Kirby. The release will be available for purchase on July 3.

Synopsis: Bill Gunn—actor, playwright, novelist, and director of the art-horror classic Ganja & Hess (1973)—teamed with novelist/essayist Ishmael Reed and poet/publisher Steve Cannon to produce what Reed has called a "meta-soap opera." This extraordinary, rough-edged ensemble piece explores black working-class lives with candor and emotional intensity and features a who's who of important artists including Walter Cotton, Vertamae Grosvenor, Jim Wright, and Sam Waymon, with music by Carman Moore, and cinematography by Robert Polidori.

Rarely shown and, when screened, seen in a mutilated cut hampered by the poor quality of available materials, it appears for the first time in a full-length, two-part version restored from the original camera tapes. Seen in its proper form, Personal Problems is nothing short of a revelation.

Special Features and Technical Specs:

• BRAND NEW RESTORATION AND RECONSTRUCTION from from the original 3/4" U-matic camera tapes, with remastered audio
• Previously unseen preliminary version, directed by Bill Gunn in 1979 (39 Min.)
• Deleted and extended scenes
• Original six-part radio drama (1977)
• Interviews with creators Ishmael Reed, Steve Cannon, and actor Sam Waymon
• Q&A footage from the restoration premiere (2018)
• Original theatrical trailer
• "Improvisation Jamming," an essay by Nicholas Forster on the production and release of the film