Spectacular Optical Releases BAFTA-Winning Documentarian Christopher Morris’ A YEAR IN A FIELD on Collectors Edition Blu Ray; Pre-sales launch for May Day
Spectacular Optical, the indie publishing imprint of Canadian genre veteran Kier-La Janisse (House of Psychotic Women, Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched, The Haunted Season), recently announced its expansion into theatrical, streaming and home video distribution of a selection of films curated by Janisse with a focus on landscape and design, music and counterculture, and experimental genre works.
The company’s first release is BAFTA-winning documentarian Christopher Morris’ 2023 film A Year in a Field, a “thoughtful, meditative documentary” (The Guardian) and “a quietly devastating piece of work” (Cine Europa) which documents a year in the life of a 4000-year-old Cornish standing stone. Produced by Denzil Monk (Enys Men, Rose of Nevada), the film was shot between the Winter Solstices of 2020 and 2021, as the world had been hushed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Synopsis:
An ancient monolith stands sentinel in a Cornish field for millennia. Part provocation, part meditation, part invocation, BAFTA-winning documentarian Christopher Morris’s A YEAR IN A FIELD is a record of their brief interaction.
Weathering the elements in the centre of a field in West Cornwall is the Longstone, a natural relic that has quietly witnessed 4,000 years of tumultuous history. Morris’ elegiac, meditative, yet profoundly important film is the record of a year in the life of the monolith, beginning on Winter Solstice 2020, as the order of the natural world began unravelling around the globe and the threat of extreme climate change became a reality. Beautifully shot, with a richly layered sound design, the film meditates on the passage of time through its appreciation of nature, highlighting the subtle changes of the seasons, but also the need to act in order to battle man-made changes that will forever change our planet. (Sheffield Doc Fest)
Pre-sales for the collectors’ edition blu ray will launch on May 1, 2026 – May Day, an important date in the pagan calendar – featuring beautiful new art by Of Stick & Bone printed on FSC-certified paper and including the following extras:
-Introduction by Christopher Morris recorded for the Gimme Some Truth Film Festival
-More Than Slow Cinema: Director Christopher Morris and Producer Denzil Monk in Conversation
-Paranormal in the West Country: An Interview with Stone Club’s Lally MacBeth and Matthew Shaw
-Q&A at the Philosophical Research Society moderated by Will Sheff of Okkervil River
-Interview with Christopher Morris at the Zurich Film Festival
-KESTAV (2023) – Short film by Christopher Morris
-HOLLOWAY (2015) – Short film by Adam Scovell, written and narrated by Robert MacFarlane
-Trailer
North American Pre-sales for A YEAR IN A FIELD go live May 1 at www.severinfilms.com via Spectacular Optical’s distribution partner Severin Films, with special bundles including a limited edition ‘Stones of Kernow’ ceramic coaster set by Sight Study Art & Design, and a ‘Scorched Earth’ bundle which pairs it with Severin’s new releases of Peter Watkins’ THE WAR GAME (1966) and Mick Jackson’s THREADS (1984).
Canadian customers who want to pre-order the standalone disc without added perks can do so via Spectacular Optical’s own website, www.spectacularoptical.com.
“For A Year in a Field to now find its way across North America is a wonder,” says director Christopher Morris. “I hope this small, quiet film about one field in England finds a true home within such a vast and complex continent.”
About Christopher Morris
Morris worked for the BBC in London and Cardiff (1989-2003) as a documentary director, factual producer and executive producer. Recurring themes include the changing nature of childhood, faith and social justice, often working with marginalised communities. Since leaving the BBC in 2003, he has been working as an academic, freelance documentary maker and story consultant for feature documentaries. Morris was director of the School of Film & Television at Falmouth University, Cornwall (2015-2020); Since 2020 he has returned full time to making films. In 2021, Morris wrote and directed KESTAV, a short science fiction drama featuring a Cornish speaking alien and he’s also been standing in a Cornish field for a year making A YEAR IN A FIELD, his first feature length documentary; a personal response to our changing climate. Awards include: a BAFTA and two BAFTA Cymru Awards, a Royal Television Society Award, five Torcs at the Celtic Media Festival, The Premios Ondas (Spain), a Special Jury Award at Le Prix Jeunesse and prizes at the Berlin Film Festival and Chicago International Children’s Film Festival.
About Denzil Monk
Founding CEO at Bosena. Producer of Mark Jenkin’s BFI/F4 backed Venice Biennale title ROSE OF NEVADA (2025; Jim Hosking’s Fantastic Fest ‘absurd revisionist comedy’ EBONY AND IVORY (2024); Christopher Morris’s acclaimed award-winning eco-doc A YEAR IN A FIELD (2023) and Mark Jenkin’s Film4 backed, BIFA-winning, Cannes Directors’ Fortnight title ENYS MEN (2022). Denzil is a Bard of Gorsedh Kernow, a commissioning Executive Producer at Screen Cornwall and is an active member of global collaborative initiative Entertainment and Culture for Climate Action (ECCA). Previous roles include Senior Lecturer in Film at Falmouth University (2007-2024), COO at digital distributor Cinegi (2016-20), CEO at Western Light Pictures (2013-17), Executive Producer at Dogbite Film Studio (2012-15), MD at awen productions CIC (2006-14), Senior Producer at Chew TV (2008-09), Executive Committee Member at Celtic Media Festival (2011-14) and Chair of Cornwall Film Festival (2006-09).