Visions of Eight

In Munich in 1972, eight renowned filmmakers each brought their singular artistry to the spectacle of the Olympic Games, capturing the joy and pain of competition and the kinetic thrill of bodies in motion for an aesthetically adventurous sports film unlike any other. Made to document the Olympic Summer Games—an event that was ultimately overshadowed by the tragedy of a terrorist attack—Visions of Eight features contributions from Miloš Forman, Kon Ichikawa, Claude Lelouch, Juri Ozerov, Arthur Penn, Michael Pfleghar, John Schlesinger, and Mai Zetterling, each given carte blanche to create a short film focusing on any aspect of the Games that captured his or her imagination. The resulting films—ranging from the arresting abstraction of Penn’s pure cinema study of pole-vaulters to the playful irreverence of Forman’s musical take on the decathlon to Schlesinger’s haunting portrait of the single-minded solitude of a marathon runner—are triumphs of personal, poetic vision applied to one of the pinnacles of human achievement.

Film Info

  • United States, West Germany
  • 1973
  • 108 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.85:1
  • English
  • Spine #1081

Special Features

  • New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • New audio commentary by podcasters Amanda Dobbins, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan of the website the Ringer
  • New documentary featuring director Claude Lelouch; supervising editor Robert K. Lambert; Ousmane Sembène biographer Samba Gadjigo; Munich Olympic Games historian David Clay Large; producer David L. Wolper’s son Mark Wolper; and director Arthur Penn’s son, Matthew Penn, which also includes outtakes from the film and material from Sembène's uncompleted short film
  • Short promotional film shot on location in 1972
  • Trailer
  • New English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: A 1973 article by author George Plimpton, excerpts from David L. Wolper’s 2003 memoir, and a new reflection on the film by novelist Sam Lipsyte

    New cover design by La Moutique

Purchase Options

Special Features

  • New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • New audio commentary by podcasters Amanda Dobbins, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan of the website the Ringer
  • New documentary featuring director Claude Lelouch; supervising editor Robert K. Lambert; Ousmane Sembène biographer Samba Gadjigo; Munich Olympic Games historian David Clay Large; producer David L. Wolper’s son Mark Wolper; and director Arthur Penn’s son, Matthew Penn, which also includes outtakes from the film and material from Sembène's uncompleted short film
  • Short promotional film shot on location in 1972
  • Trailer
  • New English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: A 1973 article by author George Plimpton, excerpts from David L. Wolper’s 2003 memoir, and a new reflection on the film by novelist Sam Lipsyte

    New cover design by La Moutique
Visions of Eight
Credits
Director
Juri Ozerov
Director
Mai Zetterling
Director
Arthur Penn
Director
Michael Pfleghar
Director
Kon Ichikawa
Director
Miloš Forman
Director
Claude Lelouch
Director
John Schlesinger
Main title sequence by
Mel Stuart
Produced by
Stan Margulies
Executive producer
David L. Wolper
Writers
David Hughes
Deliara Ozerowa
Shuntaro Tanikawa
Cinematography
Igor Slabnevich
Rune Ericson
Walter Lassally
Atze Glanert
Ernst Wild
Masuo Yamaguchi
Mike Davies
Alan Hume
Daniel Bocly
Jörgen Persson
Arthur Wooster
Music
Henry Mancini
Supervising film editor
Robert K. Lambert

Current

Visions of Eight: Time and Motion
Visions of Eight: Time and Motion

This omnibus documentary captures the remarkable peculiarities of athletic striving in the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.

By Sam Lipsyte

10 Things I Learned: Visions of Eight
10 Things I Learned: Visions of Eight

The producer of our edition of this ambitious omnibus film about the 1972 Munich Olympic Games details how its dynamic group of international directors came to be involved with the project.

By Matthew Horovitz