This special limited edition J-card MediaBook slipcase (designed by Adam Maida) is limited to 3,000 units and is only available on our website and at select indie retailers. Absolutely no major retailers will be stocking them.
Note: this release is available to be purchased on its own, or bundled with the paperback book Swimming to Cambodia by Spalding Gray. This Limited Edition Slipcase + Book bundle is limited to 100 units.
Taking its name from the Lumière Brothers invention of the same name, Cinématographe is a new sub-label from Vinegar Syndrome that seeks to fill gaps in the canon of American cinema. Offering a mix of auteur driven studio films produced during the New Hollywood era of the late 1960s and 70s all the way through the indie boom of the 1980s and 90s, Cinématographe will explore the wide breadth of American moviemaking, spanning numerous genres and scales of production. Curated and produced by Vinegar Syndrome's Justin LaLiberty, each limited edition release will be housed in a specially designed, cloth-bound, media book with embossed foil titles and custom molded disc trays accompanied by a slipcase featuring newly commissioned art and an individually numbered J-card.
Noted playwright, novelist and monologuist Spalding Gray spent eight weeks in Asia as an actor in Roland Joffé’s Academy Award Winning historical drama The Killing Fields, chronicling the history of the Khmer Rouge regime. In his famed one man show, Swimming to Cambodia, Gray laid bare his experiences on set and contextualizes his anecdotes with the stark history of the region.
Directed for the screen by Jonathan Demme (Stop Making Sense), rendering Gray’s heartfelt, often very funny, monologue cinematic with the help of collaborators like cinematographer John Bailey (Mishima: A Life In Four Chapters), editor Carol Littleton (Beloved), and multidisciplinary artist Laurie Anderson, who is responsible for the film’s evocative score. Cinématographe is proud to bring one of the great performance films, and an oft-overlooked entry in Jonathan Demme’s career, to blu-ray for the first time in the world in a 2K new restoration from its original camera negative.
directed by: Jonathan Demme starring: Spalding Gray 1987 / 85 min / 1.85:1 / English DTS-HD MA 2.0
Additional info:
Region A Blu-ray
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
English SDH subtitles
Swimming to Cambodia - Paperback Book details:
By Spalding Gray
In 2004, we mourned the loss of one of America’s true theatrical innovators. Spalding Gray took his own life by jumping from the Staten Island ferry into the waters of New York Harbor, finally succumbing to the impossible notion that he could in fact swim to Cambodia. At a memorial gathering for family, friends and fans at Lincoln Center in New York, his widow expressed the need to honor Gray’s legacy as an artist and writer for his children, as well as for future generations of fans and readers. Originally published in 1985, Swimming to Cambodia is reissued here 20 years later in a new edition as a tribute to Gray’s singular artistry.
Writer, actor and performer, Spalding Gray is the author of Sex and Death to the Age 14; Monster in a Box; It’s a Slippery Slope; Gray’s Anatomy and Morning, Noon and Night, among other works. His appearance in The Killing Fields was the inspiration for his Swimming to Cambodia, which was also filmed by Jonathan Demme.
5" x 8" 133 pages
Overall rating: 4.7109375 / 5 from 128 reviews.
AI Generated Review Summary
Swimming to Cambodia, a special edition film by Jonathan Demme, features a stellar performance by Spalding Gray. Customers praise the exceptional transfer quality, beautiful packaging, and insightful extras, making it a must-have for fans of classic cinema and unique collectibles.
"Great packaging and classy book round out the deluxe treatment for an underappreciated film that has no peers." — John-Joseph J.
"The transfer for this is stellar, and the plentiful extras provide a great overview of the production." — Spencer D.
"The transfer looks great and it’s a unique type of cinematic storytelling that works." — Eli O.
Reviews
An obscure addition to Demme’s filmography.
"For my full detailed review of Swimming to Cambodia, see my entry on Letterboxd: @M4N14K Less of a real film; More of an interesting experience filmed proficiently. I viewed this film on the Swimming to Cambodia Cinematographe Blu-ray Limited Edition physical media released through Vinegar Syndrome and it is the same great premium level of packaging and presentation that you’ve come to expect from the classy mediabook releases of this boutique label. No other brand beats Vinegar Syndrome at the cardboard game and this great slipcover is no exception to the consistently fantastic artwork and component quality this company produces."
— Michael B. (5/5)
Gone too soon
"You wouldn’t think watching someone sitting and talking at a desk would be as entertaining as it is, but Spalding Gray knocks it out of the part. Wish I was able to see him live, but this is the next best thing."
— Paul C. (5/5)
One Man, Endless Stories
"Swimming to Cambodia is proof that a single person on a bare stage can be as captivating as any big-budget production. Spalding Gray’s storytelling is funny, insightful, and deeply personal, effortlessly moving between behind-the-scenes anecdotes from The Killing Fields, observations on politics, and reflections on life itself. Jonathan Demme’s direction knows exactly when to stay out of the way, allowing Gray’s words and delivery to take center stage. The result is intimate, thought-provoking, and often surprisingly moving. It is less a filmed performance than an invitation to spend time with one of the great storytellers of his generation."
— Antonio T. (5/5)
A curio that I wanted to take a chance on
"A Demme film I haven’t seen but I was intrigued enough by Spalding Gray’s involvement to give this a shot, safe in the knowledge I was buying the best edition that would ever be available."
— Ross M. (4/5)
Very interesting film and a
"Very interesting film and a wonderful restoration."
— Edward l. (4/5)
Fantastic pickup
"This film has never looked better. Happy to have Spalding Gray's masterpiece in such fantastic packaging on a beautiful disc. Definitely a huge upgrade from my old DVD. In love with the Cinematographe packaging and cannot wait to pick up some others. There aren't enough of Demme's films with such loving releases couldn't be happier to pick this up."
— Austin B. (5/5)
most subversively illuminating example of preaching I've ever seen
"Is it strange that all I could think about while watching Swimming to Cambodia was preaching? For me, no. Spalding Gray sits alone at a table with a glass of water, a microphone, and an audience, attempting to impose coherence on experiences that continually resist it. Formally, this is a filmed monologue. Functionally, it's a sermon. More specifically, it's one of the most illuminating films about preaching I've ever encountered—not because it has anything to do with institutional religion, but because it captures both the promise and the peril of standing before other people and trying to make meaning from chaos. Gray recounts his experiences in Southeast Asia while working on The Killing Fields, but the stories continually threaten to slip out of his control. He digresses. He contradicts himself. He undercuts his own authority almost as quickly as he establishes it. That's exactly what makes the performance so riveting. The best storytellers don't merely communicate information. They sustain uncertainty. Throughout Swimming to Cambodia, you feel Gray searching in real time, following associations rather than conclusions. Even if every word has been carefully rehearsed, it feels improvised because his confidence never quite hardens into certainty. The thread always seems capable of snapping. What emerges is not simply a remarkable theatrical performance but a meditation on bearing witness. Gray repeatedly returns to the central contradiction of his experience: he was near extraordinary suffering without fully participating in it. He witnessed horrors that exceeded his understanding, and the performance continually circles the uncomfortable question of what right he has to narrate them. Rather than resolving that tension, he confesses it. That confession becomes the source of the work's integrity. One of the performance's defining insights comes when Gray recalls being told that "morality is not a movable feast," only to reply, "I get dizzy, because I keep seeing it moving all the time. " The line perfectly captures the film's emotional center. It refuses easy certainty without surrendering the search for truth. Near the end, Gray quotes: "Who needs metaphors for hell? Who needs poetry about hell? This happened. This happened here, on earth. " That feels like the breaking point—not only for language but for storytelling itself. How do you speak honestly about suffering that exceeds your ability to comprehend it? Swimming to Cambodia never answers the question. Instead, it suggests that the authority to speak comes less from certainty than from exposing your own limitations. Gray never pretends to occupy some objective vantage point outside history. He continually reveals his own absurdity, vanity, distractions, and complicity alongside the larger horrors unfolding around him. That vulnerability is what makes the performance feel trustworthy. By the end, I found myself thinking less about Cambodia than about the strange human impulse to stand before other people and attempt to make meaning from a world that continually escapes explanation. Swimming to Cambodia becomes a remarkable document of someone discovering that honesty may matter more than certainty—and that bearing witness begins not by mastering the story, but by admitting you never really could."
— Jonathan M. (5/5)
On something else
"Slice of time some monologue film which is basically a once man show. The special features included give a great insight into what the dude was on."
— Michael P. (5/5)
Outstanding
"I cant recommend this enough, excellent packaging and a fantastic transfer"
— Daniel Q. (5/5)
Surprisingly cinematic
"Surprisingly cinematic for a film that's nothing more than a guy monologuing on stage the entire time."
— nicolas e. (5/5)
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