Following its premiere screening at the BFI Southbank last Thursday, I AM WEEKENDER, a documentary about the making of WEEKENDER, one of the seminal and most controversial British music films, is released today (June 19th) by the BFI on a limited edition Blu-ray. It's also available to buy on iTunes and Amazon Prime from today.

The first pressing of the Blu-ray - strictly limited to 2,000 copies - contains the documentary, directed by Chloé Rounet, and the original WEEKENDER, directed by WIZ (aka Andrew Whiston), newly restored in 2K from the original camera negative. There are numerous additional features on the Blu-ray, including more films directed by WIZ at the start of his directing career, during the height of the rave and acid house scene, and a new audio commentary by WIZ for the original film.

Made in 1992, WEEKENDER is an extended music video, 13 minutes in length, for London band Flowered Up, who emerged from the UK acid house scene of the late 1980s. On its release the film - starring Lee Whitlock and Anna Haigh - was initially banned from mainstream TV due its honest depiction of drug-taking and the euphoric effects of ecstacy - and it's downside. The film would go on to have a major influence on British cinema over the next few years. Director Danny Boyle has said: "Without WEEKENDER there’d be no Trainspotting." 

Rounet's 60 minute documentary assesses the context in which WEEKENDER was made, the process of its production, its impact and it's legacy. She relied on Zoom interviews conducted during lockdown with protagonists in the acid house scene, and people involved in making the original film, as well as WIZ's personal archive to make the doc.

As well as comments from lead actor Lee Whitlock there is co-star Anna Haigh’s first hand female perspective. Quaff Records’ founder Roy ‘The Roach’ Marsh describes the black experience of the early scene. Heavenly Records founder Geoff Barrett and band manager Des Penney provide crucial background about the brief success of Flowered Up, and the creation of the Weekender track itself. Other interviewees include Irvine Welsh, Jeremy Deller, Lynne Ramsay, Bobby Gillespie, Clive Langer, Mark Moore, Róisín Murphy, Annie Nightingale, Shaun Ryder and David Holmes.

The documentary is dedicated to Whitlock, who sadly died earlier this year, while the film was being completed.

In addition to the documentary and the restored version of the original film, the BFI's I AM WEEKENDER Blu-ray contains a new audio commentary by WIZ, recorded and produced by Adam Dunlop, the producer of the original film. Dunlop has also created Rushes Revisited: four sketches made from unseen rushes featuring previously unheard isolated tracks from the original recordings.

There are also three Flowered Up promotional videos on the Blu-Ray, including Take It, directed by WIZ in 1991. The disc also contains the first music video that WIZ directed, for Bocca Juniors' Raise - featuring Anna Haigh. Plus a delightful short, Nish, that WIZ directed about early acid house culture, in 1990.

Special features on the Blu-ray presentation extend to a 36-page illustrated booklet, which includes newly commissioned essays by Miranda Sawyer, Adelle Stripe, Des Penney and WIZ.

Award-winning journalist Sawyer is also conducting a Q&A with Rounet and WIZ at Glastonbury this weekend, following a screening of the film at the festival's cinema, The Pilton Palais. Further screenings are being scheduled around the UK later this summer.

• Pre-order I AM WEEKENDER limited edition Blu-ray from the BFI Shop here