Begotten was shot in black and white on 16mm reversal film, then rephotographed frame by frame through neutral-density filters. The process took four years and roughly ten hours of work for every finished minute. After struggling to find conventional distribution, the film found an early advocate in Susan Sontag, who screened it privately and helped carry it into international film circles.
Restoration personally supervised by filmmaker E. Elias Merhige. Restored from the original 16mm negative and optical soundtrack.
“One of the most important films of modern times.” – Susan Sontag
“A hallucinatory masterpiece.” – Amos Vogel
