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The Hourglass Sanatorium

A young man, Józef (Jan Nowicki, O-Bi, O-Ba: The End of Civilization), takes a train into the middle of nowhere to visit his dying father, who he understands is residing in a sanatorium. On arrival he discovers a giant building crumbling into ruin, with the patients seemingly left to their own devices, and time itself behaving in strange, non-linear ways. A doctor then informs him that his father is both alive and not-alive, beginning an epic hypnagogic journey through the hospital and his own mind, with each room unlocking its own sinister, hallucinatory world. Adapted to the screen from a book of Bruno Schulz short stories by visionary director Wojciech Has (The Saragossa Manuscript), the film overcame fear and scepticism from the Polish authorities when Has smuggled the film out of the country to premiere it at Cannes, where it would go on to win the Jury Prize. The Hourglass Sanatorium has come to be regarded as one of the greatest Polish films of all time, with its surreal structure and staggering feats of production design proving hugely influential on arthouse and fantasy filmmakers alike. 

4K UHD & BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION SPECIAL FEATURES

• New 4K restoration from the original camera negative, presented in Dolby Vision HDR
• 4K UHD and Blu-ray presentation of the feature; world premiere on 4K UHD
• Uncompressed mono PCM audio
• New audio commentary by Polish film expert Michael Brooke (2026)
• Archival interview with production designer Jerzy Skarzynski by filmmaker Jerzy Wójcik (1997)
• Accordion - acclaimed early short film from Wojciech Has (1947)
• Newly improved English subtitle translation
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow
• Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by critic Ela Bittencourt
• Limited edition of 5000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings

Add four or more of our July releases (The Double, The Boxer, The Hourglass Sanatorium, Histoire(s) du cinéma and other works, Vampire's Kiss, Two Boxes: Televised Terror in Franco's Spain) to cart to receive 10% off. Discount automatically applied at cart. Ends May 6th.

Year: 1973
Country: Poland
Cert: TBC
Format: UHD + Blu-ray
Region: ABC
RAD184UHDLE
EAN: 5060974683659
Release date: 20/07/26

Awards and Press:

Jury Prize - Cannes Film Festival 1973

"A cinematic treat, full of visual riches and dramatic surprises... Wojciech Has raises fascinating questions concerning the nature of time, memory, life and death." - The Arts Desk