Sony Pictures Classics (SPC) is to re-release Sally Potter’s Orlando in North American cinemas and on DVD and Blu-ray.

The 1993 drama - based on the novel by Virginia Woolf and starring Tilda Swinton as a character who lives for 400 years, first as a man, then as a woman - will open, with new prints, in New York and Los Angeles on July 23 and in select other North American cities thereafter.

After a short theatrical window the film will be re-launched on DVD and Blu-ray Disc with new material added (Sony withdrew original DVDs of the film from circulation about 18 months ago to prepare for the re-launch).

Commenting on the re-release, SPC co-president Michael Barker said Orlando “has always been one of our most popular titles. It has been the desire of Sally Potter and Tilda Swinton to have the film seen in theatres again and it made sense for us. The theatrical experience of Orlando is a great one, so why not try it again?”

Orlando grossed $5.3m from its original June 1993 North American theatrical release (through SPC) and earned two Oscar nominations.

A retrospective of Sally Potter’s films will run from July 7 to 21 at New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

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