April sees the release of the DVD and first ever Blu-ray editions of Pier Paolo Pasolini's colourful, entertaining and highly erotic Trilogy of Life films, as the BFI presents The Decameron, The Canterbury Tales and Arabian Nights as three individual releases.

Mastered from original negatives and restored in High-Definition, these titles feature new and exciting special features, including Pasolini's rarely seen Notes for an African Oresetia (1970), extensive deleted footage and a newly-created documentary commissioned by the BFI exploring the relationship between Pasolini and the Italian genre film. All the sets will feature the films in their original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and each will each contain an illustrated booklet including essays, reviews and director biography.

The Decameron – The first of the Trilogy of Life films, The Decameron tells ten stories based on fourteenth-century originals. Full of bawdy, earthy spirit, the film romps through its tales of sex and death – of lusty nuns and priests, cuckolded husbands, murdered lovers and grave-robbers – with five of the stories linked by the character of an intriguing artist, played by Pasolini himself.

Special features on DVD and Blue-ray editions:

• Alternative English-language version;
• Original Italian trailer;
• Notes for an African Oresetia (1970) – Pasolini's visual notes for a never-realised feature film.

The Canterbury Tales – The second part of the Trilogy of Life is based on the fourteenth-century stories of Geoffrey Chaucer. Plunging with gusto into some of the blackest and bawdiest of the tales, Pasolini celebrates almost every conceivable form of sexual act with a rich, earthy humour. A particular delight is the use of a largely British cast, including Hugh Griffith, Jenny Runacre and Tom Baker, which Pasolini himself takes the part of Chaucer.

Special features on DVD and Blue-ray editions:

• Alternative English-language version, presented with English-version inserts;
• Original Italian trailer;
• Pasolini and the Italian Genre Film (2009) – Exclusive new documentary.

Arabian Nights – The final part of Pasolini's Trilogy of Life series was two years in the making. The locations – Yemen, Ethiopia, Iran and Nepal – form a rich, exotic backdrop to these tales of slaves and kings, potions, betrayals, demons and, most of all, love and lovemaking in all its myriad forms. Engrossing, mysterious, profound and liberating, Arabian Nights is an exquisitely dreamlike, sensuous and adult interpretation of the original folk tales.

Special features on DVD and Blue-ray editions:

• Alternative English-language version;
• Original trailer;
• Deleted sequences.

The Decameron, The Canterbury Tales and Arabian Nights will be released individually on DVD and Blu-ray on 27th April 2009 at the RRTP of £19.99 (DVD) and £24.99 (Blu-ray) each.