Film Restoration and Preservation

Started by wilder, January 16, 2013, 09:30:59 PM

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wilder

Anna Biller joins the AGFA advisory board
via American Genre Film Archive
BY JOE ZIEMBA • MARCH 30, 2017



We are beyond honored to welcome Anna Biller, the filmmaker behind VIVA and THE LOVE WITCH, to the AGFA advisory board.

At the American Genre Film Archive (AGFA), we believe that genre films should rule the world. But we can't make this happen alone. Our advisory board is a coalition of like-minded fans who believe in the importance and preservation of genre films. Together, we ensure that these movies will be available on 35mm until the end of time. Or until the planet explodes. Whichever comes first.

The AGFA advisory board consists of Alamo Drafthouse founders Karrie and Tim League, filmmakers Paul Thomas Anderson and Nicolas Winding Refn, and musician RZA. Today, we're proud to welcome Anna Biller to the ranks.

"I am thrilled to be included on the board of the American Genre Film Archive," says Biller, "I believe passionately in continuing the legacy of film, and in preserving some of the great genre films that are such a vital part of our history and culture."

Anna Biller's work is an inspiration. Meticulously crafting VIVA and THE LOVE WITCH on 35mm, Biller is a breath of fresh air for twenty-first century genre filmmaking. She channels the hyper-stylized aesthetic of Jaques Tati, the surreal melodrama of Nicholas Ray, and the pop-art pulp of Doris Wishman to create movies that feel like nothing else before or since.

For more on Anna Biller and her work, visit: www.lifeofastar.com

wilder

Seven Restored Lina Wertmuller Films Heading to U.S. Theaters
via blu-ray.com



Kino Lorber will bring back to U.S. seven classic films from acclaimed director Lina Wertmuller which have been recently restored. The distributors have also confirmed that one of them, Seven Beauties, will transition to Blu-ray later this year.

The touring series makes available the following titles: The Seduction of Mimi, Love & Anarchy, All Screwed Up, Swept Away, Seven Beauties, Summer Night, Ferdinando & Carolina, plus the documentary Behind the White Glasses.




wilder

QuoteProduced in the aftermath of the horrific destruction witnessed with the dropping of atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the "tri-dimensional religious art film" The Way of Peace (1947) represents a historic early example of a sponsored anti-nuclear film.  Created under the auspices of the American Lutheran Church, the uncompromising film, animated with stop motion and puppets, was intended to influence public opinion and international policy by graphically illustrating how man's inhumanity to man could ultimately lead to the destruction of the Earth.  The cautionary tale features grim imagery that undoubtedly shocked audiences in its time, including expressionistic sequences depicting torture, lynching and Nazi fascism, culminating with an extended, technically-innovative special effects sequence dramatizing a devastating global nuclear war that results in the extermination of humankind.

The creative team assembled to make The Way of Peace represents a notable cross-section of Hollywood talent of considerable interest to cinema and media historians.  The short film was written and directed by American animator, screenwriter and director, Frank Tashlin, perhaps best known as the director of many golden-era Warner Bros. animated shorts and a number of major studio films starring Jerry Lewis, including  Cinderfella (1960) .  In a highly successful film career spanning decades, The Way of Peace represents Tashlin's lone foray into dramatic work.  Technical supervision and the "original conception" for The Way of Peace was provided by the Reverend H.K. Rasbach, who would later serve as an advisor to director Cecil B. DeMille on The Ten Commandments (1956) and director George Stevens on The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965).  Rasbach would also later work with the West Coast Commission of the National Council of Churches on film and broadcasting, reviewing scripts to insure they met decency standards. The Way of Peace was co-produced, photographed and featured puppet design by Chinese-American special effects pioneer Wah Ming Chang, who worked on character designs for Walt Disney, puppet animation and special effects for George Pal, and innovative and highly-influential sculptures and props for the original Outer Limits and Star Trek television series.  The film's other co-producer and art director was noted artist, etcher and set and production designer James Blanding Sloan (foster father to Wah Ming Chang, with whom he formed East-West Studios).  Lastly, The Way of Peace was narrated by Academy Award-nominated actor Lew Ayres, a dedicated pacifist and, controversially, with great personal sacrifice, a prominent conscientious objector to World War II.

In a 1947 article covering the production of The Way of Peace titled "Peace and Puppets," Newsweek magazine reported that "Mr. Rasbach worked with technicians for twenty months at a cost of $60,000 to get the effects he wanted."  That year, the startling product of that labor premiered in Constitution Hall, Washington D.C., with The Way of Peace screening to over 2,700 invited guests, including members of Congress, representatives of the Supreme Court and leaders from numerous branches of government.  Today, The Way of Peace stands as a unique artifact of the atomic age, significantly intersecting the histories of animation, sponsored film, religion, politics, nuclear policy, and propaganda.  In 2014, the landmark film was named to the National Film Registry by the Librarian of Congress.

UCLA Film & Television Archive completed preservation of The Way of Peace in 2017 with a grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation.

— Mark Quigley, manager, Archive Research and Study Center



wilder



QuoteUpon its release in 1992, it won the grand jury prize at Sundance competing against films like Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Tarantino) and Gas, Food, Lodging (Alison Anders), and proceded to play some of the most prestigious festivals worldwide throughout that year, including Venice, Toronto, and the New York Film Festival. 

But, despite these rave reviews and an amazing start to a theatrical tour, a series of distribution mishaps caused it to become unavailable and more or less stay that way for the next quarter-century. Now, an official high-quality copy of it does not exist digitally, it's not on Blu-Ray, and the DVD release it saw in 2004 which is now out of print.

As of last year, there was only one fine-grain, black-and-white master archival print left, and unfortunately, while being screened at a cinema in Los Angeles, this precious but aging, fragile print was accidentally damaged during projection to the extent that moments of the first and fifth reel were virtually shredded

Without this time-proof archive of the film, not only can we not reproduce In the Soup in the way it was meant to be seen – it could be lost forever.

Because of the rarity of the Kodak black-and-white stock with which it was made, this process of restoration requires the epitome of expert attention and high-tech equipment at labs around the world...



In the Soup (1992) - Kickstarter Restoration Campaign


jenkins

Factory 25 treating it right, looking like it'll bring this home. it's beautiful.







there's a "naughty" additional gif on the page, which is very well constructed and deserves its money

wilder

Quote from: wilder on May 13, 2014, 12:49:06 PM
And speaking of "The Kingdom", it's one of a handful of early works by von Trier that are getting digitally restored. Production company Zentropa has released a seven-minute featurette diving into the lengthy process of scanning the original film strips and re-editing the movies from scratch in order to preserve the director's projects (trivia: "The Kingdom" was recorded on DigiBeta, a now defunct format).







To be released next year.

wilder



wilder

Jacques Rivette's La Belle Noiseuse (1991) 4K restoration trailer (NSFW?)

Threading the needle between a narrative film about an artist and a documentary recording of the creative act, Jacques Rivette infuses his Balzac adaptation with erotic tension and suspenseful drama. All-but-retired painter Michel Piccoli, living en Provence with wife and onetime muse Jane Birkin, becomes inspired by visitor Emmanuelle Béart. He picks up the brush once again as his newly anointed model poses nude for the duration.

wilberfan

National Film Registry Adds 'Memento,' 'Titanic,' 'Die Hard,' 'The Goonies' and More

http://www.slashfilm.com/2017-national-film-registry/

wilberfan




wilder

Jacques Rivette's The Nun a.k.a. La Religieuse (1966) has been restored in 4K. GREAT movie. UK blu-ray coming on September 10.





And the new restoration of Barbara Loden's Wanda (1970) opens in NY July 20, with a national tour (and eventual Criterion release) to follow.

Wanda Trailer - Vimeo