Cannes Classics line-up includes Tavernier documentary

Bertrand Tavernier’s documentary about French cinema Voyage à Travers le Cinéma Français will receive a world premiere at the Cannes Classic section of the Cannes Film Festival (May 11-22).

The revered French filmmaker has described his latest work as an expression of “gratitude to all the filmmakers, writers, actors and musicians that have appeared suddenly in my life.”

Voyage à Travers le Cinéma Français is a Little Bear-Gaumont-Pathé co-production and was made in participation with CANAL+, CINE+ and the SACEM, with the support of Région Ile-de-France and CNC. Gaumont will handle international sales and Pathé have distribution in France. The film will be released in theaters in October 2016.  

As in previous years, Cannes Classic will also feature nine documentaries about cinema and restored prints of 20 international classics including rare gems from countries that had never before been invited to exhibit such as Slovenia, Switzerland, Pakistan, Czech Republic, Cuba, Thailand, Hungary, and Poland. 

Cannes Classics line-up:

CINEMA MASTERCLASS: WILLIAM FRIEDKIN

The annual Cinema Masterclass will be given by American filmmaker William Friedkin and hosted by film critic Michel Ciment on Wednesday, May, 18th. Friedkin will also introduce a restored surprise film at the Buñuel Theater and Sorcerer at the Cinéma de la Plage.

Sorcerer presented by La Rabbia. A Warner Bros Restoration under the supervision of Ned Price, vice president of Mastering at Warner Bros. and William Friedkin. Scan 4 K from the 35mm negative. Audio restoration by Aaron Levy from 35mm 4-stereo track. Color-grading supervision by Bryan McMahan.

THE DOUBLE PALME D’OR OF 1966

Cannes Classics continues its mini-retrospective of restorations of films which have won the Palme d’or. This year they return to 1966 and its two winners, Pietro Germi and Claude Lelouch. They were awarded the prize by the jury presided over by Sophia Loren. 

• Signore & signori (The Birds, the Bees and the Italians) by Pietro Germi (1966, 2h, Italy/France)

Presented by Cineteca di Bologna, Istituto Luce - Cinecittà, DEAR International. Restored by Cineteca di Bologna, Istituto Luce - Cinecittà and DEAR International at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory.

• Un Homme et une femme (A Man and a Woman) by Claude Lelouch (1966, 1h42, France)

Presented by Les Films 13. The film has been restored by Eclair laboratory in Vanves. It was scanned and color-graded from the original 35mm color and black and white negative with Claude Lelouch. It was digitally restored and finalized in 2K for the DCP. The sound was restored from the original mono magnetic 35mm. Restoration and digitization with the support of the CNC.

A TRIBUTE TO RAYMOND DEPARDON AND FREDERICK WISEMAN

• Faits divers by Raymond Depardon (1983, 1h30, France)

Presented by Palmeraie et désert with the support of the CNC. Original negative digitized and restored frame by frame in 2K by Eclair. Restoration and color-grading supervised by Raymond Depardon who will introduce his film before the screening.

• Hospital by Frederick Wiseman (1969, 1h24, USA)

Presented by Zipporah Films and Blaq Out in partnership with Doc & Film and UniversCiné, Hospital was restored in a 35 mm copy by the Library of Congress Audiovisual Conservation Center from original camera negatives in the Zipporah Films Collection. Frederick Wiseman will be present at Cannes and be awarded the Prix Consécration by France Culture radio station.

The 70^th ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIPRESCI PRIZE

• Farrebique by Georges Rouquier (1946, 1h27, France)

Presented by Les Documents cinématographiques. The film was digitized and restored by Eclair with the support of the CNC. The 2K restoration has been made from a nitrate negative and nitrate interpositive. Cristina Martin at the Documents Cinématographiques coordinated and managed the project.

Documentaries about Cinema

• The Cinema Travelers by Shirley Abraham and Amit Madheshiya (2016, 1h36, India)

Presented and produced by Cave Pictures (India). 

• The Family Whistle by Michele Russo (2016, 1h05, Italy)
Presented by American Zoetrope, produced with Ulisse Cultural Association. 
With Francis Coppola and Talia Shire. 

• Cinema Novo by Eryk Rocha (2016, 1h30, Brazil)
Presented by FiGa Films. Produced by Aruac Filmes & Coqueirão Pictures, co-produced by Canal Brasil & FM Produções.

• Midnight Returns: The Story of Billy Hayes and Turkey by Sally Sussman (2016, 1h39, USA)
Presented and produced by Midnight Return LLC, in association with Old Forest Hill Productions, Inc.  

• Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fischer and Debbie Reynolds by Alexis Bloom and Fisher Stevens (2016, 1h35, USA)
Presented by HBO Documentary Films, produced by HBO and RatPac Documentary Films. 

• Gentleman Rissient by Benoît Jacquot, Pascal Mérigeau and Guy Seligmann (2015, 1h14 minutes, France)
Presented and produced by SODAPERAGA and CINE+ (Bruno Deloye). 

• Close encounters with Vilmos Zsigmond by Pierre Filmon (2016, 1h22, France)
Presented and produced by FastProd, Lost Films and Radiant Images with the participation of TCM Cinéma.

• Et La femme créa Hollywood (Women Who Run Hollywood) by Clara and Julia Kuperberg (2015, 52mn, France)
Presented and produced by Wichita Films and OCS.

• Bernadette Lafont et Dieu créa la femme by Esther Hoffenberg (2016, 65mn, France)
Presented and produced by ARTE France, Lapsus, Inthemood and INA. 

RESTORED PRINTS 

• Die letzte Chance (The Last Chance) by Leopold Lindtberg (1945, 1h53, Switzerland)

A presentation of the Cinémathèque suisse. A restoration of the Cinémathèque suisse and the Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF) with the support of Memoriav at Hiventy laboratory.

• Dolina Miru (Valley of Peace) by France Stiglic (1956, 1h30, Slovenia)

A presentation of the Slovenian Film Centre. 2K film and sound restoration made from a 4K scan of black and white 35 mm intermediate film positive and internegative. Restored sound from a 35mm optical sound negative. Restorations lead by Bojan Mastilović and Janez Ferlan, color grading lead by Janez Ferlan, at Iridium Film, Ljubljana. Sound restoration lead by Matjaž Zdešar. Supervised by project commission: DOP Lev Predan Kowarski and Rado Likon, director Urša Menart.

• Ikarie XB 1 by Jindřich Polák (1963, 1h28, Czech Republic)

A presentation of the National Film Archives (NFA). Digitized from the original camera and sound negatives preserved in the NFA.4K restoration made under the supervision of the NFA in the Hungarian Filmlab. The film was digitally restored as part of the “Digital restoration of Czech film heritage” project which was supported by grants from Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway and co-financed by the Czech Ministry of Culture. Project partners were the National Library of Norway and CESNET.

• Jago hua savera (Day Shall Dawn) by Aaejay Kardar (1958, 1h34, Pakistan)

A presentation of the Nauman Taseer Foundation. Image and sound restoration from the best elements possible, since the negative has disappeared, by Deluxe Restoration London. It was commissioned by Anjum Taseer.

• Memorias del subdesarrollo (Memories of the Underdevelopment) by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea (1968, 1h37, Cuba)

A presentation of Les Films du Camélia and Cineteca di Bologna. Restored by Cineteca di Bologna/ L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, in association with Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos(ICAIC) and Les Films du Camélia. The film will be released in French theaters.

• Santi-Vina by Thavi Na Bangchang (1954, 1h54, Thailand)

A presentation of Film Archive in Thailand. The original material of this film was considered lost but in 2014 it was found in the British Film Institute. Release prints were also found in the China Film Archive and at the Gosfilmofond in Russia. A 4K scan and restoration was carried out from the original camera and sound negatives found at the BFI. The restoration work was carried out at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory.

• Szerelem (Love) by Károly Makk (1971, 1h32, Hungary)

A presentation of the Hungarian National Film Fund and of the Hungarian National Digital Film Archive and Film Institute (MaNDA). A 4K scan and restoration from the original 35mm negatives. Digitization and restoration of the sound from 35mm magnetic tapes. Restoration made by the Focus-Fox Studio and Hungarian Filmlab. The film will be released in French theaters.

• Howards End by James Ivory (1992, 2h20, United Kingdom/Japan)

A presentation of the Cohen Film Collection LLC with director James Ivory and actress Vanessa Redgrave in attendance. Digital restoration from the original camera negative held at the archive of the George Eastman Museum, completed in 4K by Cineric Portugal – Simon Lund. Color grading under the supervision of cinematographer Tony Pierce-Roberts and director James Ivory, by Steve Bearman, Mark Bonnici and Graham Jones at Deluxe Restoration in London. 5.1 audio track restoration by John Polito at Audio Mechanics in Burbank.

• Decakolog 5 (Thou shalt not kill) and 6 (Thou shalt not commit adultery) by Krzysztof Kieślowski (1989, 57mn et 58mn, Poland)

A presentation of MK2 and TVP. Restoration in 2K from original image negatives by TVP in Poland. The color-grading of each episode has been supervised by the DOPs of the episode they photographed.

• Momotarô, Umi no shinpei (Momotaro, Sacred Sailors) by Mitsuyo Seo (1945, 1h14, Japan)

A presentation of Shochiku Studio. The digital restoration is scanned in 4K, the image restoration and projection in 2K by Shochiku Co., Ltd.

• One-Eyed Jacks by Marlon Brando (1961, 2h21, USA)

A presentation of Universal Studios and The Film Foundation. Restored by Universal Studios in collaboration with The Film Foundation. Special thanks to Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg for their consultation on this restoration.

• Solyaris (Solaris) by Andreï Tarkovski (1972, 2h47, Russian Federation)

A presentation of Mosfilm Cinema Concern. Digital frame-by-frame restoration of image and sound from 2K scan of the negative. Producer of the restoration: Karen Shakhnazarov.

• Ugetsu monogatari (Ugetsu) by Kenji Mizoguchi (1953, 1h37, Japan)

Presented by The Film Foundation, KADOKAWA Corporation, and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Restored by The Film Foundation and KADOKAWA Corporation at Cineric Laboratories. Special thanks to Masahiro Miyajima and Martin Scorsese for their consultation on this restoration. Restoration funding provided by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in association with The Film Foundation and KADOKAWA Corporation.

• Dragées au poivre (Pepper Candy) by Jacques Baratier (1963, 1h34, France)

A presentation of the CNC and the Association Jacques Baratier. Digital restoration made from the digitization in 2K of the 35mm negatives. Restoration made by Mikros Image.

• Valmont by Milos Forman (1989, 2h17, France)

A presentation of Pathé. Restoration by Pathé, made in 4K by L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, with the support of the CNC.

• Gueule d’amour by Jean Grémillon (1937, 1h32, France)

Presented by TF1 Droits Audiovisuels with the suppport of the CNC. A 4K restauration from the original negative made at Hiventy.

• Masculin féminin by Jean-Luc Godard (1966, 1h50, France)

A presentation of Argos Films and TAMASA. 2K digitization and restoration from the original negative by Eclair, color-grading supervised by cinematographer Willy Kurant. Sound restoration from the sound negative by L.E. Diapason. The film will be released in French theaters. 

• Indochine by Régis Wargnier (1992, 2h32, France)

A presentation of Studiocanal. Digitization from the original negative and restoration frame by frame in 4K by L’Immagine Ritrovata. 

• Adieu Bonaparte by Youssef Chahine (1984, 1h55, France/Egypt)

A presentation of the Cinémathèque Française, Misr International Films and TF1 Droits Audiovisuels. A restoration of Misr International Films and TF1 Droits Audiovisuels carried out by the Cinémathèque Française with the support of the CNC, of the Fonds Culturel Franco-Américain (DGA-MPA-SACEM-WGAW), of the Archives audiovisuelles de Monaco and the Association Youssef Chahine. The works have been made from the image negative and the sound magnetic tapes at Eclair and at L.E.Diapason studio.

• Pit and The Pendulum by Roger Corman (1961, 1h20, USA)

A presentation of Alta Vista Productions and MGM Studios/Park Circus. 35mm archival print made in conjunction with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and producer Jon Davison from the original negative at Fotokem, Los Angeles. With Mato DerAvanessian and supervised by Roger Corman. Damaged shots were restored digitally and re-cut into the film.

• Rendez-vous de juillet by Jacques Becker (1949, 1h39, France)

A 2K restoration presented by Gaumont. Image work made by Eclair, sound restored by L.E. Diapason with Eclair. The film will be released in French theaters and on DVD/Blu-ray.

CANNES CLASSICS SPECIAL SCREENINGS

• Terrore nello spazio (Planet of the Vampires) by Mario Bava (1965, 1h28, Italy/Spain)

A presentation by Fulvio Lucisano, Nicolas Winding Refn and CSC Cineteca Nazionale. The movie has been digitally restored from the original 35mm Kodak Eastman Color negative, courtesy of Italian International Film. Color correction (via colorimetry comparison of an original 35mm positive copy courtesy of the Cineteca Nazionale) was carried out under the supervision of assistant director Lamberto Bava. The digital intermediate process using 35mm Kodak polyester copies and 35mm color-positive copies by Fotocinema Roma in 2015.

•Tiempo de morir by Arturo Ripstein (1966, 1h30, Mexico)

A presentation by Sidonis Calysta. The film has been restored by ALAMEDA FILMS at LABOFILMS MEXICO under the supervision of Enrique Alagón, Adolfo Alagón and Gabriel Elvira at LABODIGITAL under the supervision of Charles Barthe.