Recent Film Restorations

[yoloswegmaster]

I don't know if anyone here will be going to this year's Ritrovato festival, here is going to be a panel discussion titled "HDR AND CLASSIC FILMS", and will feature the following guests: Stephen Bearman (Silver Salt), Lee Kline (The Criterion Collection), James Mockoski (American Zoetrope), Vincent Pirozzi (Roundabout), James White (Arrow Films), and Davide Pozzi (L’Immagine Ritrovata).

[andyli]

A fascinating topic. Hope they upload it to YouTube when it's done.

[Computer Raheem]

A fascinating topic. Hope they upload it to YouTube when it's done.

Does Ritrovato have a YouTube channel? If not, where can I find uploads of panels and such (should they exist)?

[andyli]

They post on Cineteca di Bologna's YouTube channel. I've watched some videos of last year's panels.

[andyli]

Il Cinema Ritrovato 2022's Recovered and Restored section.

I've seen Janus/Criterion's involvement in 4k restorations of All That Money Can Buy (AKA The Devil and Daniel Webster), Le samourai, Muratova's Brief Encounters and The Long Farewell, and The Rules of the Game. So these are sure-fire upgrades. Picnic at Hanging Rock, Shoeshine, The Last Picture Show, The Cassandra Cat, La ricotta and Videodrome are likely on Criterion's radar.

Other notable new 4k restorations: Nostalgia, The Conformist, Caught, Ludwig (an Arrow upgrade?), The Carriage Driver, and Capellani's Les misérables.

[rwiggum]

Does anyone know what happened to Milestone’s restoration of Soy Cuba? I saw it at The Egyptian in 2019 and assumed they’d be releasing something, but their website says it’s only available for institutional purchase. I assume it’s coming from somewhere but didn’t know what the scuttlebut was on it.

[fiendishthingy]

I don’t know anything about a physical release, but it is currently available for streaming on Kanopy.

[andyli]

Does anyone know what happened to Milestone’s restoration of Soy Cuba? I saw it at The Egyptian in 2019 and assumed they’d be releasing something, but their website says it’s only available for institutional purchase. I assume it’s coming from somewhere but didn’t know what the scuttlebut was on it.

It was available from a beautiful and affordable French blu-ray released by Potemkine with loads of bonus materials. Also, the Milestone disc for institutional purchase has burnt-in English sub.

[tenia]

Potemkine also managed to provide a slightly superior version of the available master, both on PQ (not sure what happened with the institutional Milestone disc but it doesn't look like a new restoration despite being sourced from one; it's also slightly pillarboxed) and seemingly AQ too (though in this respect, I wasn't able to detect a noticeable difference).

[criterionsnob]

It looks like the French release doesn’t have English subtitles as usual. Can anyone confirm? I would love to pick this up and maybe the subtitle situation won’t matter. I’ve seen this film so many times. I sold my DVD/cigar box years ago in anticipation of a Milestone Blu, which has still not materialized.

[tenia]

It indeed only have French subs.

[Stefan Andersson]

News from MUBI Notebook:

"Eager-eared listeners of the latest episode of Shawn Glinis and Arlin Golden's Wiseman Pod—featuring a conversation with Frederick Wiseman about the early stages of his formidable career—may have noticed a few tidbits of exciting news. Zipporah, the distributor of Wiseman's work, reportedly have new restorations for all of his films on the way, currently being prepared for cinema exhibition and re-release on Blu-ray. Further, The Garden, a documentary Wiseman filmed in 2005 about Madison Square Garden, may finally see the light of day toward the end of this year or early next."

Source:
https://mubi.com/notebook/posts/rushes- ... ial-tracks

Restoration of Mueda, Memoria e Massacre (Ruy Guerra, 1979):
https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/20 ... e-massacre
Part of The Barbican´s new bi-monthly strand of restored art cinema:
https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/se ... a-restored

[ianthemovie]

That's great news about the Wiseman films, which up 'til now have been bare-bones DVD-only releases sold directly out of Wiseman's own small privately-run distribution company. I'm very happy that doing this has allowed Wiseman to retain complete control over the rights to his work but it would be great to see some of these films treated more lovingly by a good boutique label. (I think the discs sold by Zipporah aren't even pressed, though I could be mistaken about that.)

I wonder if Criterion would be interested in making a bid for any of these. I could see them going for Titicut Follies or Welfare, or maybe High School/High School II.

[senseabove]

Apparently what screened at last night's "Haynes rarities" at the Hammer were 4k restorations of Superstar and Dottie Gets Spanked, so given that Velvet Goldmine has also had a 4k restoration... it seems like that was Haynes' pandemic project? Here's hoping he also got to Poison for a better release than the Kino, and Assassins, which I believe I remember him saying does still exist during one of his Velvet Underground interviews.
EDIT: And apparently the Superstar restoration was funded by Sundance & UCLA

[ryannichols7]

Apparently what screened at last night's "Haynes rarities" at the Hammer were 4k restorations of Superstar and Dottie Gets Spanked, so given that Velvet Goldmine has also had a 4k restoration... it seems like that was Haynes' pandemic project? Here's hoping he also got to Poison for a better release than the Kino, and Assassins, which I believe I remember him saying does still exist during one of his Velvet Underground interviews.
EDIT: And apparently the Superstar restoration was funded by Sundance & UCLA

a 4K restoration of a movie that probably can't even be released? intriguing...unless they somehow managed to work that out, but since Richard is still alive..

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

It's still not allowed to be released. I spoke to someone at UCLA who told me that the Superstar restoration couldn't be announced at all as it's still not allowed to be distributed. This is actually the second time this has happened in this theater as the Hammer Museum (not UCLA Film and Television Archive though they share the same theater) played Superstar off a 16mm print about six-years ago and likewise could not announce it.

[aurevoir]

Maybe they're just planning to wait it out? I'm curious what the upper limit is for how many of these "secret" screenings they can get away with.

[senseabove]

It was the same when SFMOMA played a 16mm print a while back, though they did note that the two advertised Haynes shorts would screen with a "a special (and secret) surprise film," which would obviously be Superstar for anyone who could read between the lines. I had assumed it would be showing in this instance as well, since the Hammer listing did not detail the night's program, but that it was a 4k restoration is definitely a surprise. Here's hoping the restoration will be leaked, maybe "accidentally," somewhere, since it is seems highly unlikely it will ever get an official release.

[swo17]

Legally, could it be included as an Easter egg on, say, a release of Dottie Gets Spanked?

[pianocrash]

Maybe they're just planning to wait it out? I'm curious what the upper limit is for how many of these "secret" screenings they can get away with.

I mean, the old protocol during the VHS era was Haynes not appearing anywhere around the screening of Superstar, so maybe from now on it'll be a 4K digital file that's projected before he enters the building? That would be absolutely insane, but not entirely without logic, as Carpenter's legal victory & his heirs are absolutely going nowhere anytime soon. Only someone like Haynes could pull that off, but it also helps that the movie is entirely worth protecting for the ages (as Sundance & UCLA seemed to have agreed), in spite of that small hindrance of less money incoming for all that was spent restoring it. And for that matter, it also means that inevitably it'll be disseminated as freely as the YT rips of olde further down the line, so people like me can pine for the 9th generation version we all saw originally.

Could it be included as an Easter egg on, say, a release of Dottie Gets Spanked?

Richard has five kids =;

[Matt]

Legally, could it be included as an Easter egg on, say, a release of Dottie Gets Spanked?

Legally, no. Any distribution of copies of the film, even if unadvertised, is a release (or publication). As long as all the music in the film remains unlicensed, it can never be legally released. Any distributor that tried would likely have its product seized and destroyed and be issued a significant fine.

[MichaelB]

Legally, could it be included as an Easter egg on, say, a release of Dottie Gets Spanked?

Legally, no. Any distribution of copies of the film, even if unadvertised, is a release (or publication). As long as all the music in the film remains unlicensed, it can never be legally released. Any distributor that tried would likely have its product seized and destroyed and be issued a significant fine.

And the mere fact that they didn’t advertise it would no doubt constitute clinching evidence that the label knew perfectly well that it was an illegal release, which could well encourage the prosecution to call for the maximum possible fine. And since this is music rights that we’re dealing with - and a lot of music at that - the label would have to be pretty well-heeled to avoid bankruptcy.

See also situations like the unexpurgated version of Walerian Borowczyk’s A Private Collection with four shots containing unarguably genuine bestiality. Could I have asked David Mackenzie to sneak the unexpurgated version onto the disc when he was authoring it? Absolutely. Would I have a leg to stand on if Arrow had then been prosecuted for infringing both the 1984 Video Recordings Act and, more seriously, the 2008 Criminal Justice and Immigration Act (which made it illegal to even possess this material in the UK, never mind distribute it)? Absolutely not.

[swo17]

Right, but so how do these theaters get away with basically Easter egging a screening? Or what's to stop this place from upgrading its release to a Blu-ray?

Also, a court made the no-distribution decision, yes? Can't another court just un-Roe it?

[ryannichols7]

makes me wonder if UCLA ever got ahold of the pie fight sequence in Dr. Strangelove whether they'd show it before screenings secretly....

I'm just really impressed they felt it was worth the money to restore something that's legitimately unreleasable. guessing they're hoping the carpenter estate dies out or stops caring in a few decades and future generations can see the film in pristine quality?

[MichaelB]

Right, but so how do these theaters get away with basically Easter egging a screening? Or what's to stop this place from upgrading its release to a Blu-ray?

Nothing, other than legitimate fear of prosecution. It really depends on how tough the rightsholders are minded to get - for instance, if the bootleggers were releasing Disney material, they might as well declare bankruptcy upfront to save themselves the court costs.

A few years ago, the legendary 1982 opus [i}The Man Who Saved The World[/i] (aka Turkish Star Wars) had a small-scale UK cinema release - but they didn't charge admission. From what I gather, George Lucas is well aware of that film's existence, but has opted not do do anything unless people are seen to be making money out of it - although even aside from the purloined Star Wars footage, that film is a music-rights lawyer's wet dream. That actually did get a paid-for BD-R release not long ago, but presumably the distributors were aware of the risks they were taking, and it was for a limited time only.

Also, a court made the no-distribution decision, yes? Can't another court just un-Roe it?

On what grounds? As it currently stands, the film is wall to wall copyright infringement, and I can't see how there'd be any wiggle room.

makes me wonder if UCLA ever got ahold of the pie fight sequence in Dr. Strangelove whether they'd show it before screenings secretly....

I gather that footage was screened - unannounced - at the National Film Theatre in London as part of a 1999 Kubrick tribute.