Recent Film Restorations

[DeprongMori]

I’m guessing the new Shanghai Express restoration is not because the missing footage during the interrogation scene has finally been found.

[Stefan Andersson]

The Defendant, Obžalovaný / Czechoslovakia 1964, Ján Kadár, Elmar Klos, DCP
https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film ... -defendant

The Last Chance, Die letzte Chance / Switzerland 1945, Lindtberg, DCP
https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film ... ast-chance

[Stefan Andersson]

Spring in a Small Town, Fei Mu, 1948, 4K
"Restored from the 35mm nitrate camera-original negatives, this 4K restoration by the China Film Archive honors the 120th anniversary of director Fei Mu’s birth. A highlight of this project was the discovery of a pre-mix music soundtrack negative, which was confirmed as part of the original 1948 theatrical soundtrack. The original balance and ambient depth were restored, and the audio was remastered into 5.1 surround sound."
https://tiff.net/films/spring-in-a-small-town

Durian Durian, Fruit Chan, 4K
https://www.westk.hk/en/newsroom/mplus- ... esentation

[Stefan Andersson]

Man Who Came Back, 1924, w/ George O´Brien
Man Trouble, 1930, w/ Dorothy Mackaill
https://www.cinema.ucla.edu/events/man- ... 026-10-14/

That´s My Daddy, 1928, w/ Reginald Denny
https://www.cinema.ucla.edu/events/that ... 026-12-06/

The Quarterback, 1924, w/ Richard Dix
https://www.losangelessilentfilmfestiva ... oklet.html

[Stefan Andersson]

The Spring River Flows East, China 1947, 4K:
https://www.acmi.net.au/whats-on/chines ... lows-east/
https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/Spring% ... ast/932805

[hearthesilence]

My Brother´s Wedding, Burnett:
https://www.berlinale.de/en/2026/progra ... 16538.html

This opened at Film Forum this weekend with Burnett participating in a Q&A tonight. (There's one tomorrow at 2:20 p.m. that's "sold out" but I guarantee you if you try standby, you'll probably get in. Most "sold out" Film Forum screenings I've been to in the past year got everyone in, and even then there were open seats in the very front row. There's also an intro at Sunday's 4:30 p.m. screening which still has tickets, but the nice thing about the Q&A's is that Burnett hangs out afterwards and talks to everybody.)

The 4K restoration is indeed gorgeous. It looks like the original negative was used due to the amazing clarity, texture, detail and above all the color - I've never seen it look better in that regard, especially in one scene where a hot pink robe reminds you it's the '80s! I'm guessing the elements were really well-preserved, but if they weren't, they did a fantastic job of polishing and repairing everything - I can't recall a single blemish or a sign of aging or deterioration.

As for the film itself, it hit me that so much of the humor plays like classic Hollywood comedies from the 1930s - specifically the exasperated and at times deliciously mean passive-aggressive behavior between people who intensely dislike each other. It's like Burnett knew how that kind of film works, but he was going to do it within the world of Watts, Los Angeles and with the visual (and aural) aesthetic used in his previous film, albeit in color.

Also, Burnett mentioned he was still working on that documentary film about police brutality - I hope he finds more financial support soon.

[hearthesilence]

Spring in a Small Town, Fei Mu, 1948, 4K
"Restored from the 35mm nitrate camera-original negatives, this 4K restoration by the China Film Archive honors the 120th anniversary of director Fei Mu’s birth. A highlight of this project was the discovery of a pre-mix music soundtrack negative, which was confirmed as part of the original 1948 theatrical soundtrack. The original balance and ambient depth were restored, and the audio was remastered into 5.1 surround sound."
https://tiff.net/films/spring-in-a-small-town

This could be a major event if they don't screw up the restoration with de-graining or other misguided approaches. I really, really hope they don't filter and scrub the crap out of everything.

[Mr.DarjeelingLimited]

Spring in a Small Town, Fei Mu, 1948, 4K
"Restored from the 35mm nitrate camera-original negatives, this 4K restoration by the China Film Archive honors the 120th anniversary of director Fei Mu’s birth. A highlight of this project was the discovery of a pre-mix music soundtrack negative, which was confirmed as part of the original 1948 theatrical soundtrack. The original balance and ambient depth were restored, and the audio was remastered into 5.1 surround sound."
https://tiff.net/films/spring-in-a-small-town

This could be a major event if they don't screw up the restoration with de-graining or other misguided approaches. I really, really hope they don't filter and scrub the crap out of everything.

Speaking of this, any chance of a Region A blu release?

[Stefan Andersson]

China Film Archive film restoration pages:

Restored classics catalogue (no restoration tech specs):
https://www.cfa.org.cn/eportal/ui?pageI ... 4eb8477d15

Search:
https://www.cfa.org.cn/eportal/ui?pageI ... 17c0e62aff

the Digital Restoration Workshop:
https://www.cfa.org.cn/eportal/ui?pageI ... 65a09e44a5

[tenia]

Restorations for the 2026 Festival Lumière:

Tech details are starting to appear, with the Scola retrospective first.

C'eravamo tanto amati : 4K restoration for Studiocanal and Cineteca Nazionale by L’Immagine Ritrovata (very likely the one that already appeared on video)
Una giornata particolare : 4K resto for Cineteca Nazionale and Surf Film by L’Immagine Ritrovata (probably the same than what Criterion released)
Brutti, sporchi e cattivi : 4K resto for Cineteca di Bologna and Surf Film by L’Immagine Ritrovata (new)
Splendor : 2K resto for Gaumont by Éclair Cinéma (existing)
Che ora è : 2K resto for Gaumont by Éclair Cinéma (existing)
La nuit de Varennes : resto for Gaumont by Éclair Cinéma for the OCN (probably the existing one)
Dramma della gelosia : 4K resto for Cineteca di Bologna by L'Immagine Ritrovata (there has just been a BD release in Italy, maybe from this ?)
La più bella serata della mia vita : 2K resto for Sony Pictures by Colorworks
La terrazza : 2026 4K resto by Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, with Dean Film (upcoming BD release in Italy end of the month)
Adua e le compagne : 2K Resto Cineteca di Bologna
Il sorpasso : 4K Resto Cineteca di Bologna and Institut Luce-Cinecitta, with LCJ Productions (existing, released on BD in France and in the UK by Radiance, different than what Criterion released)

[Stefan Andersson]

Interview with the Vampire, 4K w/ deleted scenes:
https://variety.com/2026/film/news/neil ... 236864223/

[dwk]

The Man Who Stole the Sun 4K restoration trailer

[Stefan Andersson]

Warm Current / Danryu, Kozaburo Yoshimura, 1939; web browser translation:

"The restoration of 'Danryu' began with a donation of 16mm film from Ken Shimomura. 'Warm Current' was originally a 177-minute work, but until now, a shortened version re-edited to 124 minutes after the war, including DVDs, has mainly been circulated. In contrast, the donated 16mm film was a remarkably long 169 minutes, a remarkable discovery that brought us close to its original appearance at the time of release. However, some areas had deteriorated significantly, making it difficult to screen screenings in their current form.
Meanwhile, our library purchased a shortened version of 35mm screening film from Shochiku in 1962 and holds it, as well as two types of 35mm film produced in 1990. One is a regular screening film, and the other is a film with special processing to soften the black-and-white contrast. These are a bit longer than the shortened versions, but English subtitles are embedded in them.
So, we decided to digitize these films and stitch them together to make them as long and of the highest quality as possible.
For the restoration, the base material was the English subtitled film, which retained many black-and-white gradations due to special processing, and 16mm film was used for the cuts and top titles, which were not present in this film. Since the opening credits and end marks existed only in the shortened version, we adopted the shortened version. /.../ for sound, we used English subtitled film for screening, with 16mm film for missing parts."
https://readyfor.jp/projects/NFAJ2026/a ... nts/441782

[Aunt Peg]

4K restoration of Todd Verow's 1995 Frisk has begun touring.

I understand Strand Releasing participated in the restoration. It's very strong stuff based on a novel by Dennis Cooper which could never be literally filmed (some of the material in the book would never get past any film classifier) but Verow has brilliantly captured the themes and essence of the book.

Didn't exactly take the world by storm back in 95/96 so I hope it finds an audience now. I notice that the trailer states 'director's cut' so I assume Verow is extending some scenes and making them more explicit perhaps but I think the film was perfect as shown 30 years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=8iHOK6vtQoA

[senseabove]

Swoon next, please.