AMIA Newsbriefs

Death by a Thousand Director's Cuts: how DVD marketing is rewriting the history of film

Regarding terms like director's cut and restoration: The fact that these categories are now integral parts of sales pitches seriously diminishes the possibility of their serving as accurate descriptions. Arguably, one reason why the film industry has encouraged and promoted the concept of director's cuts, even though this might appear to be counter to its own interests, is that it enables a film's owner to sell the same product to the same customer twice—or even, in a few special cases, three or four times.

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Restoration polishes purity

The restoration of 40-year-old film footage is an extremely delicate matter, especially when the Woodstock Music and Art Fair is involved. Like the near-tornados that turned Max Yasgur's dairy farm into a quagmire in 1969, a storm is brewing today about the new Woodstock DVDs. Purist fans object to changes in picture and sound.

Read the story here:  http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/Today/Entertainment/2009/06/15/9798141-sun.html

Dubai fest partners with Scorsese's WCF

The foundation's first step in protecting Middle Eastern film heritage is the restoration of Moroccan filmmaker Ahmed al Maanouni's 1981 musical documentary "Transes." "Arab film has a pedigree that dates back a century, and older cinema works must be preserved to enable younger generations to see what this region is capable of and to inspire us to continue to develop," DIFF artistic director Masoud Amralia said.

Read story here: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/awards_festivals/news/e3i9ffdbbfa915bd89c07d2d76a7e2b1960

At Cannes, Martin Scorsese has his eyes on films long unseen

Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Foundation tries to rescue, restore and re-popularize tiny, damaged or forgotten movies that are in danger of being lost forever. He's teaming up with distributor B-Side Entertainment and the movie-screening website TheAuteurs.com to showcase some of them, in some cases for free. Still, Scorsese acknowledges that attracting fans will be a challenge. "There's going to be someone out there who's going to be affected by them," he says. "And if we hit one out of 100 or one out of 1,000, we've done something."

Read story here: http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2009-05-17-scorsese_N.htm

The New Mob Boss

Most stories about film restoration sound the same. Again and again, we hear about neglect, deteriorating film stock and faulty printing. Even great films ("Lawrence of Arabia," "Vertigo") suffered these indignities. Still, the news that Coppola's first two "Godfather" movies direly required repair comes as a shock.

Read the story here:  http://www.newsweek.com/id/164501

Academy to salute Japan's Kurosawa

The release of the restored "Rashomon" print and Acad tribute coincide with the 10th anniversary of Kurosawa's death on Sept. 6, 1998. The film's restoration was undertaken by the Academy Film Archive, the Film Foundation and the Kadokawa Culture Promotion Foundation.

Read the story here: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117990910.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

Lost Indian film restored in London

A rare film by a lesser-known Indian filmmaker found in an antique shop has been painstakingly put together and is scheduled to be shown as part of the Liverpools European Capital of Culture festivities on Friday.

Read the story here:  http://www.screenindia.com/news/Lost-Indian-film-restored-in-London/342986/

Quo Vadis: Restored and Remastered

This panoramic spectacle -- an historic biblical epic with literally a cast of tens of thousands and filmed in brilliant Technicolor - has been the beneficiary of a meticulous photochemical restoration especially for its premiere DVD issue. This new release also restores -- and marks the video debut of -- composer Miklos Rozsa's magnificent overture as originally presented during the film's premiere roadshow theatrical engagements.

Read the story here:  http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/quo-vadis-two-disc-special-edition/story.aspx?guid=%7BDF8952B2-57A1-459D-9351-3DC2BB9182F7%7D&dist=hppr

'The Godfather': A restoration offer they couldn't refuse

The trilogy's face-lift took a team of experts, several hundred thousand dollars and two years. Expect more color and clarity, especially in key scenes. By Bill Desowitz, Special to The Times July 14, 2008 Fans who pick up the recently announced "The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration," due out from Paramount Home Entertainment on DVD and Blu-ray on Sept. 23, are likely to see things in the 1972 Mafia saga and its two sequels they've never noticed before. The differences could be subtle to the casual observer, but the improved color and clarity give new visual punch to some of the most cherished sequences in recent cinema history.

Find the story here: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/homeentertainment/la-et-godfatherdvd14-2008jul14,0,5770543.story

Word Is Out: Seminal Doc Restored

July 11, 2008--Outfest, a leading showcase for diverse and international lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) film and video, partnered in 2005 with the UCLA Film & Television Archive to create the Outfest Legacy Project for LGBT Film Preservation. Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives (1978) is The Outfest Legacy Project’s 2nd restoration. Parting Glances (1986), the seminal film that depicted the lives of gay men in New York at the beginning of the AIDS pandemic, was the project’s first completed film restoration that screened in 2007. The Restoration Premiere of Word Is Out will take place on July 14th, 2008 at Outfest 2008: The 26th Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.

Find the story here: http://www.emanuellevy.com/article.php?articleID=10574