LA-based post-production house DigitalFilm Tree played a key role in the release of Prince and The Revolution: Live, a high-definition Blu-ray restoration of the March 30, 1985, Prince concert originally filmed in Syracuse, New York’s Carrier Dome, and broadcast to the world via satellite. The film was originally released on VHS in the late 1980s before falling out of print.
The Last Waltz (1978), Singin’ in the Rain (1952) and several other classics represented by Park Circus will feature as part of the Cinéma de la plage program, a series of free screenings at the Cannes Film Festival, taking place each evening in an open-air theatre on the Macé beach. The festival runs May 17-28.
Making a successful feature film is one of the most difficult things there is to do. Having adequate financing in place is just part of the challenge. Several other elements are just as critical including a good script, a talented cast and crew, a laundry list of sophisticated technology, decent weather, and a lot of luck. With a completed feature film in hand, a filmmaker still must find a company that shares a passion for that film and will agree to distribute it properly. For many successful independent filmmakers, that is where their job ends. But should it end there?
The American Film Institute has received a $350,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to embark upon a landmark initiative to study thousands of short films released in the silent and early sound eras. Titled Behind the Veil after a lost 1914 film directed by pioneering filmmaker Lois Weber, the project will be spearheaded by the AFI research team at the AFI Catalog, the world’s most authoritative, freely accessible database of every American feature film and co-production released in the first century of the art form. The project is intended to document the cultural impact of women and people of color in the creation, distribution, and reception of early cinema.
Twenty-five years after it debuted to wide critical and popular acclaim, the award-winning documentary Everest is back in giant-screen theatres. MacGillivray Freeman Films, producers of Everest, spent months completing an all-new 16K restoration of the film for a special digitally remastered release.
Each year the Librarian of Congress chooses a select group of films to be inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. The Registry champions American films and this year the seminal documentary, The Wobblies (1979), which was awarded a New York Women in Film and Television Women’s Film Preservation Fund grant in 2003, has been honored with inclusion to the list. The Wobblies (1979) by Deborah Shaffer and Stewart Bird is in outstanding company with others named to the Registry such as Sylvia Morales’ Chicana, Cheryl Dunye’s The Watermelon Woman and Who Killed Vincent Chin? by Christine Choy and Renee Tajima-Pena.
Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden has announced the annual selection of the 25 influential motion pictures to be inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. Selected for their cultural, historic, or aesthetic importance to preserve the nation’s film heritage, the newest selections include epic trilogies, major roles for Jennifer Lopez and Cicely Tyson, extraordinary, animated features, comedy and music, and films that took on racially motivated violence against people of color decades ago.
The Gregg Theatre in Sedan, Kansas, is preparing to open its doors once again thanks to a dedicated team of local volunteers and some help from Christie’s professional services team. First opened in August 1938, and featuring a beautiful marquee, the Gregg Theatre was one of the first theatres to introduce talking pictures. It was remodeled over the years, and a new, larger projection screen was installed in 1947
MTI Film has released DRS Nova v5, the latest version of its digital restoration software. The company says V5 has new features to perform common restoration tasks more easily and manage projects more efficiently, especially those delivering in 4K high dynamic range. MTI Film also introduced Shine, a utility for DRS Nova that automates the filtering of dirt and fleeting scratches, reducing the time to make those repairs by as much as 70 percent.
The Women’s Film Preservation Fund of New York Women in Film & Television is nominating two WFPF-preserved films – The Wobblies and Betty Tells Her Story – for inclusion on this year’s National Film Registry. Both films explore a diverse range of issues and innovative approaches to filmmaking practiced by women makers.
