Ein Interview vom 28. Mai 2010 mit dem iranischen Regisseur Jafar Panahi über seine Festnahme und die Haftbedingungen im Evin-Gefängnis, gefunden in der arte-Mediathek.
Das British Film Institute (BFI) hat ein ca. 10-minütiges Interview mit Tippi Hedren vom 11. Mai 2010 über die Dreharbeiten von Alfred Hitchcocks “Die Vögel / The Birds” [USA 1963] online gestellt.
Discovered by Alfred Hitchcock after starring in numerous commercials and gaining success as a model, Tippi Hedren is undeniably best known for her iconic roles in two of Hitchcock’s films - The Birds and Marnie. The legendary actor took to the BFI Southbank stage to provide candid insight into her experiences on the sets of these two masterpieces, in an in depth conversation with Adrian Wootton. Reflecting on her relationship with Hitchcock, with whom she had a multi-year personal contract, she explains the depth of knowledge she gained having been mentored by the world reknowned director, as well as giving an honest depiction of the more challenging aspects of their professional relationship.
Das Danish Film Institute (DFI) hat am 25. Mai 2010 eine sehr schöne WebSite über die dänische Regielegende Carl Theodor Dreyer online gestellt: CARL TH. DREYER - A MAN AND HIS WORK
Im Blu-ray.com-Forum ist eine eMail von Kameramann Vittorio Storaro aufgetaucht, der sich darin über die neuen HD-Master der beiden Schnittfassungen von Francis Ford Coppolas “Apocalypse Now” [USA 1979] äußert.
Zuerst die Mail, auf die er geantwortet hat:
Dear Mr Storaro.
With the advent of 1.77.1 widescreen televions pretty much all of the new Bluray movies that were shot in 35mm Anamorphic have been released in their Original Aspect Ratio of 2.35.1.
If this is the case, when Apocalypse Now is released on BLURAY will you be giving the 2.35.1 release or the cropped 2.1. versions that were released on Laserdisc and VHS.
Yours.
Edward Taylor
Dear Mr. Taylor
Recently I did again a Video transfer of “APOCALYPSE NOW REDUX” and I wrote the following letter to the Distributor of the DVD .
The following is my personal comment about the new HD Video master made in 1:2 aspect ratio of the Film “APOCALYPSE NOW REDUX” that I’m supervising with colorist Nazzareno Neri at Technicolor Rome.
It is a great privilege for me to be able to digitally RE-MASTER, once again, THIS GREAT CLASSIC MOVIE Directed by FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA. I did it already in Standard definition, initially in the original version as ” APOCALYPSE NOW ” and later in HD version for “APOCALYPSE NOW REDUX”. I supervised the Video transfer in Los Angeles with colorist Lou Levinson and both version were transfered in 1:2 aspect ratio, each one of them approved by Mr.Francis Ford Coppola. Each time, also now, thanks to the improvement of the Electronic technology, I’m able to improve all the original Visual ideas that we had during the shooting of the Film with Mr.Coppola, that were impossible to complete exactly in the way we were thinking at that time, with the existing 1977 Film technology.
I believe that this one will be ONE OF THE BEST VIDEO MASTER THAT I EVER DID. As we did for Theater released with the Print on TECHNICOLOR DYE TRANSFER, today we can do with BLU-RAY technology.
Während der gerade stattfindenden Filmfestspiele in Cannes wird auch eine neue digitale Restaurierung von Luchino Viscontis “Der Leopard / Il gattopardo” [I / F 1963] präsentiert. Im Presseheft ist folgender Text über die Restaurierung zu finden:
ABOUT THE RESTORATION
“In order for everything to stay the same, everything must change.” Although Tancredi (Alain Delon) is speaking about the future of Italian aristocracy, his description is an apt one for film restoration as well. Motion picture technology has changed radically over time, and a primary challenge of restoration is the attempt to recreate the impossible experience of seeing the film as it was originally presented. Today, powerful digital tools allow us almost unlimited freedom in image manipulation and color correction - to almost entirely erase the ravages of time and more closely represent the original artistic and technical achievements of Il Gattopardo than was previously possible using traditional photochemical techniques.
Il Gattopardo was photographed in a process called Technirama, in which images were captured on 35mm film horizontally rather than vertically. The resulting anamorphic image, twice the size of a standard 35mm frame, is remarkably sharp and full of detail. Since 1963, the camera negative has now faded, and exhibits most of the issues common to films of its era - although interestingly, because of the photographic process, scratches and dirt move horizontally across the frame rather than vertically.
For this new restoration, the original Technirama camera negatives were scanned at 8K (8000 lines of horizontal resolution), resulting in twenty-one terabytes of data. A 35mm protection interpositive was also scanned for sections needed to replace material not present in the original camera negatives. After scanning, all files were converted to 4K, and the balance of picture restoration was performed entirely digitally at this resolution. Over 12,000 hours of manual restoration was performed, removing forty-seven years’ worth of dirt, scratches, and other physical anomalies. The original monaural soundtrack has also been carefully restored, using a 35mm magnetic source which was digitally captured and processed to remove distracting pops, clicks, and noise while still faithfully representing the characteristics of the original presentation.
The restoration of Il Gattopardo is presented both in a 4K digital cinema package as well as in traditional 35mm film prints. Archival film elements and data archives have been created of both the restored and unrestored versions of the film in order to preserve Il Gattopardo for generations to come.
Schawn Belston
Film Preservation, Twentieth Century Fox
Am 15. Juli 2010 erscheint Volker Schlöndorffs “Die Blechtrommel” [BRD / F / PL / YU 1979] in einem neuen Director’s Cut auf DVD und Blu-ray. Mehr als der Laufzeitunterschied von ca. 21 Minuten gegenüber der Kinofassung war bisher nicht über diese Fassung bekannt. Im Presseheft auf der WebSite des Filmfestivals Cannes 2010, wo der Film in einer digitalen Projektion gezeigt wird, äußert sich der Regisseur über die neue Schnittfassung.
Why the Director’s Cut now?
The rough cut of the movie, which we showed Günter Grass, ran 2 hours and 45 minutes. It left out a number of scenes we had shot but not printed. Meanwhile, our distribution agreement with United Artist forced us to cut the film down to 2 hours and 15 minutes, which was the maximum running time possible for theatres to book two evening screenings. Therefore, we resolved to polish the existing cut and never even looked at all the other material, much less take the time to edit it.
When the movie turned out to be a big success in the shorter version, we – of course – did not want to diminish the honours bestowed at Cannes and at the Oscars by letting the world know we thought the film was incomplete. Billy Wilder quite rightly reminded me at the time: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”
Last summer, I was asked whether the lab storing the negatives of unused footage should renew our space rental agreement or dispose of the material. The question instantly piqued my interest in seeing how the material we left out could work nowadays; and I went to work right away to find out. First of all, we discovered images of impressive quality: maiden‐like negatives, which had never been touched by a single hand since the reel had been taken out off the camera 30 years earlier. I turned to my working script, where I had made notes and comments on every single set up and shot. That document helped shape my pre‐selection and sorting out of the raw material.
We were able to use Maurice Jarre’s original recordings and only some voices had to be overdubbed by the actors, as those tapes had deteriorated. It was difficult for the 42‐ year old David Bennent to replicate his 12‐year old voice, but digital processing provided a solution.
The Library of Congress is working to preserve film for hundreds, even thousands of years. Seriously. In this article from Creative COW Magazine, Ken Weissman, Supervisor of the Library’s Film Preservation Laboratory, tells the steps they’re taking toward the ultimate archive system, starting with the restoration of films first printed on paper instead of film!
2 Ausschnitte der TV-Sendung »News & Stories« (SAT1) von Alexander Kluge/DCTP aus dem Jahre 2000 zu Romuald Karmakars 182 min Dokumentarfilm »Das Himmler-Projekt - Manfred Zapatka und die Rede Heinrich Himmlers bei der SS-Gruppenführertagung in Posen am 4. Oktober 1943«.
Der Film wurde bei der Berlinale 2000 (Forum) uraufgeführt, mit dem 3sat-Dokumentarfilmpreis und dem Grimme-Preis Spezial ausgezeichnet. Das Museum of Modern Art in New York hat den Film in die Liste ihrer 250 wichtigsten Aquisitionen seit 1980 aufgenommen.
Die DVD, auf der die komplette TV-Sendung als Bonus enthalten ist, erschien bei absolut medien.
Steve McQueen war nicht nur der “King of Cool”, sondern diesem Video-Essay von Jason Bellamy nach auch der “King of the Close-Up“.
Not quite 30 years removed from his death, McQueen tends to be remembered for his role in two of cinema’s most famous action sequences, in The Great Escape and Bullitt, and for his blazing blue eyes, his physical grace and his effortless swagger, which were the substance of several his films. These were the ingredients that helped McQueen earn the honorary title of “The King of Cool,” and rightfully so. But to come to the conclusion that McQueen’s success was simply the result of a handsome, athletic and naturally suave guy playing too-cool-for-school characters is to miss McQueen’s true cinematic gift: He was devastating in a close-up.
Jörg Gerle vom Film-Dienst stellt innerhalb des DVD-Tipps für die Deutsche-Welle Luis Bunuels “Das Fieber steigt in El Pao [aka: Für ihn verkauf' ich mich] / La fièvre monte à El Pao” [F / MEX 1959] in einem Audio-Beitrag vor, der bisher in Deutschland nur innerhalb der “Luis Bunuel Edition“-DVD-Box von Kinowelt erhältlich ist. Im Juli 2010 soll der Titel allerdings auch einzeln veröffentlicht werden.
[via: Film-Dienst-Tweet]
Legendary film critic Pauline Kael is captured here in conversation with filmmaker Stan Brakhage. While the tape is incomplete, we do hear Brakhage defend his practice, his epic film DOG STAR MAN, his influences, his search for ” a happening in structure”. Brakhage proudly declares: “I’m an amateur filmmaker, I make home movies.”
Heute vor 100 Jahren wurde die japanische Regielegende AkiraKurosawa in Tokyo geboren. Kurosawa war es, der das japanische Kino durch seinen Film “Rashomon - Das Lustwäldchen / Rashômon” [J 1950] und dessen Auszeichnung mit dem Goldenen Löwen bei den Filmfestival in Venedig 1951 auch bei einem westlichen Publikum populär machte. Es sollten noch weitere Meisterwerke folgen, wie z.B. “Ikiru - Einmal richtig leben / Ikiru” [J 1952], “Die sieben Samurai / Shichinin no samurai” [J 1954], “Das Schloß im Spinnwebwald / Kumonosu-jô” [J 1957] nach Shakespeares “Macbeth”, “Die verborgene Festung / Kakushi-toride no san-akunin” [J 1958], die Samurai-Filme “Yojimbo” [J 1961] und “Sanjuro / Tsubaki Sanjûrô” [J 1962] (die heute bei Criterion auf Blu-ray erschienen sind), “Rotbart / Akahige” [J 1965], “Dodeskaden - Menschen im Abseits / Dodesukaden” [J 1970], “Kagemusha - Der Schatten des Kriegers / Kagemusha” [J 1980] und “Ran” [J / F 1985].
In der Süddeutschen Zeitung erinnert Fritz Göttler an den 1998 verstorbenen Tenno des japanischen Films, in der Frankfurter Rundschau (plus Fotogalerie) schreibt Daniel Kothenschulte über den “Alten Meister”. Bei BR-Online wurde ein Audio-Beitrag online gestellt, der Radio-Beitrag vom Deutschlandradio liegt online nur als Text vor.
