A Diary (5) - The Road to Bologna and IL CINEMA RITROVATO - Best laid plans

The beloved dog sitter Elziby has sent through a photo suggesting that Ralfie is coping with our absence.

First quick update. Film-maker and Cinema Reborn Organising Committee Member James Vaughan is atending his second Il Cinema Ritrovato and has so far been especially impressed with IL GRIDO (Michelangelo Antonioni, Italy, 1957), STELLA DALLAS (Henry King, USA, 1926) made even more special by a brilliant Stephen Horne score performed for the first time in a screening in the Piazza Maggiore, THE RITE (Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 1969), CROSS OF IRON (Sam Peckinpah, UK/Germany, 1977) and the PROGRAM OF SHORT FILMS FROM 1903.

Meanwhile new records for lengthy introductions are being set by Caterina d'Amico, daughter of the fames scriptwriter Susso Cecchi d'Amico. At a triple bill of short episodes of films by Visconti and Antonioni which Susso wrote, the intro went for (with translation doubling the time) for 40 minutes. This beat the previous day's intro to Processo Alla Citta  (Luigi Zampa, Italy, 1952) which lasted about thirty. An attempt at the 25 minute mark to give Caterina a round of applause was met with "No. I haven't finished yet" as she told an elaborate story of how her mother was working on films for Blasetti, Visconti and Zampa at the same time.

The rouble with intros that over run is that they upset the necessary to the microsecond timing involved in getting from one session to another before the computer clocks you out as a no show. ..and that puts you on a BAD LIST with consequences...

Robert Siodmak

Finally I can report that the world premiere of Universal's restoration of Robert Siodmak's The Suspect  (USA, 1945) drew a packed and very appreciative house. The introductions were  a succinct explanation  by Cassandra Moore of Universal of their restoration program followed by Phillippe Le Guay, an expert on Charles Laughton we were told, who mentioned how Laughton had gone to the States in 1939 and stayed there for a couple of decades.

    and dinner with James  where we discussed his choices was in a new place for me La Cucina del Leopardi... very relaxing as we listened to the thunder and lightning that inevitably meant chaos as the evening's screening in the square was transferred to the much more limited seating of the Arlecchino Cinema. You can see what my focus was on...

FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER - CINEMA REBORN - first website pages and program notes released - SEVEN BEAUTIES: THE FILMS OF LINA WERTMULLER AT THE RANDWICK RITZ - GODARD AT THE ALLIANCE FRANCAISE FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL and A COMPETITION

Plans for Cinema Reborn 2021 are moving right along. 

 

This year sales will be for each individual film and we will not be offering a season or subscription ticket.  Covid distancing requirements and seat allocation make this too difficult to manage when the theatres are not able to be filled to capacity. If you are looking to see all or a substantial selection of our ten film program we would suggest you consider the significant discounts and concessions offered by the Ritz Cinema under its Ritz Royalty membership program. You can check out the details if you CLICK HERE

 

CINEMA REBORN WEBSITE

 

Cinema Reborn attempts to provide its patrons with detailed information about each of our films, the directors,  full credits and details of the restoration that has taken place top bring the films back into public attention. These are published on our website cinemareborn.org.au and in the printed catalogue published at the time of the screenings. These notes are written by renowned critics and scholars and provide significant insight into our program. The first three titles we have announced have now had their complete webpage published and you can find these if you click on the links:

 

The notes on the website now include David Hare and Adrian Danks on our Opening Film DESTRY RIDES AGAIN, Rod Bishop on our Saturday Night Special THE LEOPARD/IL GATTOPARDO  and Bruce Hodsdon on our closing night CRISS CROSS. If you want to start on our front page featuring the image of the radiant Claudia Cardinale in Luchino Visconti’s 1963 masterpiece JUST CLICK HERE Each of the films has a link to bookings on the Ritz website.

 

We will be announcing more titles in the 2021 season in the near future.

 

…and just a reminder folks if you are minded to support the entirely voluntary work that goes into the presentation of each Cinema Reborn season you can donate through the Australian Cultural Fund and receive a tax deduction for the amount you give. CLICK ON THIS LINK

 

SEVEN BEAUTIES: LINA WERTMULLER AT THE RITZ

 

The Randwick Ritz in association with the Italian Institute for Culture and Cinema Reborn will be presenting seven films by Italy’s foremost female director in season commencing on Sunday 28 March.

 

Scholar and critic Jane Mills will introduce the first film in the series, THE LIZARDS/I BASILISCHI (Italy, 1963) and says “Irreverent, rule-breaking and impossible to define, Italian filmmaker Lina Wertmüller was the first woman to be nominated for the Best Director Oscar in 1977. Feminist (although often contested!) and reliably non-conformist, her films take the absurdities of society and turn them on their heads. The results are sometimes witty, sometimes shocking, always political.” For more details and bookings CLICK HERE

 

JEAN-LUC GODARD’S BREATHLESS/A BOUT DE SOUFFLE AT THE ALLIANCE FRANCAISE FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL

 

If you’ve never seen Breathless, now is the time. If you have, then you’ve never seen it like this: newly restored in 4K and projected on the big screen in all its ground-breaking brilliance. Sensual, thrilling and effortlessly cool, Breathless changed cinema forever.

After shooting a policeman, petty criminal Michel (Jean-Paul Belmondo) attempts to lay low with his American girlfriend, aspiring journalist Patricia (Jean Seberg), who is unaware of what he’s done. 

Written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard from a treatment by François Truffaut and Claude Chabrol, Breathless is one of the most iconic films from the revolutionary French New Wave period of the late 1950s and 1960s. Inspired by American crime dramas, but completely rejecting the Hollywood approach to film style and storytelling, Breathless bursts with infectious and defiant energy that is just as subversive and joyful today as it was in 1960.

Not just a masterpiece of French cinema and not just a classic from the French New Wave, Breathless is simply one of the greatest and most influential films ever made, appearing at number 13 on the 2012 Sight and Sound Greatest Films of All Time poll.

A COMPETITION

Cinema Reborn has a free double pass to any single film in the Alliance Française French Film Festival and it will go to the first person who can answer the question: “Who played Parvelesco in Godard’s A Bout de Souffle?Send your answer to info@cinemareborn.org.au  and make sure to include your mail address so that the pass can be forwarded.

Full details of the Alliance Française French Film Festival can be found if you CLICK HERE

More news coming soon.

CINEMA REBORN 29 APRIL - 2 MAY AT THE RANDWICK RITZ - First news.

Sydney’s annual festival devoted to screening classic restorations and films from the world’s film archives is returning to the Randwick Ritz Cinemas from 29 April to 2 May. Ten films will be screened over four days and the Organising Committee is pleased to announced the first three titles.

Thursday 29 April at 6.30 pm

DESTRY RIDES AGAIN (George Marshall, USA, 1939) 

1939 was Hollywood’s greatest year and also the occasion for Marlene Dietrich’s triumphant comeback after her career sputtered out at Paramount. Dietrich had the luck to appear, with James Stewart, in Destry Rides Again, the pre-eminent comedy western of the day, indeed of the era. Universal’s new 4K digital restoration brings back one of the great movies of an amazingly fruitful year.

Saturday 1 May at 5.45 pm

THE LEOPARD/IL GATTOPARDO (Luchino Visconti, Italy, 1963)

Winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1963, Luchino Visconti’s revered film has gone through many tribulations at the hands of distributors and exhibitors keen to cut it down to size and remove its Italian-language soundtrack. It was not until Scorsese’s Film Foundation restored the film in 2010, thanks to a grant of $900,000 from the Gucci Foundation, that many first saw the complete film – a majestic tale of a Sicilian prince passively resisting the 1848 revolution.

Cinema Reborn is grateful for the support of the Instituto Italiano Di Cultura in the presentation of The Leopard (Il Gattopardo).

 

Sunday 2 May at 6.30 pm

CRISS CROSS (Robert Siodmak, USA, 

1940s noir icons Burt Lancaster and Dan Duryea battle it out for the affection of the stunning Yvonne De Carlo, their actions perpetuating patterns of desire, dismay and unrequited love as they plot an armoured car robbery. Superbly restored by Universal-International, Criss Cross will be screening at Cinema Reborn in a brand new 4K digital copy that accentuates every element of the bleak post-war world in which doomed characters meet their inevitable destiny.

Ritz Royalty

Are you planning to see a good swag of the ten films in Cinema Reborn's 2021 season.? The best value way to do this may be to join the Ritz's Club membership called Ritz Royalty. Details of Club membership can be found IF YOU CLICK HERE

Bookings

More info, links to trailers and bookings FOR INDIVIDUAL FILMS can be found if you click on the Cinema Reborn page at the Ritz website

 

Cinema Reborn relies on the work of many volunteers and many generous supportrs. If you would like to make a donation to assist our work you can do so and receive a tax deduction if you direct your support through the Australia Cultural Fund. CLICK ON THIS LINK FOR DETAILS 

Donors to Cinema Reborn are acknowledged in our printed catalogue and on the Cinema Reborn website.