The organisers say: "This year the Festival is proud to present the world premiere of a new score specially prepared for its screening of a classic silent comedy by France's renowned Rene Clair, brand-new restorations of films by Italys Federico Fellini and Sergio Leone (the latter to be screened at the Museum of Modern Art - see details under Special Screenings) and the first screening on 35mm in decades of a work by one of America's pioneer independent filmmakers, Curtis Harrington. Finally one of the first restorations by the World Cinema Foundation, headed by Martin Scorsese, brings back to view one of the key works of African cinema by Ethiopia's Haile Gerima."
A masterpiece of African cinema, chosen as one of the initial projects by Martin Scorsese for his new World Cinema Foundation project. Scorsese has written that the film "has a particular kind of urgency which few pictures possess. This is the story of an entire people, and its collective longing for justice and good faith."
The feature debut of the versatile Curtis Harrington (1926-2007) stars a young Dennis Hopper, and until now has not been seen on 35mm since the '60s. Set in an amusement park, Harrington's film blends a romantic mystery story with elements of film noir and the horror genre, the film's atmosphere enhanced by David Raksin's (Laura) melodic score.
(Country: US; Year: 1961; Director: Curtis Harrigton; Writer: Curtis Harrigton; Stars: Dennis Hopper, Linda Lawson, Gavin Muir, Luana Anders)
Toby Dammit
A gorgeous new restoration—supervised by its cinematographer, Giuseppe Rotunno—of Fellini's adaptation of a Poe short story has Terence Stamp as a British celeb struggling through a haze of booze and drugs to make sense of the paparazzi and produttore who welcome him to Rome.
The revelation of the Pordenone Silent Film Festival last fall was this charming, near-forgotten comic gem, which displays all the elegance, wit, and visual inventiveness that are hallmarks of its director, best known for An Italian Straw Hat, and A nous la liberté.
(Country: France; Year: 1929; Director: René Clair; Writer: René Clair; Stars: Pierre Batcheff, Jim Gerald, Vera Flory, Maurice de Feraudy, Yvette Andreyor)
