The long lost American silent film The First Degree was found! The long lost American silent film The First Degree (1923) was digitised and screened with its original score last year. The story started 16 years ago: Chicago filmmaker Stephen Parry drove down to a house in Peoria to look through a film collection in hopes of finding footage for his documentary, where boxes of highly flammable nitrate film reels…

Read More

a story of lost and found behind Summer of Soul There is also a story of lost and found behind Summer of Soul (Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)(2021), the winner of 2022 EE British Academy Film Awards' documentary this year. In the summer of 1969, the Harlem Cultural Festival celebrated African American culture and to promote the continued politics of black pride through music. TV director Hal…

Read More

The Godfather The Godfather was premiered in New York on this day 50 years ago. The epic Trilogy will be released in 4K UHD as a celebration. The theatrical release started on 25 February while Blu-ray boxset will be available from 22 March. The restoration process was supervised by the director. Over 300 cartons of film were scrutinised to search for the best possible resolution for each frame of the…

Read More

Household Saints It may seem that films are now more accessible than ever because of the establishment of streaming services, yet many films have already been lost and are not available in any form in anywhere. They are not just some films in the silent era but could also be some of those produced in the 1980s and 1990s. And the reason is not just that the film materials are…

Read More

Nosferatu afterlife Last week we talked about the German court ordered to destroy the film materials of NOSFERATU (1922). There was a myth that only one illicit copy survived, yet there are at least six identified copies preserved by film archives in Suisse, Germany, France and Spain respectively.In the process of restoration, film comparison is an essential procedure to select the suitable film elements to work on. Since 1981, different…

Read More

NOSFERATU The masterpiece by legendary director F.W. Murnau (1888-1931), NOSFERATU (1922), celebrates the 100th Anniversary today. NOSFERATU brings the first ever vampire film on screen and defines gothic horror. With the compelling cinematography and terrific acting of Max Shreck, NOSFERATU continues to haunt us today.The Premiere was held on 4 March 1922 in the Marmorsaal (Marble Hall) of Berlin Zoological Garden. The event was planned as a large society evening…

Read More

Media City Film Festival 2022 Media City Film Festival was inaugurated in 1994 to showcase art films and digital arts by artists. To celebrate the 25th edition, the films are open for free screening worldwide till 1 March. We’d like to recommend three shorts by Armenian Maestro Sergei Parajanov, Kiev Frescoes (1966), Hakob Hovnatanyan (1967) and Arabesques on Pirosmani Theme (1986). The films were restored in 4K by Fixafilm within the framework of the…

Read More