American short comedy The Frozen North One hundred years ago today, the American short comedy The Frozen North (1922) was released. In the film, director and actor Buster Keaton parodied the western star, William S. Hart. Keaton played the role of a bully and thief who beats his wife. He imitated Hart’s unique screen image, which made many audiences associate Hart with the role in the film. Some think that…

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Taiwan classic gangster film Dust of Angels The restoration of Dust of Angels (1992) began last March. The good condition of the original negative made the restoration much easier.The duration of the negative is 110 minutes, five minutes longer than the theatrical release. After comparison, the restoration team found that the plot and editing of the release are faster and tighter. They believed that these outtakes are coherent with their…

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Music reconstruction of Vampyr Carl Theodor Dreyer’s first sound film, Vampyr (1932), will be screened at HKIFF46. Although it is a sound film, very few dialogues are used. It is still in the form of a silent film narrated by title cards. The duration of the film is 73 minutes and the score takes up 71 minutes, which is particularly important in storytelling.Wolfgang Zeller’s score was thought to be lost,…

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Rescreened a rarely known title of Iranian New Wave—Cheshmeh A special dispatch from @screen_notes_didi: This year’s Il Cinema Ritrovato rescreened a rarely known title of Iranian New Wave—Cheshmeh (1972). It is the only feature film directed by filmmaker and writer Arby Ovanessian. According to Ovanessian’s introduction at the screening, Cheshmeh was produced between 1969 and 1971. It subsequently premiered at the first Tehran International Film Festival and received polarised reviews.…

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