Cataloguists and distributors meeting

It was successively the Association Française des Cinémas d'Art et d'Essai (AFCAE) and the Agence pour le Développement Régional du Cinéma (ADRC) that opened the ball by each recalling their respective missions, the main one they have in common: to provide exhibitors with the necessary tools to offer these heritage films to audiences in the best possible way.

In addition to fairly targeted projects such as The Cranes Are Flying released by Malavida, in 2019 AFCAE worked on large-scale projects such as a retrospective of George Romero's trilogy in partnership with Solaris or many films by Miloš Forman including Konkurs (1963), Loves of a Blonde (1965) or Amadeus (1984). 

The year 2019 was marked for the ADRC mainly by its collaboration with Pathé for the restoration of Apocalypse Now Final Cut. But 2019 was also the year of several retrospectives, including one on the work of Jean-François Laguionie and one on the work of G.W. Pabst, whose works will be presented in theatres by Tamasa on October 30. 

But what would the history of French cinema be without Gaumont and Pathé, the two giants who saw the emergence of cinematographic art in French culture from its very beginning and both of them very involved in the restoration of works from the past? 

For Gaumont, this year 2019 was first of all rich in restorations since a total of about fifty works have been restored, including a few nuggets such as Toni by Jean Renoir or A Monkey in Winter by Henri Verneuil. Another major event is obviously the rehabilitation of André Cayatte's films, which were the subject of a retrospective during this year's Festival Lumière. The next rehabilitation in sight will undoubtedly be that of Louis de Funès' films, transforming them from masterpieces of popular cinema to unmissable heritage films. 

Pathé, for its part, notes some major restorations for this year 2019: Montmartre (Raymond Bernard), City of Joy (Roland Joffé), La prima notte di quiete (Valerio Zurlini) and 125, rue Montmartre (Gilles Grangier). They are also responsible for the restoration of Abel Gance's masterful work, La Roue, which will be screened in a preview with light on the last weekend of the festival. Finally, Pathé is also at the heart of the major restoration project for this 2019 edition of the Lumière festival: Apocalypse Now Final Cut by Francis Ford Coppola. 

This meeting is also an opportunity for some to recall the cultural role of distributors of heritage films; we must ensure the transmission of these cinematographic treasures, an exercise that is only possible, according to Philippe Chevasu of Tamasa Distribution, thanks to the participation of all in a united effort. And it is in this energy that this year Tamasa has focused on European cinema with the Pabst retrospective mentioned earlier by the ADRC but also on cinema for young audiences with Grimault's Le monde animé composed of 8 short animated films for children. In 2020, other retrospectives are planned with one, in particular, on Jean Renoir's cinema.

And this desire to transmit is not sporadic; heritage cinema is all year round, in cinemas, in festivals, etc., as Vincent Paul-Boncour points out. He went on to highlight the formidable network of distributors, art galleries and test rooms that exists in France: we must maintain this "DNA of cinephilia that has existed since the 1940s". Carlotta in this year 2019 has been marked by some major works including Irréversible, Jabberwocky and Donnie Darko. 

And it is quite naturally that Jean-Fabrice Janaudy, Les Acacias, remains in this same vein and insists on the need to show heritage cinema to young people who are "just elderly people in the making". He notices a certain timidity in programming these films because French classical cinema is sometimes considered old-fashioned and unattractive, while for example some films such as Not Guilty or The Woman Who Dared are very modern. 

Whether it is Bizarre, Bizarre or Moonrise for the Théâtre du temple, The Cremator and Alice Comédies volume 2 for Malavida or finally Long Week-end et Play It Again, Sam for Solaris, 2019 marks for all three a year rich in new works in their catalogue of restored works. And this restoration momentum will not stop soon in 2020, since the temple theatre plans a retrospective of Laurel and Hardi, Malavida will focus mainly on the distribution of the Red Lips and a volume 3 of Alice Comédies, and Solaris will focus more on Fellini's cinema.

Now comes the turn of StudioCanal, the giant which, although it was not there since the birth of cinema unlike Gaumont and Pathé, is now a major player in the distribution of heritage films. After a brief reminder of their catalogue, both in terms of great classics and modern masterpieces and family films, they followed with an announcement that looked like a bomb: the restoration of Elephant Man, supervised by its director David Lynch. The cinema release of this major work of contemporary heritage is planned by Carlotta films in the first half of 2020. An event not to be missed.

The presentation ends with the intervention of three cataloguists, whose first intervention on this platform this year to present their catalogue. Splendor films begins by announcing that their biggest success of the year was undoubtedly Hayao Miyazaki's The Castle of Cagliostro. For its part, Lyre Cinematography, a family company, is now focusing more on the management and restoration of their catalogue, including Paris is always Paris, a film by Luciano Emmer dating from 1951. And finally, to conclude this presentation session rich in beautiful discoveries, surprises and expectations, Les films du Jeudi reminds us of the importance of restoring and broadcasting the lesser-known films of some great directors such as Godard or Renoir.