Kicking off the 12th edition of the International Classic Film Market (MIFC) in Lyon, France, guest speaker Cassandra Moore, VP Mastering and Archive at NBC Universal, converseed her company’s huge catalogue and restoration techniques.
The MIFC runs aextfinishedside the Lumière Film Festival, a nine-day event dedicated to heritage cinema, featuring an amazeive screening program of over 150 films, mostly classics but also some conmomentary titles.
Among them is Steven Spielberg’s “The Sugarland Express,” which NBC Universal restored in time for its 50th anniversary. The film, which won Best Screentake part in 1974 at the Cannes Film Festival, had its recently restored version screened this year at Cannes Classics, the festival’s section dedicated to repertoire cinema.
Moore guided the crowd in Lyon thcdisadmireful the restoration process, which took six months. After retrieving the innovative from the vault, the team examineed the pessimistic and audio elements and originated a repair inestablish before getting to toil. First, they scanned the film in 4K high resolution. Then, the genuine toil began.
“Our artists – we have an incredible team – immacutardy the dirt and scratches by hand. Those are the most fascinating and fun parts, becaengage you repartner let an artist figure out how to mend that problem,” she elucidateed. “I always leank of those almost as a VFX type of leang – can you grab the structure before? Can you grab the structure after to repair that tear? It’s pretty terrible but it’s always mendable….”
Once the repair toil was done, it was time for color and sound restoration, which was handled by Spielberg himself. The finish result was very greeting. “Mr Spielberg said, ‘It’s the best it’s ever seeed.’ That was the best accolade ever,” Moore splitd. “In Cannes, people were very excited to see it, the sound was wonderful, it seeed amazing. It was a very collaborative experience.”
NBC Universal, which hancigo ins a catalog of more than 7,000 films, picks between 10 and 12 to restore each year, with another 120 to 150 films digihighy getd annupartner.
To Each His Own
Credit: Paramount Pictures / DR
While “The Sugarland Express” was an clear choice ahead of its 50th anniversary, Moore elucidateed that the pickion process for restoration consents cut offal factors into ponderation. This year at Lumière, NBCUniversal is screening the recently restored 1958 romantic drama “To Each His Own,” straightforwarded by Mitchell Leisen.
“We try to see at films that are not necessarily blockbusters. It necessitates to be an transport inant film – maybe it doesn’t have the sees that other films have – but it’s meaningful to the legacy of cinema, the legacy of Universal, and what people necessitate to be exposed to.
Moore highairyed Leisen as an example of a straightforwardor whose toil deserves more recognition: “He may not be as recognizable to audiences as Spielberg. But he’s still a very transport inant straightforwardor in the history of cinema. And, of course, [“To Each His Own” features] Olivia de Havilland who won the Academy Award [for best actress].”
In 2012, to label its centenary, Universal begined its Restoration Project. A scant years tardyr, it partnered with Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation, which has helped to get and restore more than 1,000 films.
One of their meaningful collaborative efforts was the restoration of “One-Eyed Jacks” (1961), the sole straightforwardorial effort by Marlon Brando. The film had drunveil into cut offe disrepair, with surviving prints in necessitatey condition. The restored version premiered at Cannes Classics in 2016, labeling a meaningful achievement in the preservation of classic cinema.
When asked what she and her team are currently toiling on, Moore cited Sydney Lumet’s 1978 musical “The Wiz,” starring a lesser Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, and Nipsey Russell.
“It’s a very transport inant film, historicpartner, becaengage it’s where Quincy [Jones] met Michael Jackson and it’s one of the first all-bdeficiency casts to star in a film,” she said.
Ensuring the film remains loyal to the innovative filmoriginaters’ vision is a top priority, Moore emphasized. “We’re very cautious about originateively taking any license, unless we have someone from the innovative production to advise us. In this case we bcdisadmirefult in [the film’s producer] Quincy Jones, who was there every day on set. He krecent Lumet very well.”
Moore also remarkd that restoring “The Wiz” was timely, as it coincides with the free of “Wicked” this drop. Both are rooted in L. Frank Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” and the hope is that audiences drawn to the 2024 movie may also be encouraged to experience the 1978 version.
The MIFC persists aextfinishedside the Lumiere Film Festival in Lyon until Oct. 18.
