This year marks 110 years since The Balkan Wars (1912-1913). The Bulgarian National Film Archive (BNFA) will commemorate the event with a digital restoration of the film The Balkan War (1913, dir. Alexander Ivanov Zhekov). The film is a unique visual document of this important European military conflict. The presentation will include original audio commentary by film historian Petar Kardjilov and new original music.
The world premiere screening of this restoration will be held in BNFA’s cinema ‘Odeon’ on Tuesday 13 December 2022 as part of ACE’s A Season of Classic Films. The event will be recorded and uploaded on BNFA’s YouTube channel for free online access until 31 December.
The Balkan War / Балканската Война [Balkanskata Voyna] | Bulgaria, 1913, 55’, non-fiction
Director-Cinematography: Alexander Ivanov Zhekov. Producer: unknown. Physical characteristics of first release: 35mm, 55’, B&W, silent, Bulgarian intertitles. Film copy screened during A Season of Classic Films: Restoration premiere. DCP 2K (for cinema screening) and ProRes (online). 55’, B&W, silent, Bulgarian intertitles. Subtitles: English. Copyright: Bulgarian National Film Archive.
In the course of the First World War, Europe has gradually established means and methods in filming military actions. In 1912-1913, when this film was shot, footage of direct combat was rare.
As film historian Petar Kardjilov notes, “Only a few films in Bulgaria’s film making are said to be legendary. One of them is The Balkan War. It is a well preserved and unique cinema document of military conflict of recent European history. The Balkan War was one of the first large-scale armed conflicts after the beginning of the cinema age. It was a media event and film played its important part.”
* Free cinema screening: Tuesday 13 December 2022 at 18:00. Free tickets can be picked up at the ticket office of the Odeon cinema on the day of the screening.
* Free worldwide online premiere: The event will be recorded and uploaded on BNFA’s YouTube channel.
Association des Cinémathèques Européennes – ACE and Creative Europe MEDIA join the celebration of the International Animation Day on 28 October, a perfect occasion to spotlight the magnificent contribution that the ‘grand dame’ of animation – Lotte Reiniger (1899 -1981) – has made to the field with her oeuvre of pioneering silhouette films.
To ensure that her legacy lives on, the DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum, is currently working to restore eight films from Reiniger’s early work. The films will premiere in a free screening with live music on 14 December, as part of A Season of Classic Films, an initiative by ACE that features free screenings of restored films and parallel activities across Europe to attract younger audiences to our shared cinematic cultural heritage, supported by Creative Europe MEDIA. Details about the screening event at DFF to be announced soon.
For dates and access links of the upcoming free screenings in cinemas across Europe and online, please follow ACE’s website and social media pages on Instagram | Facebook | Twitter.
About the International Animation Day
The International Animated Film Association (ASIFA) created the International Animation Day in 2002, to celebrate the birth of animation historically marked by the first public performance of projected moving images at Emile Reynaud’s Theatre Optique on 28 October 1892 in Paris.
Starting in France with 120 locations, ASIFA now coordinates and helps promote activities in more than 50 countries all over the world, putting the art of animation in the limelight in a global worldwide celebration of animation. Find out what’s happening this year at http://iadasifa.net/.
Restored by Filmoteca de Catalunya in 4K, the film Apartado de Correos 1001 (P.O. Box 1001) will be presented in a free open-air screening event at the Plaza de Salvador Seguí on Sunday 17 July 2022 at 22:00, as part of A Season of Classic Films. The film will also be free-to-view worldwide between 18 and 19 July.
This film is a great classic of Barcelona’s cinema noir. An echo of the Hollywood thrillers in the context of the Franco regime.
The film was shot on location: on the streets and at popular venues of 1950s Barcelona city centre, especially the neighbourhood where the cinema theatre of Filmoteca de Catalunya is located nowadays. How does this film from the fifties connect to the realities of the neighbourhood today? Filmoteca has conceived a physical and virtual itinerary that connects films linked to the area of Raval. The result is a collaborative map to understand how cinema produces reality and reality produces cinema. The map is available to pick up at the Filmoteca or in a digital version. Audiences can follow the itinerary in the way that suits them best (fragmented, complete, with or without company…) and are encouraged to share snapshots using the tag #FilmoRutaRaval. An organised walk will take place before the film screening, upon registration.
Director: Julio Salvador. Producer: Emisora Films. With: Tomás Blanco, Modesto Cid, Elena Espejo, Guillermo Marín, Conrado San Martín. Script: Julio Coll, Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi. Cinematography: Federico G. Larraya. Music: Ramón Ferrés. Physical characteristics of first release: 16mm, 90’, B&W, sound, Spanish. Film copy screened during A Season of Classic Films: New restoration. DCP 4K, 90’, Spanish. Subtitles available: English, French. Copyright: Video Mercury Films, SAU.
Barcelona, 1950. A man is murdered in the street in front of a police station. Two agents of the criminal brigade, a skilled veteran and an eager young one, are in charge of the investigation. We follow them on their journey to a thrilling climax in a local amusement park.
A Season of Classic Films: Celebrating film heritage across Europe
A Season of Classics Films is a series of free film screenings and parallel activities across Europe designed to attract younger audiences to our shared cinematic cultural heritage. The programme looks to raise awareness of the work of European film archives, connecting the public with cinema history and the significance of film preservation. Most of the films are premiere digital restorations and some screenings include live performances and educational interactive sessions. All films are available with English subtitles. Additionally, French or other subtitles are in some cases available. This is an initiative of the Association des Cinémathèques Européennes (ACE) with the support of the EU Creative Europe MEDIA programme.
For dates and access links of the upcoming free screenings in cinemas across Europe and online, please follow ACE’s website and social media pages on Instagram | Facebook | Twitter.
ABOUT THE ASSOCIATION DES CINÉMATHÈQUES EUROPÉENNES (ACE)
The Association of European Cinematheques (Association des Cinémathèques Européennes – ACE) is an affiliation of 49 European national and regional film archives. Its role is to safeguard the European film heritage and make the rich audiovisual records collected and preserved by the various film archives accessible to the public. ACE members are non-profit institutions committed to the FIAF Code of Ethics.
ACE presents the 3rd edition of A Season of Classic Films, which includes cinema and online screenings of restored films and parallel events organised by 22 European film archives between June and December 2022.
Opening night is Thursday 9 June (International Archives Day) and will start with the world premiere of the restored Face to Face (1966) by the Greek Film Archive. The film is about a timid young man hired to give English lessons to the daughter of a nouveau riche family. The screening will take place at Lais Open Air Cinema in Athens, while free online access is available for one day starting at 20:00 (Paris time) on 9th June.
On Friday 10 June, the programme continues with the restored Croatian comedy Blue 9. The film will be presented by the Croatian state archive – Croatian cinematheque at the main cinema room of the Archives and it will be free-to-view online from 10 to 17 June.
Both online screenings offer worldwide access with English subtitles.
Πρόσωπο με Πρόσωπο [Prosopo me Prosopo] (Face to Face) | Greece, 1966, 84’, fiction
Director-Producer: Roviros Manthoulis. With: Costas Messaris, Eleni Stavropoulou, Theano Ioannidou, Lambros Kotsiris, Alexis Georgiou, Mary Gotsi. Script: Roviros Manthoulis, Kostas Mourselas. Cinematography: Stamatis Trypos. Music: Nikos Mamangakis. Editing: Panos Papakyriakopoulos. Physical characteristics of first release: 35mm, 1:1.66, 24fps, 84’, B&W, sound, Greek. Film copy screened during A Season of Classic Films: Restoration premiere. DCP 4K (physical screening) and ProRes (online screening), 84’, Greek. Subtitles: English. Copyright: Roviros Manthoulis.
The main story of the film is about a poor English teacher who tutors the daughter of a rich family and flirts with both the daughter and her mother. Manthoulis presents a bitter satire of the new bourgeoisie which was profiting from the rapid economic growth in the 1960s but also presents a unique portrait of Athens experiencing a rapid and poorly planned urban development.
Only a few weeks after filmmaker Roviros Manthoulis passed away, this screening also serves as a tribute to his acclaimed work. Manthoulis played a crucial role in the renewal of Greek cinema in both documentary and fiction film. In the beginning of April, he was informed about how the restoration of his film Face to Face was going and of the great impression it made to the colleagues at the laboratory of Imagine Ritrovata in Paris – he was happy but also very modest. He died on April 21st, exactly 55 years after his film was first screened in Hyeres Festival. It was enthusiastically received by both the public and the critics and, as a result, it was screened at the Cannes Film Festival. Manthoulis then made statements against the Greek military junta (1967-74) that were broadcast worldwide and the film was banned by the colonels.
The image and sound restoration have been carried out in 4K based on the original 35mm negatives, preserved at the Greek Film Archive vaults. The film will be screened during the 12th Avant Garde Film Festival in Athens, following a roundtable discussion on film restoration including film experts Cecilia Barrionuevo, Ehsan Khoshbakht, Céline Ruivo, Elena Tammacarro, and Marian Vujovic as well as the inauguration of the Greek Film Archive’s exhibition “Magical Images”.
Plavi 9 (Blue 9) | Yugoslavia, 1950, 93’, fiction
Director: Krešo Golik. Producer: Jadran film. With: Irena Kolesar, Jugoslav Nalis, Antun Nalis, Ljubomir Didić, Tješivoj Cinotti, Šime Šimatović, Josip Daneš, Stane Sever, Veljko Maričić. Script: Geno Senečić, Hrvoje Macanović, Krešo Golik. Cinematography: Nikola Tanhofer and Slavko Zalar. Music: Bruno Bjelinski. Editing: Radojka Ivančević. Physical characteristics of first release: 35mm, 93’, B&W, optical sound, Croatian. Film copy screened during A Season of Classic Films: New restoration. DCP 2K, 93’, Croatian. Subtitles: English. Copyright: Jadran film (until the end of 2000); authors rights.
The film Blue 9 depicts adventures in the world of football with all the challenges and glory this game offers. The main striker of the city football team, Fabris, is a selfish individualist convinced of his irreplaceability. He is also a womanizer who tries to seduce young Nena, a hardworker and successful swimmer. Nena is close to the underwater welder Zdravko, a talented football striker who wears a jersey with a blue 9.
The basic formula of this film is part of the agitprop, which dealt with one of the foundations of the socialist system – physical education. The ideological engagement did not prevent the film from becoming a big hit in cinemas, mainly due to attractive footage of sport competitions, girls in bathing suits, and the fashionable life of football stars. Blue 9 is regarded as the first Yugoslav film to escape from the war narrative and set its plot in the everyday life.
A Season of Classic Films: Celebrating film heritage across Europe
A Season of Classics Films is a series of free film screenings and parallel activities across Europe designed to attract younger audiences to our shared cinematic cultural heritage. The programme looks to raise awareness of the work of European film archives, connecting the public with cinema history and the significance of film preservation. Most of the films are premiere digital restorations and some screenings include live performances and educational interactive sessions. All films are available with English subtitles. Additionally, French or other subtitles are in some cases available. This is an initiative of the Association des Cinémathèques Européennes (ACE) with the support of the EU Creative Europe MEDIA programme.
For dates and access links of the upcoming free screenings in cinemas across Europe and online, please follow ACE’s website and social media pages on Instagram | Facebook | Twitter.
ABOUT THE ASSOCIATION DES CINÉMATHÈQUES EUROPÉENNES (ACE)
The Association of European Cinematheques (Association des Cinémathèques Européennes – ACE) is an affiliation of 49 European national and regional film archives. Its role is to safeguard the European film heritage and make the rich audiovisual records collected and preserved by the various film archives accessible to the public. ACE members are non-profit institutions committed to the FIAF Code of Ethics.
The third edition of ‘A Season of Classic Films’ was presented today at the EU Pavilion in Cannes when ACE (Association des Cinémathèques Européennes) reveals details of the new programme running June to December 2022 in European cinemas and online.
A Season of Classic Films
‘A Season of Classic Films’ is a series of free screenings designed to attract younger audiences to our shared cinematic cultural heritage. The programme looks to raise awareness of the work of European film archives, connecting the public with cinema history and the significance of film preservation. Most of the films are new digital restorations, and some screenings include dynamic elements such as live music performances and educational interactive sessions. All films are available with English subtitles.
Twenty-two film archives from 21 European countries (all ACE members) will participate in the classic film season, and each archive has selected a film or film compilation from their own collection to restore and present.
Joint Restoration Grant
Additionally at the event in Cannes, ACE presented the Joint Restoration Grant of €50,000 awarded for the restoration of the film Life of a Shock Force Worker (1972). The jury, comprising filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa, Pordenone Silent Film Festival director Jay Weissberg and director of the Cinema-Fiction Department of ARTE Claudia Tronnier, selected the film from a raft of proposals submitted by European film archives.
Four partner institutions from Slovenia, Croatia, Austria and Bosnia are joining forces to restore Life of a Shock Force Worker, a wonderful example of Yugoslavian New Cinema. Inspired by daily life in a coal mine, the film critiques the political regime of the era, all the time illustrating the state ideology of comradeship and unity. It further offers a clearer and more nuanced view of Yugoslavian film history, one of the blind spots on the map of European film heritage, and at the same time touches upon the pertinent matter of propaganda in our post-truth era.
“Large parts of the Yugoslavian film heritage have so far been underserved,” the jury writes of its choice. “Life of a Shock Force Worker has strong imagery, but it is in desperate need of colour grading since the original has faded with time. A key asset is that ACE and the four partner institutions responsible for this restoration project will collaborate with DoP Karpo Godina.”
During the war in Bosnia in the 1990s, film director Bahrudin Bato Čengić deposited a 35mm print of the film at the Slovenian cinematheque, while the image and sound negatives remain at the Croatian state archive. Post-restoration, the film will be offered in a new 2K edition with the support of the EU Creative Europe MEDIA programme and the Ministry of Culture of Republic of Slovenia.
Cinema and online screenings
This year’s ‘A Season of Classic Films’ promises to offer very much an in-person series of events and presentations within European cinemas. Most of the films will also be available online to allow for a greater reach to international audiences, building up on the experience gained during the previous edition.
“The second edition of A Season of Classic Films took place when most of our public venues were closed for long periods of time,” says ACE President Sandra den Hamer, also Director of Eye Filmmuseum. “Nevertheless, European cinematheques actively connected with their audiences through online screenings, new streaming platforms and/or hybrid events. ‘A Season of Classic Films’, as a joint project, again strengthened the collaboration and solidarity between the participating film institutions.”
From left: Jay Weissberg, Paulina Reizi, Sergei Loznitsa, Claudia Tronnier, Sandra den Hamer.
The Cannes ‘A Season of Classic Films’ presentation took place on May 23 at the EU Pavilion. The event was moderated by Paulina Reizi (Eye Filmmuseum, Coordinator of A Season of Classic Films). Speakers and special guests included Sandra den Hamer (President of ACE and director of Eye Filmmuseum), Sergei Loznitsa (Filmmaker), Claudia Tronnier (Director of the Cinema-Fiction Department at ARTE) and Jay Weissberg (Director of the Pordenone Silent Film Festival).
ABOUT THE ASSOCIATION DES CINÉMATHÈQUES EUROPÉENNES (ACE)
The Association of European Cinematheques (Association des Cinémathèques Européennes – ACE) is an affiliation of 49 European national and regional film archives. Its role is to safeguard the European film heritage and make the rich audiovisual records collected and preserved by the various film archives accessible to the public. ACE members are non-profit institutions committed to the FIAF Code of Ethics.
Europe’s film heritage is a cultural treasure of astonishing diversity that will have a special place in ARTE with the establishment of the new programme ArteKino Classics. The works waiting to be (re)discovered by all Europeans include both well-known classics and films that are remarkable for their view of the world, their cinematography, or the superb acting.
ArteKino Classics is to kick off on 29 March 2022. It is composed of a three-month-long highlight, followed by a monthly offering, as of June 2022. The films on arte.tv will be available Europe-wide with subtitles in six languages. The twenty recently restored films from almost as many countries were selected in close consultation with the Association des Cinémathèques Européennes (ACE). A third of them are by women directors. ArteKino Classics brings together European films that broke new ground in cinematography.
As part of this programme, ARTE licensed feature films from ACE’s A Season of Classic Films catalogue that consists of newly-restored distinguished titles and less known gems (see catalogue here). These titles are: The Man who had his hair cut short (1965, André Delvaux) – Royal Belgian Film Archive, She Didn’t Say No! (1958, Cyril Frankel) – Irish Film Institute, Derborence (1985, Francis Reusser) – Cinémathèque suisse, The Wayward Girl (1959, Edith Carlmar) – Norwegian Film Institute, and The Death of a Horse (1992, Saimir Kumbaro) – Albanian National Film Archive. These films will be complemented with additional titles co-curated by ACE member institutions.
ArteKino Classics, which is part of the ArteKino project, is co-funded by the Creative Europe MEDIA Programme of the European Union.
Starting on 21 March 2022, ARTE will present in collaboration with the Association des Cinémathèques Européennes (ACE) a diverse programme of European films with a focus on modern film heritage. As part of this programme, ARTE licensed feature films from ACE’s A Season of Classic Films catalogue that consists of newly-restored distinguished titles and less known gems (see catalogue here).
The programme will premiere with La Strada in primetime in combination with the launch of selected films by ACE on ARTE’s digital platforms. New film titles will be added on a monthly basis. Each film will be available for free for 90 days, Europe-wide, with subtitles in English, French, German, Polish, Italian and Spanish.
The titles from ACE’s A Season of Classic Films catalogue include: The Man who had his hair cut short (1965, André Delvaux) – Royal Belgian Film Archive, She Didn’t Say No! (1958, Cyril Frankel) – Irish Film Institute, Derborence (1985, Francis Reusser) – Cinémathèque suisse, The Wayward Girl (1959, Edith Carlmar) – Norwegian Film Institute, and The Death of a Horse (1992, Saimir Kumbaro) – Albanian National Film Archive. These films will be complemented with additional titles co-curated by ACE member institutions. ACE facilitates the selection and acquisition of archival films in high-quality digital remastered versions, which are provided together with curated texts and contextual information. A video trailer and the full programme will be published in the beginning of March.
The ACE-ARTE partnership aims to make European film heritage and cinema history more visible and accessible to greater audiences. The initial timeframe for this programme is planned until the end of 2023, with a hope to extend this collaboration in the longer term to jointly offer restored films on TV, web and cinemas.
A Season of Classic Films is a programme supported by the EU Creative Europe MEDIA programme.
Featured image: Screening of Comizi d’amore (PP Pasolini) by Cineteca di Bologna as part of A Season of Classic Films, 28 June 2021. Credit: Margherita Caprilli.
The accreditations for the MIFC (Marché International du Film Classique) at the Festival Lumière in Lyon are open for both in situ and online attendance.
The MIFC reinforces its hybrid format, with online access to all its round tables, conferences and workshops, in French/English translation. The preliminary programme can be found below.
For details about the rates and benefits of the accreditation, you can visit the website here.
Lichtspiel / Kinemathek Bern joins the second edition of A Season of Classic Films with a compilation of unique short films that takes viewers to a journey to the various regions of Switzerland. The compilation consists of eight newly digitised films, presenting aviation pioneers in the 1920s to progressive women in the 1960s. The films will premiere on Thursday 2 September at 20:00 CEST in a special free-admission event at Lichtspiel’s premises in Bern and via live stream with English subtitles. An introduction by Brigitte Paulowitz, Head of Film Collections and Restorer at Lichtspiel, will provide the context to the films.
A Season of Classic Films is an initiative of the Association des Cinémathèques Européennes (ACE) with the support of the EU Creative Europe MEDIA programme to raise awareness of the work of national and regional film archives, connecting the public with cinema history and the preservation of film heritage. Twenty-two European film institutions are taking part this year offering free access to films from their precious collections. This screening is organised by Lichtspiel / Kinemathek Bern.
Reise durch die Schweiz (Travel through Switzerland) | Switzerland, 1920-1961, 102′
Basler Flugtag. 12. September 1920. Advertisement, 1920, 9’, silent.
Hollywood Ball im Kursaal, 13. August 1932. Documentary, 1932, 16’, silent.
[Generalversammlung SLV vom 30.11.1949 in Baden und Herr Speck]. Documentary, 1932, 7’, silent.
Printemps neige et ski à Grindelwald. Documentary, 1947, 12’, sound.
Lambretta. Advertisement, 1950, 4’, sound.
Wer mit der Zeit geht. Documentary, 1953, 17’, sound.
Frauen im helvetischen Mosaik. Documentary, 1961, 23’, sound.
The short films have been digitised, based on original film elements preserved by Lichtspiel / Kinemathek Bern, with the support of A Season of Classic Films.
Cinemateket / The Norwegian Film Institute joins A Season of Classic Films with the restored film Ung flukt (Edith Carlmar, 1959), a teen rebellion drama with Liv Ullmann in her debut role, with a free special cinema screening event on Wednesday 25 August at 18:00 CEST at Cinemateket in Oslo, while the film will be free-to-view worldwide between 26 August and 2 September, with English subtitles.
The digital restoration was carried out by the National Library of Norway in 2018 and has drawn attention internationally to the work of Edith Carlmar, the number one female director in Norwegian post-war cinema. Carlmar was not only Norway’s first female director, but she made what is considered to be the country’s first film noir (Death Is a Caress). Together with her husband Otto Carlmar, she founded the film company Carlmar Film AS, where he produced and she directed one brilliant film after another. She directed ten films in ten years and Ung flukt is her last feature film.
Speaking about the restored film, Head of Cinemateket Jan Langlo said, “The restored version of Ung flukt (The Wayward Girl) was selected for Berlinale Classics in 2019. This generated quite a lot of interest in both this film and other films by Edith Carlmar, and there are several retrospectives of her films being planned at international festivals in 2021 and 2022. New viewers recognise Ung flukt as a surprisingly vital film, with a vibrant Liv Ullmann in her screen debut.”
A Season of Classic Films is an initiative of the Association des Cinémathèques Européennes (ACE) with the support of the EU Creative Europe MEDIA programme to raise awareness of the work of national and regional film archives, connecting the public with cinema history and the preservation of film heritage. Twenty-two European film institutions are taking part this year offering free access to films from their precious collections. This screening is organised by Cinemateket / The Norwegian Film Institute.
Ung flukt (The Wayward Girl) | Norway, 1959, 95′
Director: Edith Carlmar. Producer: Otto Carlmar. Cast: Liv Ullmann, Atle Merton, Rolf Søder, Nanna Stenersen, Randi Brænne, Tore Foss. Physical characteristics of first release: 35mm, 95’, B&W, mono sound, Norwegian. Film copy screened during A Season of Classic Films: DCP, 95’, B&W, sound, Norwegian. Available subtitles: English. Copyright: Norwegian Film Institute.
Ung flukt is based on a book by Nils Johan Rud and tells the story of 17-year-old Gerd, the illegitimate daughter of a single working mother. Gerd, played by Liv Ullmann in her first lead role, has fallen into delinquency. After she spends a brief stint in police custody, Gerd’s boyfriend, a student, disobeys his parents and takes her away to the country to protect her from bad influences.
Wednesday 25 August, 18:00, Cinemateket Dronningens gate 16 0152 Oslo. With English subtitles. Introduced by Hege Jaer, Curator at Cinemateket. Reserve your free ticket here!
Thursday 26 August – Wednesday 2 September. Watch free online here, worldwide access, English subtitles.
Director-Cinematography: Alexander Ivanov Zhekov. Producer: unknown. Physical characteristics of first release: 35mm, 55’, B&W, silent, Bulgarian intertitles. Film copy screened during A Season of Classic Films: Restoration premiere. DCP 2K (for cinema screening) and ProRes (online). 55’, B&W, silent, Bulgarian intertitles. Subtitles: English. Copyright: Bulgarian National Film Archive.
