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Berlinale Retrospective
2009: 70 mm - “Bigger than Life”
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Read more
at
in70mm.com
The 70mm Newsletter
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Written
by: Berlin
International Film Festival |
Date:
27.10.2008 |
The
Kino International cinema. Picture by Jean-Pierre Gutzeit. Reproduced by
kind permission.
By focussing on 70mm films, the Retrospective of the 59th Berlin
International Film Festival will devote itself to the powerful visuals
of wide-gauge film.
Twice as wide as standard 35mm film, it is the adequate format for
monumental works: screen epics, adventure and science fiction films,
Westerns, musicals, as well as magnificent panoramas of nature and
intimately beautiful close-ups. The high resolution, sharp picture and
colour quality of these large-format images join forces with the
tremendous excellence of the sound. During Hollywood’s financial crisis
in the mid 1950s, 70mm film was especially important as a technical
innovation with which television could not compete. For wide-gauge film,
with its visual and audio brilliance, is only able to come into its own
in the cinema. The Berlinale Retrospective will concentrate on “real”
70mm films that were originally shot on 65mm or 70mm negative film and
then printed on 70mm film for the screen.
“The Retrospective is also an homage to large film palaces, though only
a few have survived. Which is why we are particularly delighted to have
the Kino International as a venue. It opened in 1963 and was the third
70mm cinema in the GDR. We are also pleased with the new prints that are
now - thanks to their restoration by several large studios - available
in their original format,” remarks Rainer Rother, head of the
Retrospective.
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More
in 70mm reading:
Berlinale 2009 - 70mm Retrospective
Films in:
Todd-AO,
Super
Panavision 70,
Dimension 150,
Sovscope 70,
DEFA 70 and
MGM Camera
65
in70mm.com's Todd-AO page
Restoration of "Lawrence of Arabia"
The Original Reserved Seat Engagements Of "2001: A Space Odyssey"
Internet link:
Deutsche
Kinematek
59th
Berlinale
70mm Retrospective 2009
Kino International (wiki)
Italian Link
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The
Kino International cinema. Picture by Jean-Pierre Gutzeit. Reproduced by
kind permission.
The Retrospective will present a total of 22 programmes from the USA,
the Soviet Union and Europe. This includes classics like Joseph L.
Mankiewicz’s "Cleopatra" (1961–63) in
Todd-AO,
David Lean’s "Lawrence
of Arabia" (1961/62) in
Super
Panavision 70 and William Wyler´s "Ben Hur" (1959) in
MGM
Camera 65; but also new discoveries like the Soviet production
"Dnevnye zvozdy" ("The Stars of the Day"), directed by
Igor Talankin in 1966 and based on motifs from Olga Bergholz’s
autobiographical book of the same name. In addition to the first
Sovscope 70
film, Julija Solnceva’s "Povest’ plamennykh let" ("The Story
of the Flaming Years", 1960/61), there will be two other films from
the USSR in the programme: Sergei Bondarchuk’s screen adaptation of
Tolstoy’s "Vojna i Mir" ("War and Peace", 1962–67) and
Samson Samsonov’s "Optimisticheskaya tragediya" ("The
Optimistic Tragedy", 1963).
The Retrospective is screening the probably most remarkable of the seven
feature and three documentary
DEFA 70
films ever produced: "Goya" (1969–71) by Konrad Wolf, a portrait
of manners based on Lion Feuchtwanger’s novel. Franklin J. Schaffner’s
"Patton" (1968–70) in
Dimension 150,
a biographical film about perhaps the most celebrated U.S. general of
the Second World War, and Stanley Kubrick’s seminal work
"2001: A Space Odyssey"
(1965-68) in
Super
Panavision 70 will also be screened.
Opulent musicals, like
Robert Wise’s und Jerome Robbins’ "West Side Story"
(1960/61) in
Super
Panavision 70, as well as Robert Wise’s classic "The Sound Of
Music" (1964/65) in
Todd-AO,
and Gene Kelly’s "Hello, Dolly!" (1968/69), also in
Todd-AO,
will complete the programme.
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29.10.2008
Just seen the news...fantastic! Great piece
and this could really encourage people to look again at 65mm.
Also...the big boys are finally taking notice of the 70mm revival of recent
years...TAKE A BOW for helping make it happen!
Best
Brian Guckian, 65/70mm Workshop
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It will be a feast for the eyes
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The
Kino International cinema. Picture by Jean-Pierre Gutzeit. Reproduced by
kind permission.
“It will be a feast for the eyes. 70mm films
are not just known for their rich colours and splendid visuals, but also for
the incomparable sound experience that gives viewers a sense of being there
live. Film musicals from the 1960s also used these effects impressively. I’m
delighted we’ll be able to provide Berlinale audiences with such a
spectacular cinema event,” says Berlinale director Dieter Kosslick.
The
Retrospective will be presented at the Kino International and the Cinestar 8
at Potsdamer Platz. For these festival screenings, the Kino International
will be specially fitted out with a combination of tried-and-tested
projection technology and new digital equipment. Hence, this theatre, so
steeped in tradition, will offer the optimum in visual and audio experience.
On the large curved screen, new, elaborately restored 70-mm prints will
radiate alongside precious unique prints from archives.
The Retrospective film programme (a complete list will be released in late
December) will be accompanied by a series of events, with lectures by
experts and talks with people from film.
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The Book “The History of Wide-Gauge Film”
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The book for the Retrospective - with an essay
(“The History of Wide-Gauge Film”) and a glossary by Gert Koshofer – will be
published in a bilingual edition (German/English) by Bertz + Fischer, a
Berlin publishing house. It gives a complete survey of the 70mm productions
made in the USA, Europe and the Soviet Union and presents contemporary
reviews and extensive filmographic information on the films screening in the
Retrospective. Once again, the Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum für Film und
Fernsehen is responsible for both the Retrospective and the publication.
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28-07-24 |
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