Old masterpieces revitalised for contemporary film season

Hollywood loves a good comeback story – and sometimes it is the films themselves that are resurrected from the dead. In tribute, Peninsula Arts is set to screen five classic films under the banner of ‘Revival’ – with many of them playing on the big screen in Plymouth for the first time.

The Revival season opens with an international double bill in the University of Plymouth’s Jill Craigie Cinema on 22 April. Those looking for stunning cinematography where the visual journey is as important as the story itself may be interested in the screening of film festival favourite Lyrical Nitrate (1991). Lyrical Nitrate was compiled from over 900 international silent films shot between 1905 and 1915, and discovered in the in the attic of Amsterdam cinema owner Jean Desmet upon his death in 1956. This will be accompanied by Peter Jackson’s Forgotten Silver (1995), the story of New Zealand filmmaker Colin McKenzie, and the rediscovery of his lost films, a retrospective that the Lord of the Rings director claims could change the history of cinema.*

The Red Shoes (1948), follows on 29 April, and poses the question: what is most important - your art or your personal happiness’ A British Oscar winner from those powers of post-war cinema, Powell and Pressberger, the film was digitally restored last year, and this will be the first opportunity to see it on the big screen in Plymouth.

A more experimental edge accompanies the next screening, Treasures of the South West Film & Television Archive on 6 May. University of Plymouth Sound and Music Production students will be creating a soundtrack to accompany a series of short films from the archive.

The final showing in the Revival series is L’Enfer (2009) on 13 May, which is described as ‘part original, part documentary and part reconstruction’ of Henri-Georges Clouzot’s 1964 film of the same name, which sensationally ceased production after just three weeks, despite having an almost unlimited budget. Directors Serge Bromberg and Ruxandra Medea have uncovered some of the never-before-seen original rushes and screen-tests and have created a new film from the remnants.

David McErlane, Film Administrator at Peninsula Arts, said: “Revisiting and exploring alternative histories of cinema is at the core of our programming for the Jill Craigie Cinema. To have a series focused on the many ways in which films can be revived is something I’ve been looking forward to for some time.”

Tickets are priced at £5, concessions £3, and are available from Peninsula Arts Box Office: 01752 58 50 50 or peninsula-arts [a] plymouth.ac (p) uk

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