Copyright ACE - Association des Cinémathèques Européennes
ACE (Association des Cinémathèques Européennes) has unveiled details of this year’s edition of A Season of Classic Films during the 76th edition of the Festival de Cannes. This edition will comprise a diverse programme curated by more than 20 European film heritage institutions, both national and regional.
The new film restorations will be presented as free screenings across Europe from June to December 2023 in European cinemas and online. The screenings will be enriched by attractive features, such as live music, introductions by filmmakers, parallel exhibitions or panel discussions.
The selection of films highlights the diversity of European cultural heritage, from early silent classics, thrillers, and romantic comedies, to works that focus on social issues such as feminism or the impact of urbanisation. Many of the films will be globally accessible online at no charge to further promote European film heritage to international audiences. All films will be available with English subtitles. All the restored films are available in a catalogue which includes practical and contact information about each film to enable further distribution beyond the end of this programme.
The initiative is supported by the European Commission through the MEDIA strand of the Creative Europe programme.
- Discover the films in the programme.
- The screening details will be updated here.
Investing in film restoration
In addition to the various and newly restored films presented by each European archive in the catalogue of A Season of Classic Films, a Joint Restoration Grant worth €40,000 is awarded to a film restoration project proposed by at least 3 European film archives. The objective is to support the transnational collaboration among film institutions for film preservation.
Which film will be restored this year? After Death (1920) by Alfréd Deésy, one of the few ghost stories to have survived from the silent film era. The film is an adaptation from the novel L’Homme qui revient de loin written by Gaston Leroux (author of Phantom of the Opera). The only known remaining copy of After Death was identified in the collection of Cinémathèque royale de Belgique in 2006, and had not yet been restored.
How will the film be restored? The restoration will be carried out by an international collaboration between the Belgian National Film Archive, La Cinémathèque française and the National Film Institute Hungary – Film Archive.
Where can I watch the film? The restored film will be screened as part of the programme of A Season of Classic Films. Digital copies will be shared among the partner archives to enable better accessibility and preservation.
How was the film selected? A jury made up of filmmakers Radu Jude and Saodat Ismailova, ARTE France general director Olivier Père and film curator-educator Cecilia Barrionuevo, chose it from an array of proposals submitted by Europe’s film heritage institutions following an open call for proposals for the ACE network.
“The collective expertise of researchers, archivists, and restorers can serve common – and often complex - restoration and preservation goals that transcend geographical, linguistic, and cultural divides. As a result, cultural moments and movements - both dark and light – are being kept safe in our archives and alive in our collective memory.” Says Michal Bregant, President of ACE
Participating film archives and institutes in the 2023 A Season of Classic Films
Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam
Ταινιοθήκη της Ελλάδος / Greek Film Archive, Athens
Filmoteca de Catalunya, Barcelona
Jugoslovenska Kinoteka – Arhiv Jugoslovenske Kinoteke / Yugoslav Cinematheque - Yugoslav Film Archive, Belgrade
Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée - Direction du patrimoine cinématographique, Bois d’Arcy
Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna
Cinémathèque royale de Belgique / Koninklijk Belgisch Filmarchief, Brussels
National Film Institute Hungary – Film Archive, Budapest
Irish Film Institute, Dublin
DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum, Frankfurt
Cinemateca Portuguesa-Museu do Cinema, Lisbon
Slovenska kinoteka / Slovenian Cinematheque, Ljubljana
Filmoteca Española, Madrid
La Cinémathèque française, Paris
Národní filmový archiv, Prague
Кинотека на Република Северна Македонија / Cinematheque of the Republic of North Macedonia, Skopje
Българска национална филмотека / Bulgarian National Film Archive, Sofia
Svenska Filminstitutet / Swedish Film Institute, Stockholm
Film Archives of the National Archives of Estonia, Tallinn
Arkivi Qendror Shtetëror i Filmit / Albanian National Film Archive, Tirana
Museo Nazionale del Cinema, Turin
Hrvatski državni arhiv – Hrvatska kinoteka / Croatian state archive – Croatian cinematheque, Zagreb
Background
In recent years, the European Commission has supported several initiatives for the preservation and the promotion of film heritage.
The first A Season of Classic Films took place in the summer of 2019: European film classics were screened in some of Europe’s most iconic cultural heritage venues. Classic films from across the EU were screened free-of-charge in Europe’s most iconic cultural heritage venues in 13 EU countries – from small towns to capital cities – highlighting Europe’s rich and diverse cultural heritage. Still in 2019, the Commission funded several restoration and digitisation projects, such as the digitisation of 50 films from the Mutoscope and Biograph Collection preserved in the archives of the British Film Institute and Eye Filmmuseum.
The second edition of A Season of Classic Films took place during the difficult years of the pandemic (2020-2021) when most of the public venues were closed for long periods. Nevertheless, European cinematheques actively connected with their audiences through online screenings, new streaming platforms and/or hybrid events. The results were remarkable as the diverse selection of films reached more than 30.000 viewers across Europe and beyond.
Building on the success of the first two years, A Season of Classic Films returned to the cinemas for the third edition. A substantial enhancement of the 2022 edition was the joint restoration grant, which was awarded for the first time to support and highlight the importance of film preservation and public access through transnational collaboration of film institutions.
More details about the previous editions and the upcoming free screenings can be found here.