Italian actress Claudia Cardinale to be guest host for the section at the 70th Venice International Film Festival where William Friedkin will receive a lifetime achievement honour.

Vaghe stelle dell’Orsa

Claudia Cardinale, best known for roles in Once Upon a Time in the West and Fellini’s 8 ½, is to be the guest host of Venezia Classici, the section devoted to restored films and to documentaries about cinema of the 70th Venice International Film Festival (August 28 – September 7.

The section, introduced last year, features a selection of classic film restorations completed over the past year by film libraries, cultural institutions or production companies around the world.

Cardinale will attend the screening of Vaghe stelle dell’Orsa, Luchino Visconti’s 1965 film in which she starred that won the Golden Lion at the 30th VIFF and has been restored by Sony Pictures Entertainment.

It is is one of the four classics restored this year that has been conserved at the Historic Archives of the Contemporary Arts (ASAC) of the Biennale di Venezia.

The ASAC has also provided the copies of:

  • Le 15 d’Août by Chantal Akerman (Belgium, France, 1973), a restoration made possible by the Biennale in collaboration with Cinematek in Brussels.

  • Sjećaš li se Dolly Bell (Do You Remember Dolly Bell?) by Emir Kusturica (Yugoslavia, 1981), restored by the Sarajevo Film Centre in collaboration with the Biennale.

  • Little Fugitive by Ray Ashley, Morris Engel, Ruth Orkin (USA, 1953), restored by Ripley’s Film and Orkin and Engel Film and Photo Archive in collaboration with the Museo Nazionale del Cinema in Turin, La Biennale and Carlotta Films.

The film Sorcerer (1977), by the winner of this year’s Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement William Friedkin, restored by Warner Bros., will be the opening film of Venezia Classici on August 29.

An new feature this year will be the jury - composed of 28 film students from Italian universities – that will be asked to award two prizes: Best Film of Venezia Classici; and Best Documentary on Cinema.

VENEZIA CLASSICI – Restored films

Le mani sulla città (Hands Over the City)
by Francesco Rosi (Italy, 1963, 105’, B/W)
restoration: Csc – Cineteca Nazionale
(pre-opening film in Campo San Polo)

Paisà (Paisan)
by Roberto Rossellini (Italy, 1946, 134’, B/W)
restoration: Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna, Csc – Cineteca Nazionale, Coproduction Office and Istituto Luce Cinecittà

Pane e cioccolata (Bread and Chocolate)
by Franco Brusati (Italy, 1973, 100’, Colour)
restoration: Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna, Csc – Cineteca Nazionale and Lucky Red

Quién sabe? (A Bullet for the General)
by Damiano Damiani (Italy, 1966, 119’, Colour)
restoration: Csc – Cineteca Nazionale

Vaghe stelle dell’Orsa… (Sandra)
by Luchino Visconti (Italy, 1965, 105’, B/W)
restoration: Sony Pictures Entertainment in collaboration with the Historic Archives of the Contemporary Arts (ASAC)

La proprietà non è più un furto (Property Is No Longer a Theft)
by Elio Petri (Italy, 1973, 126’, Colour)
restoration: Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna, Museo Nazionale del Cinema of Turin and Titanus

La bête humaine
by Jean Renoir (France, 1938, 100’, B/W)
restoration: Studiocanal

Providence
by Alain Resnais (France, 1977, 110’, Colour)
restoration: Jupiter Communications in collaboration with the director of photography Ricardo Aronovich
Chantal Akerman programme (total length 106’):

Hotel Monterey
by Chantal Akerman (Belgium, USA, 1972, 65’, Colour)
restoration: Cinematek in Brussels

Le 15 d’Août (The 15th of August)
by Chantal Akerman (Belgium, France, 1973, 41’, B/W)
restoration: Historic Archives of the Contemporary Arts (ASAC) in collaboration with Cinematek in Brussels

Il bacio di Tosca (Tosca’s Kiss)
by Daniel Schmid (Switzerland, 1984, 87’, Colour)
restoration: La Cinémathèque Suisse in collaboration with the director of photography Renato Berta

White Rock
by Tony Maylam (Great Britain, 1977, 76’, Colour)
restoration: International Olympic Committee, Lausanne

Furyo (Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence)
by Nagisa Oshima (United Kingdom, Japan, 1983, 123’, Colour)
restoration: Hanway Films

Sjećaš li se Dolly Bell (Do You Remember Dolly Bell?)
by Emir Kusturica (Yugoslavia, 1981, 107’, Colour)
restoration: Sarajevo Film Centre in collaboration with the Historic Archives of the Contemporary Arts (ASAC)

Moy Drug Ivan Lapshin (My Friend Ivan Lapshin)
by Aleksey Guerman Sr. (Urss, 1984, 100’, B/W)
restoration: Gosfilmofond, Boris and Ināra Teterev Foundation,  Open World Fund

Satyajit Ray programme

Mahapurush (The Holy Man)
by Satyajit Ray (India, 1965, 65’, B/W)
restoration: RDB Organization

Kapurush (The Coward)
di Satyajit Ray (India, 1965, 69’, B/W)
restoration: RDB Organization

Nidhanaya (The Treasure)
by Lester James Peries (Sri Lanka, 1973, 110’, B/W)
restoration: World Cinema Foundation

Yangguang Canlan de Rizi (In the Heat of the Sun)
by Jiang Wen (China, Hong Kong, 1993, 140’, Colour)
restoration: Orange Sky, Golden Harvest Entertainment in collaboration with Jiang Wen

Tian mi mi (Comrades: Almost a Love Story)
by Peter Ho-sun Chan (Hong Kong, 1996, 118’, Colour)
restoration: We Pictures in collaboration with Warner Bros. Pictures and Peter Ho-sun Chan

Dogfar nai mae marn (Mysterious Object at Noon)
by Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand, 2000, 89’, B/W)
restoration: World Cinema Foundation, Austrian Film Museum

Higanbana (Equinox Flower)
by Yasujiro Ozu (Japan, 1958, 118’, Colour)
restoration: Shôchiku, Co. LTD

Yoru no henrin (The Shape of Night)
by Noboru Nakamura (Japan, 1964, 109’, Colour)
restoration: Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Arts Council Tokyo and Tokyo Culture Creation Project (Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture), and TOKYO FILMeX Organizing Committee in collaboration with Shôchiku, Co. LTD    

Let’s Get Lost
by Bruce Weber (USA, 1988, 120’, B/W)
restoration: Little Bear Inc.

Little Fugitive
by Ray Ashley, Morris Engel, Ruth Orkin (USA, 1953, 80’, B/W)
restoration: RIPLEY’S FILM and Orkin and Engel Film and Photo Archive in collaboration with the Museo Nazionale del Cinema in Turin, the Historic Archives of the Contemporary Arts (ASAC) and Carlotta Films

My Darling Clementine
by John Ford (USA, 1946, 97’, B/W)
restoration: 20th Century Fox Film in collaboration with Cineric

Sorcerer
by William Friedkin (USA, 1977, 121’, Colour)
restoration: Warner Bros. Pictures

The Adventures of Hajji Baba
by Don Weis (USA, 1954, 94’, Colour)
restoration: 20th Century Fox Film in collaboration with Cineric

The Most Dangerous Game
by Irving Pichel, Ernest B. Schoedsack (USA, 1932, 63’, B/W)
restoration: Mk2, Lobster Films and L.E. Diapason

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