The Cinema Guild announced on Thursday [25] that it has acquired all distribution rights to a digitally restored version of Dominique Benicheti’s 1972 documentary Cousin Jules.

The film, which follows the everyday lives of two French farmers living alone in the countryside, originally won the special jury prize at the 1973 Locarno Film Festival before undergoing 2K digital restoration in 2012.

The restored version premiered at the 2012 New York Film Festival and is set for theatrical release later this year.

“Benicheti’s Cousin Jules is a breathtaking work, a timeless classic that somehow, inexplicably, almost slipped forever from view,” said Cinema Guild director of distribution Ryan Krivoshey.

“And what a loss that would’ve been. Completed 40 years ago, Cousin Jules still feels bracingly contemporary. In it, one can see many of the great documentary films that would come to follow it. We are grateful to Patricia Matthews and Peter Agoos for bringing this wonderful film to our attention and are eager for audiences to experience it.”

Krivoshey negotiated for The Cinema Guild with Patricia Matthews and Peter Agoos on behalf of Benicheti’s sister, Geneviève Benicheti.