Film is slowly dying. I don’t mean that the industry is dying (though there are arguments both in support and refuting that fact) I mean that the screening of film seems to be a dying thing. I must admit that my eye can often not discern the difference between film and digital projection but after a very recent encounter with screenings of the original Star Wars trilogy on the big screen (a huge achievement for the organizers of SPARK 2009 considering that the prints were dug up from the Lucasfilm vaults; we can all imagine what a feat that was. And yes, it was awesome. More awesome than you can even imagine), I must admit I have a new appreciation for the ever elusive film print. It seems that the festival organizers at Berlinale feel the same way.
It was recently announced that the festival will feature a special showcase titled “70mm — Bigger Than Life!” featuring, as you may be able to guess from the title, a line-up of 70mm films. The 22 film line-up is made up of some classics and a wide range of little known (and seen) films, many hailing from the old U.S.S.R.. The line-up includes Ben-Hur, Cleopatra, Lawrence of Arabia and 2001: A Space Odyssey. What I wouldn’t give to see Kubrick’s masterpiece in 70mm.
If you’re not attending the festival fear not, there may be an opportunity to see the showcase. Curator Rainer Rother has already fielded calls of interest from institutions looking to screen the retrospective. I wonder if there’s a place in Vancouver even capable of screening 70mm film…
That was my thought. You better have one helluva screen to showcase these properly. But yeah… HELL yeah. Seeing Lawrence of Arabia when it toured in the 80′s on 70mm is something I’ll never forget.
Seeing 2001 that way today would completely kick ass. I’ll have to watch for screenings in my area.
I saw both Lawrence of Arabia and 2001. Lawrence of Arabia is a poor, uninteresting film but the print must have been brand new, there was hardly a scratch on it and it did look extraordinary, and the experience saved the snoozefest of a shallow film.
2001 however, there’s something you don’t see every day. I know alot of people who are going to the festival, this would be the primary reason for me to go, I would watch 2001: A Space Oddysey in 70MM more or less every day if I could.
My god! How, how, how, how did they get those 70mm Star Wars prints. Those prints would have been the original cuts! No Special Edition stuff! They never produced the SE on 70mm…. and George Lucas let them play!!!
AHHHHH! I’m getting on the phone tomorrow. I need to get them to play the Ontario Cinesphere or something.
Peter – Not to mislead you but the 70mm retrospective does NOT include SW. The SW screening was something unrelated and featured 35mm prints from the `97 re-release.
Ewwww…. SE prints… Lame that they’d show those during a effects retrospective. All the effects junkies will be cringing during the horribly composited CG Jabba.
Well I’m slightly less unhappy that I wasn’t there.
Trust me, the hard cores didn’t care much. I think they managed to overlook that (for that night at least).
My understanding is that there are no original prints. Reliable birdie tells me they were destroyed.
@Marina “there are no original prints.”
I actually find that hard to believe. Yea the film is 30 years old, but c’mon there have to be at least a dozen star wars enthusiasts with shrines containing a 35mm print of the original three films. Not the least of which is Mr. Lucas himself.
Let me put it this way: it was made clear that whatever original prints there are in the Lucas vault, they are NEVER, while the man is alive, going to see the light of day. EVER.
They were never going to release the originals on DVD either.
Don’t know if I have enough time during that week (fu… job) but i hope i am able to see one or two films.
Some of those Soviet films look interesting if just to see how the process was used. By the way, I DID see 2001 in 70mm in 1968. The theater, sadly demolished, was one of the few designed specifically for showing Cinemarama movies.