In June 2011, the Shanghai International Film Festival and Jaeger-LeCoultre joined hands to raise funds for the restoration of classic Chinese films. This is a decisive moment in the history of Chinese film protection and film restoration, and as a result, Chinese film protection and restoration has entered a new era.
In June 2012, the first three films jointly restored by the Shanghai International Film Festival and Jaeger-LeCoultre were unveiled in the relevant screening units, namely: "Cross Street" (Italian laser films 2K digital restoration), "Eight Thousand Miles of Road Clouds and Moon" (Italian laser films 2K digital restoration), "A River of Spring Water Flows East" (2K digital restoration of China Film Archive), when the grand premiere of "Cross Street" held in hall 1 of the Great Guangming Cinema is still impressive.
Since then, every year, the Shanghai International Film Festival has launched a chinese classic film jointly restored with Jaeger-LeCoultre, so that the professional concept of film protection and restoration has gradually become familiar to the audience, and has enhanced the audience's understanding of film protection and restoration, which has been highly recognized by filmmakers, film protection scholars and film restoration experts around the world. At the same time, it also refreshes the Chinese film industry's understanding of film protection and restoration, and has brought far-reaching impact on the consequent protection and restoration of Chinese films.
In order to celebrate the first decade of Shanghai International Film Festival and Jaeger-LeCoultre film restoration, the 24th Shanghai International Film Festival will set up the "SIFF X Jaeger-LeCoultre Restoration Decade" unit to showcase the representative film restoration works of this cooperative project in the past decade.
Crossroads
Crossroads
-1937-
Highlights: The first shot of the classic restoration of the Shanghai International Film Festival
Shen Xiling, the "strange brother" of the film industry who died young at the age of 36, wrote and directed the classic work, this film revolves around the four college students of Lao Zhao, Ah Tang, Liu Brother and Xiao Xu, telling the story of the various life choices they face after embarking on society. This film is a left-wing film produced by the star company, which expresses humanistic care for the unemployed students who are wandering on the "cross street" of life. The most exciting thing in the film is the 22-year-old Zhao Dan and the 17-year-old Bai Yang's comedy performance under the same roof, both hollywood comedy skills and the wind and bone of later Italian neorealism, and Zhao Dan's singing "In the Spring" has become an enduring pop song of the century. In 2012, the Italian company Laser Films performed a 2K scan and digital restoration of the film.
Crows and sparrows
CrowandSparrow
-1949-
Highlights: Zhao Dan and Wu Yin's impeccable rivalry
The satirical comedy that Kunlun Pictures began filming on the eve of the liberation of Shanghai tells the story of a group of Kuomintang officials and their mistresses who were fighting to occupy the house in a lane in Shanghai in the winter of 1948. During the preparation of the film, it was seized by the Kuomintang and the film was confiscated, and the film was not renewed until after the liberation of Shanghai. The performances of Zhao Dan, Wu Yin, Huang Zongying, Sun Daolin, Shangguan Yunzhu, Li Tianji and other actors are brilliant, which can be called an eternal classic in the history of Chinese cinema. In 2013, the Italian company Laser Films performed a 2K scan and digital restoration of the film.
Stage sisters
Two StageSisters
-1964-
Highlights: The first 4K scan repair of the domestic film
One of the masterpieces of film master Xie Jin, it tells the ups and downs of two Yue opera celebrities before and after liberation. Due to the beautiful Yue opera singing section, the stretched camera movement, and the acting skills of the main supporting roles, it has always been welcomed by the audience for many years. In 2014, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the film's birth, the Shanghai International Film Festival for the first time joined hands with the world's top restoration agency, the Bologna Film Restoration Institute in Italy, to scan and digitally repair the film. The film's assistant director Chen Cicada and a number of film experts have made key checks for the film's restoration and color grading.
New can't be loved
Endless Love
-1993-
Highlights: This affection is hard to give up
Directed by Er Dongsheng, created in the 1990s, it is a tear-jerking love popular drama that tells the story of Ajay, a musician who has never met, who finds self-confidence under the encouragement of temple street girl Amin. 29-year-old Liu Qingyun and 22-year-old Yuan Yongyi, a deep affection, a pure and cheerful, dedicated the best performance of their respective acting careers. The film received twelve nominations at the 1994 Hong Kong Film Awards, and won six awards: Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Screenwriter. In 2016, the Shanghai International Film Festival commissioned the Bologna Film Restoration Institute in Italy to perform 4K scanning and digital restoration of the film, and director Er Dongsheng directed the final color grading of the film.
Paint the soul
Soul of a Painter
-1994-
Highlights: 130 minutes of stunning re-enactment of the full version
The biopic directed by the famous Shanghai director Huang Shuqin records how Pan Yuliang grew from a follower of Yihong Courtyard to a well-known painter's bumpy artistic life path, delicately depicting Pan Yuliang's persistent pursuit of painting and the awakening of women's independent consciousness. After the Venice Film Festival, Gong Li played Pan Yuliang, with superb acting skills. In 2018, Shanghai Film Technology Factory shouldered the responsibility of restoring the classics of the Shanghai International Film Festival for the first time, independently completed the 4K scanning and digital restoration of the film, and invited the film's cinematographer Lu Le to color the film, and the sound recordist Ge Weijia supervised the audio track restoration of the film, in addition to retaining the original Dolby 4.0 audio track, but also mixed the new 5.1 audio track according to the current cinema screening standards.
blessing
New Year Sacrifice
-1956-
Highlights: The new 4K restoration of the first color feature film in New China
Filmed to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Mr. Lu Xun's death, this film is adapted from Lu Xun's novel of the same name, written by Xia Yan, then vice minister of culture, and directed by Shanghai film master Sang Arc, and is also the first color feature film in New China. The protagonist Xianglin Sister-in-law is played by the famous movie star Bai Yang, who performs the tragic process of Xianglin Sister-in-law's persecution to death step by step by the feudal society of cannibalism with unusual appeal. The film won the Special Jury Prize at the 1957 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and set a record for the highest-grossing Chinese film in the Soviet Union. In 2020, to commemorate the centenary of Poplar's birth, the Shanghai International Film Festival commissioned the China Film Archive to perform a new 4K scan and digital restoration of the film. The film was selected for the "Cannes Classic" restoration unit of the 2020 Cannes Film Festival, which is also the first time that the film restoration project of the Shanghai International Film Festival has been selected as the "Cannes Classic" restoration unit.
Stay tuned to us and be the first to grasp the blockbuster list of the 24th Shanghai International Film Festival in 2021.
Note: In case of change in the film schedule, the actual schedule shall prevail.