Focus on Film Preservation
Restored print!
Gordon Quinn and Jerry Blumenthal in person!
HOME FOR LIFE
1968, Gerald Temaner, USA, 90 min.
“A hymn to life.”--Studs Terkel
“An extraordinarily moving documentary.”--Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
One of the most stylistically influential American documentaries of the past forty years, HOME FOR LIFE became the calling card for the independent production company Kartemquin, now the legendary award-winning producer of films including HOOP DREAMS, GOLUB, and TERRA INCOGNITA. With exquisite sensitivity, HOME FOR LIFE charts the transition of an elderly woman living in her son’s home and an elderly man living alone, to the unfamiliar confines of an assisted-living facility. A newly restored 16mm print made possible by the National Film Preservation Foundation premieres in conjunction with the Film Center’s November-December focus on preservation of our international film heritage. (BS)
Gordon Quinn, president and founding member, and Jerry Blumenthal, founding partner of Kartemquin Films, will be present for audience discussion
Saturday, November 10, 8:00 pm
WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE BEELY CIRCUS?
(WAS IST LOS IM ZIRKUS BEELY?)
1927, Harry Piel, Germany, ca. 85 min.
With Harry Piel, Ilona Karolewna
Harry Piel was a prolific and popular German actor-director, specializing in thrillers whose explosive action scenes earned him the nickname “Dynamite Director.” Nearly his entire oeuvre was destroyed during World War II, but a tinted nitrate print of the long-lost BEELY CIRCUS was recently discovered in Italy. The cocky and dapper Piel plays an adventurer who investigates a murder committed at a circus that is haunted by a Phantom-of-the-Opera-like masked prowler. The circus setting affords numerous opportunities for exciting stunts involving wild animals. This newly restored 35mm print commissioned by Goethe-Institut is presented as part of the Film Center’s November-December focus on preservation of our international film heritage. (MR)
Live piano accompaniment by David Drazin. Live English intertitle translation by Richard Henzel.
[Include Goethe-Institut logo]
Sunday, November 11, 3:00 pm
THE OPEN ROAD
1926, Claude Friese-Greene, Britain, 65 min.
As inELECTRIC EDWARDIANS (a Film Center hit in 2005), the British Film Institute has excavated long-lost footage to open an enchanting and informative window onto Britain’s past. In 1924-6, Claude Friese-Greene (son of famous film pioneer William Friese-Greene) filmed an ambitious travelogue, released in weekly installments, that depicted an auto journey from one end of Britain to the other. To enhance the series, Friese-Greene used an experimental color process that combined alternating red and blue-green frames to produce a remarkably naturalistic image. The BFI has culled highlights of the series into a lovely document of Britain at work and (mostly) play, including a fox hunt in Devon, row houses in Cardiff, women painting Wedgwood china, the fun fair at Blackpool, and, beyond the postcard views, charming snapshots of children and animals. This newly restored 35mm print is presented as part of the Film Center’s November-December focus on preservation of our international film heritage. 35mm. (MR)
Live piano accompaniment by David Drazin.