Fourth edition of the ACE's A Season of Classic Films
On 19 May, the ACE (Association des Cinémathèques Européennes) unveiled at the Dutch Pavilion in Cannes details of the fourth A Season of Classic Films, a series of free screenings designed to attract younger audiences to our shared cinematic cultural heritage. The 2023 programme will run June to December 2023 across European cinemas and online.
The initiative also seeks to raise awareness of the work of European film archives, connecting the public with cinema history and the significance of film preservation.
The fourth edition of A Season of Classic Films will comprise a diverse programme curated by more than 20 European film heritage institutions. The world premiere restorations will be presented as free screenings across Europe until the end of 2023 and will be supplemented by educational tools to attract younger audiences to European film heritage, such as live music, introductions by filmmakers etc.
The films span early silent classics, thrillers and romantic comedies, to works focusing on current topics such as feminism or the impact of urban planning to environment. Many of the films will be globally accessible online for free for a limited time to further promote European film heritage to international audiences. All films are available with English subtitles.
You can consult the full programme here (PDF file).
A Season of Classic Films is supported by the EU Creative Europe MEDIA programme.
Joint Restoration Grant
During the Cannes event, ACE also presented a Joint Restoration Grant of €40,000 for the restoration of the Hungarian ghost story After Death (1920) by Alfréd Deésy. The esteemed jury, made up of filmmakers Radu Jude and Saodat Ismailova, ARTE France general director Olivier Père and film curator-educator Cecilia Barrionuevo, chose After Death from an array of proposals submitted by Europe’s film heritage institutions.
An international collaboration between The National Film Institute Hungary – Film Archive, the Belgian National Film Archive and La Cinémathèque française will enable the new restoration of one of the few ghost stories to have survived from the silent film era. There is only one known remaining copy of the film and it features richly tinted images. Adapted from a novel written by Phantom of the Opera author Gaston Leroux, the film will be presented in a new 4K edition as part of A Season of Classic Films.
Launch event at Cannes
The Cannes A Season of Classic Films presentation and award of the Joint Restoration Grant took place 19 May at 10am at the Dutch Pavilion in Cannes. The event was moderated by Paulina Reizi (Eye Filmmuseum, Coordinator of A Season of Classic Films). Special guests included Sarah Brunet (Policy Officer, MEDIA and Audiovisual Support Programmes, DG Connect, European Commission), Michal Bregant (ACE President), Olivier Père (General Director ARTE France) and Cecilia Barrionuevo (Film at Lincoln Center – Programmer at-large / ECAM Industria).
Joint Film Restoration Grant 2023 – Jury Members
CECILIA BARRIONUEVO – film curator and educator
Cecilia Barrionuevo is currently Head of Seminars and International Relations at the Madrid Film School (ECAM) and film programmer at Lincoln Center. Barrionuevo was the artistic director of the Mar del Plata International Film Festival (2018 – 2021) and a member of the festival’s programming team since 2010. Barrionuevo also co-edited several publications, including the bilingual collection of “Las Naves Cine”, and has taught film classes around the world. She is also a member of the advisory board for the Film Study Center at Harvard University. In 2020, she was awarded with the honorary title of Chevalier of the Arts and Letters from the French Ministry of Culture.
SAODAT ISMAILOVA – filmmaker
Saodat Ismailova is a filmmaker, based in Tashkent and Paris. She is an important voice within the first generation of Central Asian artists to come of age in the post-Soviet era. She studied film and has made fiction films and documentaries, which have won awards at various international festivals. Her work focusses on the intersection of cinema and visual art. The use of archival footage is a recurring feature of Ismailova’s work. Her films and artwork have been featured in the Venice Biennale, Documenta (Kassel), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Berlin International Film Festival, Stedelijk Museum and Eye Filmmuseum (Amsterdam).
RADU JUDE – filmmaker
Radu Jude is one of the most renowned European directors of today. His work has been recognised with numerous awards from international film festivals, including the Golden Bear for Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn in 2021 and the Silver Berlin Bear for Aferim! in 2015 at the Berlin International Film Festival. Jude graduated from the Film Directing Department of the Media University of Bucharest. He started his career as a director’s assistant, including for films by Costa-Gavra and Cristi Puiu. Jude also directed several award-winning short films, among them The Tube with a Hat (2006) – the most successful Romanian short film ever. Most recently, his short film The Potemkinists was screened in 2022 at Quinzaine des Réalisateurs in Cannes.
OLIVIER PÈRE – General Director ARTE France Cinéma
Olivier Père joined the French Cinémathèque in 1995, and soon became in charge of the programme, organising numerous retrospectives. Since 1997, he has been writing for the cultural publication “Les Inrockuptibles” on film and television programmes. Between 2004 and 2009, Père headed the Directors’ Fortnight, independent section at the Cannes Film Festival. From 2009 until 2012, he served as the artistic director of the Locarno Film Festival. In 2012, he became General Director of ARTE France Cinéma. He is also the Artistic Director of ArteKino and collaborates with the Association des Cinémathèques Européennes for the ArteKino Classics programme.
