Notizie

Italy’s Il Cinema Ritrovato Festival, which is dedicated to cinematic treasures of the past, last week wrapped its 33rd edition with a record-breaking turnout. Long a summer fixture for vintage film geeks and distributors it also draws prominent contemporary cinema personalities. This year these included Academy president John Bailey, Francis Ford Coppola, Nicolas Winding Refn, Jane Campion, Thierry Fremaux, and Philippe Le Guay. The fest is the brainchild of Gianluca Farinelli, also chief of the Bologna Film Archives and its film restoration lab known globally as a prime film preservation entity. Farinelli spoke to Variety about the fest’s easy co-existence with his friend Thierry Fremaux’s similar but younger Lumière Festival in Lyon, how they both drive this market segment, and singled out some gems of this edition starting from the world’s first film with a gay narrative. Excerpts.

What makes Il Cinema Ritrovato different from the Lumière fest in Lyon?...

Brains on Ice! week continues at Trailers from Hell with director and Tfh creator Joe Dante introducing "Donovan's Brain," starring Lew Ayres, who achieved stardom as the benevolent Dr. Kildare, here playing yet another kindly doctor who nurtures a living brain (kept alive in a fish tank) only to have its sinister personality consume him. Curt Siodmak’s oft-adapted science fiction novel receives a no-frills treatment at the hands of director Felix Feist (The Devil Thumbs A Ride) that nonetheless captures its essence better than other attempts, which include The Lady And The Monster (1944) and The Brain (1962).

The B Noir festival is a hit! It's always a delight to hear about retrospective programming doing well. There are still people out there interested in and trying out old movies in theaters. Or maybe the San Francisco noir crowd is just that strong. I'd written about "I Wake Up Dreaming" a couple of weeks back (read it here); I have since went and saw some of the movies they're playing.

If you're in the Bay Area and you haven't spared the time, there's good news. The festival was supposed to end this Thursday, but I have just been informed that since it is selling out so well, they've decided to add another week of showings!

The list of extra screenings is at the bottom, but before that, I want to recommend trying to get to this Friday's showing of The Devil Thumbs a Ride, which I managed to catch on the fest's opening night.