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The Lumière Festival’s International Classic Film Market (Mifc) in Lyon, France, is highlighting heritage documentaries, examining Cuban and Swedish cinema and showcasing the work of the Wim Wenders Foundation as part of a newly revamped program.

In overhauling the Mifc, organizers are seeking to position the event closer to industry needs, offer improved services and offer a clearer picture of the ever evolving heritage content market.

The change will “modify the market to be less institutional and more business oriented,” says Gérald Duchaussoy, who oversees programming and coordination for the Mifc.

The market, which runs Oct. 17-20, kicks off with a keynote by Claire Brunel and Hella Wenders, the managing director of the Wim Wenders Foundation.

The Düsseldorf-based organization, created for the purpose of preserving, maintaining and disseminating Wenders’ works, is very unique and its presentation will be a very interesting opportunity for Mifc participants to learn how it...

Stars: Åke Grönberg, Harriet Andersson, Erik Strandmark, Hasse Ekman, Anders Ek | Written and Directed by Ingmar Bergman

In Skane, a county in southern Sweden, the bedraggled Alberti Circus caravan trundles through the rain and mud. They’ve had to leave half their costumes behind and they’re running out of food. Leader Albert (Åke Grönberg) is seriously considering shooting their performing bear for food. They stop off in a small town, where potential respite comes in the form of the Sjuberg Theatre Group. But it will also create a rift between Albert and his young mistress, Anne (Harriet Andersson). Albert’s wife and kids live nearby and he wants to drop them a visit. Gripped by jealousy, Anne hooks up with a lascivious actor, Frans (Hasse Ekman), from the Sjuberg troupe.

The fallout is toxic. It turns out both Albert and Anne just want to leave the nomadic circus life and settle down.

“The Circus Of Humiliation”

By Raymond Benson

The Criterion Collection has upgraded to Blu-ray their earlier DVD release of Ingmar Bergman’s 1953 feature, Sawdust and Tinsel (titled The Naked Night when the picture was first released theatrically in the U.S.). The visual quality has improved with a new 2K digital restoration that looks razor sharp with gorgeous contrasting black and white imagery, and it comes with an uncompressed monaural soundtrack.

Sawdust was a major step forward in the evolution of Bergman’s filmography, although it was not well-received by Swedish audiences at the time of release. It was most likely deemed too disturbing for what appeared to be a movie about a traveling circus. Note that this was before Bergman’s international breakthrough, which would occur a couple of years later with Smiles of a Summer Night. At the time of Sawdust and Tinsel, Bergman was mostly known just...

Ingmar Bergman’s ‘sad comedy’ finds desperation and adultery in his favorite milieu, the theater. He also gets to contrast the self-important thespians with those dubious circus nomads, even as both groups are shunned by civilian society.

Sawdust and Tinsel

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 412

1953 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 92 min. / Gycklarnas afton / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date December 18, 2018 / 39.95

Starring: Ake Grönberg, Harriet Andersson, Hasse Ekman, Anders Ek, Gudrun Brost, Annika Tretow, Erik Strandmark, Gunnar Bjornstrand, Curt Löwgren, Kiki.

Cinematography: Hilding Bladh, Sven Nykvist

Film Editor: Carl-Olov Skeppstedt

Original Music: Karl-Birger Blomdahl

Produced by Rune Waldekranz

Written and Directed by Ingmar Bergman

Criterion just issued a monster gift box of their entire collection of Ingmar Bergman films on Blu-ray, but they’re also continuing with single releases of the Swedish maestro’s classic titles. Step back before 1957 or so, and one will find more variety of tone in Bergman’s output.

On July 14, 1918 in Uppsala, Sweden, Ingmar Bergman was born, and a quarter-century later, he began to bring his cinematic voice to the world. A century after his brith, with an astounding body of work like few other directors and an influence that reverberates through the past many decades of filmmaking, his filmography is being celebrated like never before.

Starting this February at NYC’s Film Forum and then expanding throughout the nation “the largest jubilee of a single filmmaker” will be underway in a massive, 47-film retrospective. Featuring 35 new restorations, including The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, Scenes from a Marriage, Fanny and Alexander, and many, many more, Janus Films has now debuted a beautiful trailer alongside the full line-up of films.

The Ingmar Bergman retrospective begins on February 7 at NYC’s Film Forum and then will expand to the following cities this spring:

Seattle Art Museum, Seattle Wa

Detroit Film Theatre,...

Since any New York City cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.

The Film Society at Lincoln Center

A new 35mm print of Claire Denis‘ debut, Chocolat, screens throughout the week.

Film Forum

For a Vittorio de Sica retrospective, see The Bicycle Thief on Friday, Miracle in Milan on Saturday and Sunday, and Mister Max & Marriage Italian Style on Sunday.

A new restoration of Otto Preminger‘s...

The title of MoMA's series running through September 18, "Hasse Ekman: The Other Swede in the Room," refers, of course, to the fact that the #1 Swede in cinema is Ingmar Bergman. Who, by the way, called Ekman's Girl With Hyacinths (1950), "an absolute masterpiece." Ekman was the son of Gösta Ekman, star of F.W. Murnau's Faust (1927), and the two appeared together with Ingrid Bergman in Gustaf Molander's Intermezzo (1936). For all that, Hasse Ekman's career as a writer, director and producer has been unduly overlooked. Until now. We're gathering appreciations. » - David Hudson...

The title of MoMA's series running through September 18, "Hasse Ekman: The Other Swede in the Room," refers, of course, to the fact that the #1 Swede in cinema is Ingmar Bergman. Who, by the way, called Ekman's Girl With Hyacinths (1950), "an absolute masterpiece." Ekman was the son of Gösta Ekman, star of F.W. Murnau's Faust (1927), and the two appeared together with Ingrid Bergman in Gustaf Molander's Intermezzo (1936). For all that, Hasse Ekman's career as a writer, director and producer has been unduly overlooked. Until now. We're gathering appreciations. » - David Hudson...