Recent Film Restorations

[beamish14]

Dave Markey’s Desperate Teenage Lovedolls and Lovedolls Superstar

[Stefan Andersson]

Thierry Frémaux on restoring Lumière films:
"thirty years ago, for the centennial of cinema, the Lumière Institute, the Cinémathèque, and the government restored many of the films, from negatives and from some positive prints. [My producer] Maëlle Arnaud is in charge of the new process of restoration. After 130 years, the film is fragile, so we have to do digital restoration. There are two thousand movies, and we have restored five hundred. So we have a lot to restore, and will maybe make a third compilation or a fourth. And this year we are going to open a web platform for people to see films /.../ We also want to make a catalogue raisonné."
https://www.criterion.com/current/posts ... ry-fremaux

Catalogue, Lumière films 1895-1905:
https://catalogue-lumiere.com/

[brundlefly]

Apache Drums, Fregonese, 4K:
https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/11470

This was screened at Il Cinema Ritrovato in 2022, and looked magnificent. Amazing how little distribution it's had in the four years since.

Eureka has released three Fregonese films over the last two years, perhaps it could find a home there.

[Stefan Andersson]

Shoulder Arms, "Preserved and restored by The Museum of Modern Art. World premiere of original 1918 restored cut. DCP. 46 min..", Aug. 2, 2026:
https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/11560
Showing includes A Dog´s Life, "preserved and restored by The Museum of Modern Art under the aegis of Association Chaplin and Roy Export S.A.S. World premiere of original 1918 restored cut. DCP."

MK2 lists 2K and 4K restorations of the First National titles plus The Chaplin Revue:
https://mk2films.com/en/collections/the ... ollection/
https://mk2films.com/en/film/short-film ... s-chaplin/

[Stefan Andersson]

MoMA Silent Movie Week 2026 - restorations of What Price Glory, The Student Prince of OId Heidelberg, Shoulder Arms, A Dog´s Life, Sunrise:
https://www.moma.org/calendar/film/5914

[hearthesilence]

Awesome - I posted about Shoulder Arms awhile back, but MoMA sometimes note with their own restorations that what they present at any given screening isn't the final word, it's something that may be updated, especially if ideal elements haven't been found for all the footage used (or if some footage is simply missing, and I recall certain frames missing in Should Arms). What I saw was still close to being complete and pretty great, and I imagine this will be even better.

[jmj713]

Speaking of MoMA, any word on where and when this (Seed, 1931) might see a release? https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/2061 No way to see this that I can find, not even a bad copy on YT.

[Stefan Andersson]

A Special Day, Scola, 4K:
https://www.filmlinc.org/films/a-special-day/

Some older restorations:
La Viaccia, 4K, French bluray released in 2022:
https://www.filmlinc.org/films/the-lovemakers/

Il bell´Antonio, 4K, from 2017:
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=353244

Not restored, but rediscovered uncensored print of La brigante, Castellani:
https://www.filmlinc.org/films/the-brigand/

[Calvin]

A Special Day, Scola, 4K:
https://www.filmlinc.org/films/a-special-day/

Is this not the 4K restoration released by Criterion a decade ago?

[onedimension]

MoMA Silent Movie Week 2026 - restorations of What Price Glory, The Student Prince of OId Heidelberg, Shoulder Arms, A Dog´s Life, Sunrise:
https://www.moma.org/calendar/film/5914

!!!

[soundchaser]

I don't know why no label will bite on these MoMA Lubitsch restorations. You'd think Kino would be all over them,

[Red Screamer]

I’ve heard MoMA tends to be protective of their restorations, though I don’t know exactly if that means stipulations, cost, theatrical priority, etc.

[beamish14]

MoMA Silent Movie Week 2026 - restorations of What Price Glory, The Student Prince of OId Heidelberg, Shoulder Arms, A Dog´s Life, Sunrise:
https://www.moma.org/calendar/film/5914

!!!

Wasn’t Sunrise restored by the Academy over a decade ago? I remember seeing it at the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre

[Lowry_Sam]

I think it was by SFFP and produced the blu-rays that are now over a decade old. The new restoration has also been completed by SFFP.

[Stefan Andersson]

MoMA Silent Movie Week 2026 - restorations of What Price Glory, The Student Prince of OId Heidelberg, Shoulder Arms, A Dog´s Life, Sunrise:
https://www.moma.org/calendar/film/5914

!!!

"The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927) and A Dog’s Life/Shoulder Arms (1918)—have been restored to their original domestic theatrical release cut for the first time since the works premiered, with MoMA’s print of The Student Prince recently discovered to be the sole remaining copy of the cut shown to audiences in 1927."
https://press.moma.org/film-media/smw2026/

[Peg of the PreCodes]

I’ve heard MoMA tends to be protective of their restorations, though I don’t know exactly if that means stipulations, cost, theatrical priority, etc.

MoMA may be bound by donor restrictions. I know Library of Congress has many titles that are in the U.S. public domain, but were deposited there under inflexible agreements with the donors.

[Roger Ryan]

... "with MoMA’s print of The Student Prince recently discovered to be the sole remaining copy of the cut shown to audiences in 1927."

And that cut appears to be the re-shot and re-edited version done after Lubitsch left the film so it actually represents less of what Lubitsch intended than the more readily available Brownlow/Gill version that we've seen for decades.

[Stefan Andersson]

Some upcoming German restorations:
Der Blusenkönig (1917, Ernst Lubitsch)
Die Bettwurst (1970, Rosa von Praunheim)
Waltz with Bashir (2008, Ari Folman)
Die Buntkarierten (1949, Kurt Maetzig)
Komödianten (1940/41, G. W. Pabst)
https://www.ffa.de/pressemitteilungen-d ... r-62-filme

[Stefan Andersson]

La saison des hommes, Moufida Tlatli
La Bandera, Duvivier
L´Eternel Retour, Delannoy
https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/aides ... 25_2520973

[JonoQ]

Speaking of MoMA, any word on where and when this (Seed, 1931) might see a release? https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/2061 No way to see this that I can find, not even a bad copy on YT.

This screened from a 35mm print, which has also screened more recently at Metrograph. I don't think there's a restoration or digital transfer.

[Stefan Andersson]

The Film Heritage Foundation, restoring German films, now has reduced funding and will expire in 2028:
https://www.murnau-stiftung.de/news/filmerbe-gefahr