Restored and Rediscovered: A Film Preservation Festival

May 13–23, 2024

Martin Scorsese’s The Film Foundation estimates that half of all American films made before 1950 are lost. When considering the silent era before 1929, only about 10 percent of those movies survive. Film preservation is a race against time to save what remains and film restoration is the work to bring these movies to their original quality, ensuring its longevity for future generations.

JBFC Restored and Rediscovered is a celebration of the work it takes to protect and preserve film that might otherwise have been lost. This inaugural edition will screen films from five continents, from the silent era to the 2000s as well as explore the extensive work of film preservation and restoration through the efforts of institutions, organizations, and individuals saving cinema’s past for future audiences.

To save our cinematic heritage is to save our collective history, our culture, and our progress for future audiences.

 

SERIES TRAILER

Household Saints May 13–21, 2024 Opening Night Reception and Q&A on May 13 Based on Francine Prose’s fifth novel, Nancy Savoca’s chronicle of a spirited Italian-American New York family perfectly balances humor, tragedy,…
The Many Miracles of Household Saints May 13, 2024 Opening Night Introduction by Martina Savoca-Guay In keeping with the intergenerational magic of Household Saints, filmmaker Martina Savoca-Guay has crafted a compelling new documentary revealing the…
Bushman May 14–22, 2024 Introduction by Series Curator Monica Castillo on May 14 In 1968, Peace Corps veteran David Schickele enlisted his friend Paul Eyam Nzie Okpokam to star in a light-hearted comedy…
Lady Windermere's Fan/The Adventurer May 14, 2024 Live Musical Accompaniment by Makia Matsumura Celebrating the film restoration work of the Museum of Modern Art, the JBFC is proud to present two of their…
IndieCollect Shorts 1 May 15, 2024 Q&A with Directors Nancy Schreiber and Amalie R. Rothschild IndieCollect is a film preservation organization founded by Sandra Schulberg in 2010 to save and restore independent films. As part…
IndieCollect Shorts 2 May 15, 2024 Introduction by the IndieCollect Team IndieCollect is a film preservation organization founded by Sandra Schulberg in 2010 to save and restore independent films. As part…
IndieCollect Shorts 3 May 15, 2024 Q&A with Directors Nancy Schreiber and Amalie R. Rothschild IndieCollect is a film preservation organization founded by Sandra Schulberg in 2010 to save and restore independent film. As part…
The Unknown/Pinto Ben May 16, 2024 Live Musical Accompaniment by Ben Model Introduction by Anthony L’abbate, Preservation Manager in the Moving Image Department at the George Eastman Museum The George Eastman Museum…
New York Through Her Lens May 16, 2024 Q&A with Director Mirra Bank These four films by women, all restored with the help of the Women’s Film Preservation Fund, shot in and around…
The Runner May 17–20, 2024 Pre-Recorded Q&A with Actor Madjid Niroumand on May 17 Childhood takes on mythic dimensions in one of the defining works of postrevolutionary Iranian cinema. Inspired by director Amir Naderi’s…
Rare Blue Apes of Cannibal Isle / Against the Grain May 17, 2024 Q&A with Justin LaLiberty, producer at Vinegar Syndrome and former JBFC projectionist Vinegar Syndrome is a film restoration and distribution company with a catalogue of hundreds of feature films, produced primarily between…
Mahjong May 17–22, 2024 Introduction by JBFC Programming Coordinator Ian LoCascio Edward Yang’s penultimate film is an acerbic, sprawling tragicomedy, a poison love letter to Taipei as a rising cosmopolis of…
Peeping Tom May 18–23, 2024 Q&A with Thelma Schoonmaker Join us after the May 18 screening for a conversation about the director and the restoration of this rediscovered gem…
Laughter Restored: Discovering Rare Gems of the Silent Era with Ben Model May 18, 2024 Live Musical Accompaniment by Ben Model Silent film historian, accompanist and distributor Ben Model presents a combination lecture + screening about his work over the past…
The Third Man May 18–23, 2024 Introduction by Series Curator Monica Castillo on May 18 Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten), a writer of pulp Westerns, arrives in a bombed-out, post-war Vienna at the invitation of his…
Hugo in 3D May 18, 2024 With Film Strip Projection Activity! Hugo tells the story of an orphan boy living a secret life in the walls of a Paris train station.…
Preserving Moving Images of the Past — NYU MIAP Workshop May 19, 2024 Free Event! Preserving Moving Images of the Past, Keeping up with the Future What does moving image preservation entail? Does it relate…
Tell Me a Riddle/The Stronger May 19, 2024 A case study in resilience, Lee Grant earned her first Oscar nomination in 1951 and tragically found herself blacklisted the…
Harlem on the Prairie May 19, 2024 Singer Herbert Jeffrey makes his cinematic debut in this long-unavailable film as the strapping young cowpoke who comes to the…
Death of a Bureaucrat May 19, 2024 Tomás Gutiérrez Alea was the most internationally successful director from post-revolutionary Cuba. In one of his funniest films, Gutiérrez Alea…
Lumumba: The Death of a Prophet May 20–22, 2024 Investigating revolutionary Patrice Lumumba’s brief tenure as the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo as well as…
IndieCollect Shorts Encore May 21, 2024 IndieCollect is a film preservation organization founded by Sandra Schulberg in 2010 to save and restore independent film. They have…

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