These five films, presented at the Thessaloniki International Film
Festival 2003 purposely have nothing in common. They are the work
of undoubtedly important directors who are so unique that it becomes
impossible for critics, historians or analysts to indulge in their
favorite pastime of collating and comparing the worlds they have
created. We can certainly find some links between them with very
little effort to separate one from the other, although in fact there
is nothing in common between Sternberg's last work and the first
film of Rossellini's new life though they belong to the same decade.
These films are also of different nationalities, sometimes separated
by 40 years.
Before being forgotten, lost and then found, these films were rescued,
cherished and hidden. This was done by a man with a tenacious determination
who for a long time alone, or almost alone, a true rag merchant, who
collected those things which others did not want (the same tenacity
is being shown by those who continue his work). And then, little by
little, with the help of their reputation, the films and the directors
came to him, like people seeking refuge in a storm; thus for India,
Mother Earth and for One Day the Nile among a thousand
other examples. This man, of course, is Henri Langlois and the refuge
is the Cinémathèque
Française. This is what these special films have now in common:
their presence in a collection which has contributed, perhaps more
than anything
else, to the revelation that thanks to them the cinema is the great
adventure of modern times. We hope audiences at the Festival will
enjoy the result.
Bernard Benoliel, Serge Toubiana
Serge Toubiana is the new Director of the French
Cinémathèque.
Bernard Benoliel is in charge
of the Cinémathèques Department of Cultural Diffusion.
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