FRANCE: Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese announces in at the Cannes film festival plans to promote classic films to broaden the audience for old masterpieces

Record ID: 384860

  • Title: FRANCE: Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese announces in at the Cannes film festival plans to promote classic films to broaden the audience for old masterpieces
  • Date: 16th May 2009
  • Summary: CANNES, FRANCE (MAY 15, 2009) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SHOTS) (*** BEWARE FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY ***) SCORSESE ARRIVES AT NEWS CONFERENCE VARIOUS OF SCORSESE POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS JOURNALISTS PODIUM (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR MARTIN SCORSESE, ASKED TO DISCUSS THE FRANK SINATRA FILM, SAYING: "Sorry, I couldn't. I mean I could but this isn't the place. No, it's more to do with my film-making than why I am here. It's been in the works many years." PHOTOGRAPHERS PODIUM CAMERAS (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR MARTIN SCORSESE SAYING: "We can make a difference if we make these films available. There's going to be someone out there who's going to be affected by them, and if we hit one in a hundred or one in a thousand, maybe we are doing something and maybe there aren't that many Terminators out there. I do think in terms of a crisis point, I am always - it might be surprising to you - but I am always on the more negative side of things and so tend to over-exaggerate these things. There has been a crisis for many years now." CAMERAS (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR MARTIN SCORSESE SAYING: "It's a good question. I think what's happened over the years, I've been seeing some African and South American films and films from Taiwan and South Korea, and yes, there are moments where I think this is remarkable, this is what I should be doing, and then I realise I don't do that. So it clarifies and sets me on my own course, whatever that may be. Your question of style, my question is what style is, I don't know, it's just an initial reaction I make to trying to make a story with pictures." PHOTOGRAPHERS RED CARPET VARIOUS OF SCORSESE ON THE RED CARPET PHOTOGRAPHERS VARIOUS OF SCORSESE ON THE RED CARPET ROSANNA ARQUETTE ON THE RED CARPET VARIOUS OF SCORSESE WITH WIFE ON THE RED CARPET
  • Embargoed: 31st May 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • Country: France
  • Reuters ID: LVA2D3JIXOCXZHQUMXYVUJHAQ2ER
  • Story Text: Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese on Friday (May 15) unveiled a pact to release and promote restored, classic films at festivals, schools and online to broaden the audience for old masterpieces.
    The World Cinema Foundation, which "The Departed" director founded and chairs, will now work with B-Side Entertainment and The Auteurs to release and promote films the WCF has restored.
    Restoration was meaningful only if people could see the work, Scorsese told reporters at the Cannes film festival where a new version of 1948's "The Red Shoes" will screen.
    The WCF expects to premiere its titles at Cannes, the world's largest film festival, and afterward B-Side will tour them at festivals, museums, universities and movie clubs, as well as get them on websites like Apple's iTunes and Netflix.
    The Auteurs will help promote the films to wider audiences online through its social networking website that it labels an "online movie theater."
    Finally, the titles will be made available on DVD and in special editions through an established partnership with home entertainment company The Criterion Collection.
    Restoration is a huge issue in the film industry because master copies of classic titles have either deteriorated to the point where they are no longer usable or they don't exist at all, anymore.

    "We can make a difference if we make these films available.
    There's going to be someone out there who's going to be affected by them, and if we hit one in a hundred or one in a thousand, maybe we are doing something and maybe there aren't that many Terminators out there. I do think in terms of a crisis point, I am always - it might be surprising to you - but I am always on the more negative side of things and so tend to over-exaggerate these things. There has been a crisis for many years now," he said.
    Scorsese said almost 90 percent of U.S. silent movies are gone, and originals of classic titles such as Orson Welles' "The Magnificent Ambersons" (1942) no longer exist.
    It is important for generations of young filmgoers raised on a diet of Hollywood action flicks like "The Terminator" to see classic titles, Scorsese said, because it may inspire them to greater heights where making cinematic art is concerned.

    "The Red Shoes" is one of those titles. Made in 1948 by co-directors Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, it tells of a young ballerina who longs to dance at the highest level of her art. The movie has long been considered a masterpiece that has inspired other filmmakers.
    Scorsese said he saw it for the first time when he was 8 years-old.
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