The World Cinema Project (WCP) preserves and restores neglected films from around the world. To date, 54 films from Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Central America, South America, and the Middle East have been restored, preserved and exhibited for a global audience. The WCP also supports educational programs, including Restoration Film Schools; intensive, results-oriented workshops allowing students and professionals worldwide to learn the art and science of film restoration and preservation. All WCP titles are available for exhibition rental by clicking "Book This Film."


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SENEGAL | 1973

TOUKI BOUKI

Director: Djibril Diop Mambéty

WRITTEN BY: Djibril Diop Mambéty

EDITING: Siro Asteni

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Pap Samba Sow, Georges Bracher

MUSICAL DIRECTOR: Joséphine Baker, Mado Robin, Aminata Fall

SOUND: El Hadji Mbow

FROM: GTC Paris

STARRING: Magaye Niang (Mory), Mareme Niang (Anta), Aminata Fall (Tante Oumy), Ousseynou Diop (Charlie)

COUNTRY OF PRODUCTION: Senegal

LANGUAGE: Wolof with French and English subtitles

COLOR INFO: Color

RUNNING TIME: 88 minutes

PRODUCTION COMPANY: Cinegrit

Restored in 2008 by Cineteca di Bologna/L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, in association with The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project and the family of Djibril Diop Mambéty. Restoration funded by Armani, Cartier, Qatar Airways and Qatar Museum Authority.

Touki Bouki is a prophetic film. Its portrayal of 1973 Senegalese society is not too different from today’s reality. Hundreds of young Africans die every day at the Strait of Gibraltar trying to reach Europe (Melilla and Ceuta). Who has never heard of that before? All their hardships find their voice in Djibril’s film: the young nomads who think they can cross the desert ocean and find their own lucky star and happiness but are disappointed by the human cruelty they encounter. Touki Bouki is a beautiful, upsetting and unexpected film that makes us question ourselves. What a pleasure and what an achievement for Martin Scorsese’s Foundation to give Djibril Diop Mambéty a second life. To all those who support cinema: bravo! –Souleymane Cissé, May 2008


NOTES ON THE RESTORATION:

Touki Bouki has been digitally restored at 2K resolution using the original 35 mm camera and sound negatives provided by the director’s son Teemour Diop Mambéty and preserved at the GTC in Paris. Digital restoration brought the film’s original chromatic elements to light. At the end of the digital process a new 35 mm internegative was produced.

Image: © Courtesy of Teemour Diop Mambéty


SENEGAL | 1968

CONTRAS' CITY

CITY OF CONTRASTS

Director: Djibril Diop Mambéty

WRITTEN BY: Djibril Diop Mambéty

EDITING: Jean-Bernard Bonis, Marino Rio

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Georges Bracher

COUNTRY OF PRODUCTION: Senegal

LANGUAGE: Wolof with English Subtitles

COLOR INFO: Color

RUNNING TIME: 22 minutes

Restored in 2020 by Cineteca di Bologna/L'Immagine Ritrovata and The Film Foundation's World Cinema Project in association with The Criterion Collection. Funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.

This restoration is part of the African Film Heritage Project, an initiative created by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project, the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers and UNESCO – in collaboration with Cineteca di Bologna – to help locate, restore, and disseminate African cinema.


NOTES ON THE RESTORATION:

The 4K restoration of CONTRAS' CITY was made from the internegative as well as the original sound negatove provided by Teemour Mambéty and preserved at LTC Patrimoine. A vintage print of the film was used as reference for color grading. 


SENEGAL | 1970

BADOU BOY

Director: Djibril Diop Mambéty

WRITTEN BY: Djibril Diop Mambéty

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Baidy Sow

STARRING: Laminé Ba, Al Demba Ciss, Christoph Colomb, Aziz Diop Mambéty

COUNTRY OF PRODUCTION: Senegal

LANGUAGE: French and Wolof with English subtitles

COLOR INFO: Color

RUNNING TIME: 56 miniutes

Restored by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project and Cineteca di Bologna at L’Immagine Ritrovata and L’Image Retrouvée laboratories in association with Teemour Diop Mambéty. Restoration funded by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation. 

This restoration is part of the African Film Heritage Project, an initiative created by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project, the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers and UNESCO—in collaboration with Cineteca di Bologna—to help locate, restore, and disseminate African cinema.


NOTES ON THE RESTORATION:

BADOU BOY was restored in 4K using the internegative and the sound negative. Color grading was supervised by Pierre-Alain Meier. 

Restoration work was carried out in 2021 at L'Immagine Ritrovata and L'Image Retrouvée laboratories. 

With special thanks to Teemour Diop Mambéty.


TAIWAN | 1991

BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY, A

GU LING JIE SHAO NIAN SHA REN SHI JIAN

Director: Edward Yang

WRITTEN BY: Edward Yang, Yan Hangya, Yang Shunqing, Lai Mingtang

EDITING: Chen Bowen

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Zhang Huigong, Li Longyu

FROM: Central Motion Picture Corporation, Taipei

STARRING: Zhang Zhen (Xiao Si’r), Lisa Yang (Ming), Zhang Guozhu (Zhang Ju), Elaine Jin (Mrs Zhang), Wang Juan (Elder Sister), Ke Yulun (Airplane), Tan Zhigang (Ma)

COUNTRY OF PRODUCTION: Taiwan

LANGUAGE: Mandarin and Taiwanese with French and English subtitles

COLOR INFO: Color

RUNNING TIME: 237 minutes

PRODUCTION COMPANY: Yang and His Gang Filmmakers

SET DESIGNER: Yu Weiyan, Edward Yang

Restored in 2009 by Cineteca di Bologna/L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, in association with The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project, the Central Motion Picture Corporation, and the Edward Yang Estate. Scan performed at Digimax laboratories in Taipei. Restoration funded by Armani, Cartier, Qatar Airways and Qatar Museum Authority.
 

It is easy to restore a film’s image, but much harder to revive that feeling of seeing a classic for the first time. Fifteen years ago, Edward Yang’s A Brighter Summer Day was released, heralding a new talent in world cinema. Each year since has further confirmed its status as a classic, but at the cost of increased wear and tear on the prints. Restoration is usually reserved for relics from decades ago. But sometimes we need to dust off recent memories to remind us how brightly the not too distant past shined. Thanks to the latest digital technology, we can seize these celluloid moments even as they begin to slip irrevocably from our grasp. In June of 2007 when he was only 59 years old, we lost Edward Yang forever. I’m very happy that A Brighter Summer Day has been restored so a new generation of filmgoers can feel the excitement of seeing it for the first time. –Wong Kar-Wai, May 2009


NOTES ON THE RESTORATION:

The restoration of the uncut version of A Brighter Summer Day used the original 35mm camera and sound negatives provided by the Edward Yang Estate and preserved at the Central Motion Pictures Corporation in Taipei. Due to the deterioration of the original camera negative an intermediate of the film printed at the time was also used. The digital restoration produced a new 35mm internegative.

Image: © Courtesy of Edward Yang Estate/CMPC


TAIWAN | 1985

TAIPEI STORY

QING MEI ZHU MA

Director: Edward Yang

WRITTEN BY: Edward Yang, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Chu T’ien-wen

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Yang Wei-han

PRODUCER: Hou Hsiao- hsien, Lin Rong-feng

STARRING: Hou Hsiao-hsien (Lung), Tsai Chin (Chin), Lai Teh-nan (Chin's father), Chen Su-fang (Mrs. Mei), Wu Nien-Jen (Taxi driver), Ko I-Chen (Architect), Ko Su-wun (Gwan)

COUNTRY OF PRODUCTION: Taiwan

LANGUAGE: Madarin with English subtitles

COLOR INFO: Color

RUNNING TIME: 119 minutes

PRODUCER: Hou Hsiao- hsien, Lin Rong-feng

Restored by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project at Cineteca di Bologna/L’immagine Ritrovata laboratory in association with the Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique and Hou Hsiao-hsien.


MEXICO | 1946

ENAMORADA

Director: Emilio Fernández

WRITTEN BY: Iñigo de Martino, Emilio Fernández

EDITING: Gloria Schoemann

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Gabriel Figueroa

PRODUCER: Benito Alazraki Franco

MUSICAL DIRECTOR: Eduardo Hernández Moncada

SOUND: José B. Carles

ART DIRECTOR: Manuel Parra

PRODUCTION DESIGN: Manuel Fontanals

STARRING: María Félix, Pedro Armendáriz, Fernando Fernández

COUNTRY OF PRODUCTION: Mexico

LANGUAGE: Spanish with English subtitles

COLOR INFO: Black and White

RUNNING TIME: 99 minutes

PRODUCTION COMPANY: Panamerican Films, S.A.

SET DESIGNER: Manuel Parra

PRODUCER: Benito Alazraki Franco

Restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive and The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project in collaboration with Fundacion Televisa AC and Filmoteca de la UNAM. Restoration funded by the Material World Charitable Foundation.


NOTES ON THE RESTORATION:

The 4K restoration of ENAMORADA utilized the original 35mm nitrate picture and track negatives stored by Televisa at Filmoteca de la UNAM in Mexico City. A 35mm nitrate print, provided by Filmoteca de la UNAM, was also used as a secondary element. 4K scanning and restoration was completed by Roundabout Entertainment and the audio restoration was completed by Audio Mechanics.


KAZAKHSTAN | 1989

REVENGE

MEST

Director: Ermek Shinarbaev

WRITTEN BY: Anatoli Kim

EDITING: Polina Stein

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Sergei Kosmanev

PRODUCER: Habibur Rahman Khan

MUSICAL DIRECTOR: Vladislav Shute

STARRING: Alexandre Pan (Sungu, the poet), Oleg Li (King-Monk), Valentin Te (Novice), Lubove Germanova (Elza), Rasim Jakibaev (Tsai)

COUNTRY OF PRODUCTION: Kazakhstan

LANGUAGE: Russian with French and English subtitles

COLOR INFO: Color

RUNNING TIME: 96 minutes

PRODUCTION COMPANY: Kazakhfilm Studios

SET DESIGNER: Elena Eliseeva

PRODUCER: Habibur Rahman Khan

Restored in 2010 by Cineteca di Bologna/L'Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, in association with The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project, the Kazakhfilm Studio, the State Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Ermek Shinarbaev. Restoration funded by Armani, Cartier, Qatar Airways and Qatar Museum Authority. 

In a rage, a teacher murders a boy. Another boy is bred, for one sole purpose: to avenge his brother’s death. Kazakh master Ermek Shinarbaev’s close collaboration with the Korean-Russian writer Anatoli Kim yielded three great films, the most remarkable of which is this beautiful, profoundly unsettling film. A true odyssey, geographically and psychologically. One of the greatest films to emerge from the Kazakh New Wave, and one of the toughest.
(Kent Jones, May 2010)

 

In the beginning of the 40s, hundreds of thousands of Koreans that had lived in the Russian Far East since the XIX century were forcibly displaced overnight according to Stalin’s orders. They were regarded as traitors and public enemies. Women, children, old people, were sent away with no explanation. The Korean diaspora, with a population of over a million, has been a forbidden topic for many years. Revenge is the first film telling the story of their tragedy.
(Ermek Shinarbaev, May 2010)


NOTES ON THE RESTORATION:

The restoration of Revenge, used the original camera negative, the sound negative and a positive print provided by the Kazakhfilm Studio and held at the State Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Special thanks to director Ermek Shinarbaev for actively participating in the restoration.

Image: © Courtesy of Kazakhfilm Studio


MEXICO | 1934

FANTASMA DEL CONVENTO, EL

Director: Fernando de Fuentes

WRITTEN BY: Jorge Bezet, Fernando de Fuentes, Juan Bustillo Oro

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Ross Fisher

PRODUCER: Jorge Bezet

STARRING: Enrique del Campo, Marte Roel, Carlos Villatoro, Paco Martínez, Victorio Blanco

COUNTRY OF PRODUCTION: Mexico

LANGUAGE: Spanish with English subtitles

COLOR INFO: Black and White

RUNNING TIME: 85 minutes

PRODUCER: Jorge Bezet

Restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive and The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project, with funding provided by the George Lucas Family Foundation. 


NOTES ON THE RESTORATION:

Preserved from the 35mm nitrate picture and track negatives and a 16mm acetate composite dupe negative. Laboratory services by Fotokem, Roundabout Entertainment, Inc., Audio Mechanics, DJ Audio, Inc., Titrafilm Paris. Special thanks to Viviana Garcia Besne, Permanencia Voluntaria; Albino Álvarez Gómez, Filmoteca de la UNAM.


MEXICO | 1936

REDES

Director: Fred Zinnemann, Emilio Gómez Muriel

WRITTEN BY: Agustín Velázquez Chávez, Paul Strand

EDITING: Emilio Gómez Muriel, Gunther von Fritsch

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Paul Strand

ADAPTED BY: Emilio Gómez Muriel, Fred Zinnemann and Henwar Rodakiewicz

MUSICAL DIRECTOR: Silvestre Revueltas

SOUND: Roberto, Joselito Rodriguez

FROM: Cinemateca de la UNAM, Mexico

STARRING: Silvio Hernández (Miro), David Valle González (Monopolist), Rafael Hinojosa (Politician), Antonio Lara (El Zurdo), Miguel Figueroa and native fishermen

COUNTRY OF PRODUCTION: Mexico

LANGUAGE: Spanish with French and English subtitles

COLOR INFO: Black and White

RUNNING TIME: 61 minutes

PRODUCTION COMPANY: Secretaría de Educación Pública

Restored in 2009 by Cineteca di Bologna/L'Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, in association with The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project and Filmoteca de la UNAM. Restoration funded by Armani, Cartier, Qatar Airways and Qatar Museum Authority. 

The film – the first (and last) of its kind – was expected to play a small part in the Government’s plan to educate millions of illiterate citizens throughout the enormous country and bring them out of their isolation. […] The picture was to be made for the Federal Department of Fine Arts, headed by composer Carlos Chávez. The producer would be Paul Strand. […] We had recruited practically all ‘actors’ from among the local fishermen, who needed to do no more than be themselves. They were splendid and loyal friends, and working with them was a joy. In addition to acting, they carried all the equipment, rowed the boats and did a multitude of other jobs, earning more money than ever before – forty-five cents per day, per man – and enjoying themselves hugely. […] I’m told that some years later the Nazis found the negative in Paris and burned it. A few prints still exist. –Fred Zinnemann


NOTES ON THE RESTORATION:

The restoration of Redes used the best surviving materials, namely a 35mm safety duplicate negative and a positive print preserved at the Filmoteca de la UNAM in Mexico. The digital restoration produced a new 35mm internegative.

Image: © Courtesy of Filmoteca de la UNAM


SENEGAL | 1976

VOYAGE AUX ANTILLES DU PRÉSIDENT SENGHOR

Director: Georges Caristan

COUNTRY OF PRODUCTION: Senegal

LANGUAGE: French with English subtitles

COLOR INFO: Black and White

RUNNING TIME: 17 minutes

Restored by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project and Cineteca di Bologna at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, in collaboration with the Ministère de la Culture et du Patrimoine Historique de Sénégal – Direction du Cinéma. Restoration funded by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.

This restoration is part of the African Film Heritage Project, an initiative created by The Film Foundation's World Cinema Project, the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers and UNESCO―in collaboration with Cineteca di Bologna―to help locate, restore, and disseminate African cinema.


NOTES ON THE RESTORATION:

The 4K restoration was completed using a 16mm print preserved by the Direction du Cinéma in Senegal. With special thanks to Tiziana Manfredi and Marco Lena.


BRAZIL | 1980

PIXOTE

PIXOTE, A LEI DO MAIS FRACO

Director: Héctor Babenco

WRITTEN BY: Héctor Babenco, Jorge Durán

EDITING: Luiz Elias

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Rodolfo Sanchez

PRODUCER: Sylvia B. Naves, Paulo Francini, José Pinto

ART DIRECTOR: Clóvis Bueno

STARRING: Fernando Ramos da Silva (Pixote), Jorge Julião (Lilica), Gilberto Moura (Dito), Edilson Lino (Chico), Zenildo Oliveira Santos (Fumaça), Claudio Bernardo (Garatao), Israel Feres David (Roberto Pie de Plata), Jose Nilson Martin Dos Santos (Diego), Marília Pêra (Sueli)

COUNTRY OF PRODUCTION: Brazil

LANGUAGE: Portuguese with English subtitles

COLOR INFO: Color

RUNNING TIME: 128 Minutes

PRODUCTION COMPANY: Embrafilme, HB Filmes

PRODUCER: Sylvia B. Naves, Paulo Francini, José Pinto

Restored by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project and Cineteca di Bologna at L'Immagine Ritrovata in association with HB Filmes, Cinemateca Brasileira, and JLS Facilitações Sonoras. Restoration funded by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation. 


NOTES ON THE RESTORATION:

Restored in 4K from the 35mm original camera negative and a first generation 35mm dupe negative preserved at the Cinemateca Brasileira. In order to minimize the overall presence of mold, particularly invasive in reels 3, 5 and 6, the camera negative was wet-gate scanned at 4K resolution and digital restoration required considerable efforts. Missing frames in three different shots of reel 3 were replaced using the internegative.

The recently rediscovered original magnetic soundtrack, also affected by mold, with the oxide peeling off the base, was carefully repaired by Beto Ferraz then digitized and restored by José Luiz Sasso (ABC), sound engineer for Hector Babenco in 1981. Final color grading was supervised by cinematographer Rodolfo Sánchez using a first generation vintage 35mm print as reference.


TAIWAN | 1983

BOYS FROM FENGKUEI, THE

FENG GUI LAI DE REN

Director: Hou Hsiao-hsien

WRITTEN BY: T'ien-wen Chu

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Kun Hao Chen

SOUND: Duu-Chih Tu

STARRING: Chun-fang Chang, Shih Chang, Doze Niu, Chao P'eng-chue, Chung-Hua Tou, Li-Yin Yang

COUNTRY OF PRODUCTION: Taiwan

LANGUAGE: Mandarin with English subtitles

COLOR INFO: Color

RUNNING TIME: 101 minutes

Restored by the Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique in collaboration with Hou Hsiao-hsien and The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project.


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