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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IRAN | 1972

Downpour

RAGBAR

Director: Bahram Beyzaie

WRITTEN BY: Bahram Beyzaie

EDITING: Mehdi Rajaeeyan

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Barbod Taheri

PRODUCER: Barbod Taheri

MUSICAL DIRECTOR: Shida Garachedaghi

STARRING: Parviz Fannizadeh, Parvaneh Masumi, Manuchehr Farid, Mohammad Ali Keshavarz, Hossein Kasbian, Jamsheed Layegh, Chehrazad

COUNTRY OF PRODUCTION: Iran

LANGUAGE: Persian

COLOR INFO: Black and White

RUNNING TIME: 129 minutes

PRODUCTION COMPANY: Mehregan Film

PRODUCER: Barbod Taheri

Restored in 2011 by Cineteca di Bologna/L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, in association with The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project and Bahram Beyzaie.  Restoration funded by Doha Film Institute. 

During Downpour, the equations of commercial and intellectual films were the same. The common morality of the action/drama films of the commercial cinema had a tone of political ideology and social activism. The intellectual films were praised for communicating with the mass culture. In that sense, I don’t want to be popular. Many of these (popular) moralities, in my opinion, are wrong and we are all victims of them. So, I have betrayed my people if I endorse them. I have deviated from the morals of the political parties, hence they have labeled me (inaccessible), not the people. At the heart of my harsh expression, there is a love and respect, for the people, that does not exist in superficial appraisals of the masses. … my audiences are those who strive to go one step further, not those who are the guardians of the old equations nor those who dread self examination and self reflexivity.  

–Bahram Beyzaie

I’m very proud that the World Cinema Foundation has restored this wise and beautiful film, the first feature from its director Bahram Beyzaie. The tone puts me in mind of what I love best in the Italian neorealist pictures, and the story has the beauty of an ancient fable – you can feel Beyzaie’s background in Persian literature, theater and poetry. Beyzaie never received the support he deserved from the government of his home country – he now lives in California – and it’s painful to think that this extraordinary film, once so popular in Iran, was on the verge of disappearing forever. The original negative has been either impounded or destroyed by the Iranian government, and all that remained was one 35mm print with English subtitles burned in. Now, audiences all over the world will be able to see this remarkable picture.  

–Martin Scorsese


NOTES ON THE RESTORATION:

The source element was a positive print with English subtitles provided by director Bahram Beyzaie. Since this is the only known surviving copy of the film – all other film sources were seized and are presumed destroyed – the restoration required a considerable amount of both physical and digital repair.

The surviving print was badly damaged with scratches, perforation tears and mid-frame splices. Over 1500 hours of work were necessary to complete the restoration.

Image: © Courtesy of Bahram Beyzaie


IRAN | 1974

STRANGER AND THE FOG, THE

GHARIBEH VA MEH

Director: Bahram Beyzaie

WRITTEN BY: Bahram Beyzaie

EDITING: Bahram Beyzaie

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Mehrdad Fakhimi, Firooz Malekzadeh

STARRING: Parvaneh Massoumi, Khosrow Shojazadeh, Manuchehr Farid, Esmat Safavi, Sami Tahassoni, Valiyollah Shirandami, Reza Yaghuti, Esmaeel Poor Rez, Mohammad Pour Reza

COUNTRY OF PRODUCTION: Iran

LANGUAGE: Farsi version with English subtitles

COLOR INFO: Color

RUNNING TIME: 140 minutes

Restored by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project and Cineteca di Bologna in collaboration with Bahram Beyzaie. Funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation. 

 

NOTES ON THE RESTORATION:

THE STRANGER AND THE FOG was restored in 4K using the original camera and sound negatives and was carried out at L'Immagine Ritrovata in 2023. Color grading was supervised by Bahram Beyzaie. With special thanks to Ehsan Khoshbakht and Mozhdeh Shamsai.


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


MAURITANIA | 1970

SOLEIL Ô

OH, SUN!

Director: Med Hondo

WRITTEN BY: Med Hondo

EDITING: Michèle Masnier, Clément Menuet

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: François Catonné, Jean-Claude Rahaga

STARRING: Robert Liensol, Théo Légitimus, Gabriel Glissand, Mabousso Lô, Alfred Anou, Les Black Echos, Ambroise M’Bia, Akonio Dolo

COUNTRY OF PRODUCTION: Mauritania

LANGUAGE: French with English subtitles

COLOR INFO: Black and White

RUNNING TIME: 98 minutes

PRODUCTION COMPANY: Grey Films, Shango Films

SET DESIGNER: Med Hondo

Restored by Cineteca di Bologna at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in collaboration with Med Hondo. Restoration funded by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation and The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project.

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.
 

I identify with Med Hondo in terms of anger and I share his obsession with history and self-reliance.
--Haile Gerima


When I wrote my script I did not have an audience in mind, I was living in France and experiencing what being a minority felt like. I had to yell and free myself. Writing the script of Soleil Ô was an authentic act of rage and liberation.

Once the script was ready, I gathered a crew of technicians and a team of African actors. Then I went to see some film processing companies and told them “Here I am, I don’t have a penny in my pocket but I want to make a film, let me have some raw film, I will reimburse you on an installment plan, and if I fail to do so you can put me in jail.” They agreed. The film cost $ 30,000 and it took almost two years to shoot because my actors were not always available.

There are different perceptions of an image. Soleil Ô is crystal clear and is neither intellectual nor sophisticated. It has often happened that those who understood it best were illiterate. When it was shown in Algeria, because the audience was completely able to identify with the film, the proletarians explained it to the intellectuals.

My main character could be a garbage collector, a student, or a teacher. His status does not prevent him from being affected in the same manner by the general conditions of history within a racist society. To be a Black expatriate is an identity. Soleil Ô derives from the African oral tradition. It depicts a unique reality. There is no dichotomy between style and content; here it is the content which imposes a style. I wanted to describe several people through one person instead of using a group of people. In my country, when people talk about a specific issue, they may digress and come back to their initial topic. Black cultures have a syntax which has nothing to do with Cartesian logic or that of other civilizations.
-- Med Hondo


NOTES ON THE RESTORATION:

The restoration of Soleil Ô was made possible through the use of a 16mm reversal print, and 16mm and 35mm dupe negatives deposited by Med Hondo at Ciné-Archives, the audiovisual archive of the French Communist Party, in Paris.

The reversal print was scanned at 4K and digital restoration eliminated dirt, scratches and mold. Despite excellent photographic quality overall, a few sequences appear slightly out-of-focus; this is true to the original cinematography.

A vintage 35mm print preserved at the Harvard Film Archive was used as a reference. Color grading was supervised by cinematographer François Catonné.

The original 16mm magnetic tracks were used for the audio restoration. After digitization, the soundtrack was cleaned and background noise reduction eliminated all noticeable wear marks; particular attention was devoted to the specific dynamics and features of the original soundtrack, namely percussion and chants. Reel 4 as well as the main and end titles were missing, so these were restored using the original 35mm soundtrack. The latter was also used to replace the 16mm mag tracks in the parts where the mix differed slightly from the vintage 35mm print.


MEXICO | 1934

DOS MONJES

TWO MONKS

Director: Juan Bustillo Oro

WRITTEN BY: Juan Bustillo Oro, José Manuel Cordero

EDITING: Juan Bustillo Oro

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Agustín Jiménez

PRODUCER: José San Vicente, Manuel San Vicente

MUSICAL DIRECTOR: Max Urban

PRODUCTION DESIGN: Mariano Rodríguez, Granada, Carlos Toussaint

STARRING: Víctor Urruchúa, Carlos Villatoro, Beltrán de Heredia, Emma Roldán, Magda Haller

COUNTRY OF PRODUCTION: Mexico

LANGUAGE: Spanish with English subtitles

COLOR INFO: Black and White

RUNNING TIME: 85 minutes

PRODUCTION COMPANY: Proa Films

PRODUCER: José San Vicente, Manuel San Vicente

Restored by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project at L’immagine Ritrovata laboratory in collaboration with Filmoteca de la UNAM and Cinémathèque française. Restoration funded by the Material World Charitable Foundation.

 

 

 


MEXICO | 1953

ÉL

Director: Luis Buñuel

WRITTEN BY: Luis Buñuel, Luis Alcoriza

EDITING: Carlos Savage

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Gabriel Figueroa

ADAPTED BY: Luis Buñuel, Luis Alcoriza

PRODUCER: Óscar Dancigers

PRODUCTION DESIGN: Edward Fitzgerald

STARRING: Arturo de Córdova, Delia Garcés, Aurora Walker, Carlos Martínez Baena, Manuel Dondé, Rafael Banquell, Fernando Casanova, Luis Beristáin

COUNTRY OF PRODUCTION: Mexico

LANGUAGE: Spanish with English subtitles

COLOR INFO: Black and White

RUNNING TIME: 82 minutes

PRODUCER: Óscar Dancigers

Restored by The Film Foundation's World Cinema Project, Les Films du Camélia and Cineteca di Bologna at L'Immagine Ritrovata Laboratory, with the support of OCS and in association with Películas y Videos Internacionales. 

Special thanks to Guillermo del Toro.

Funding provided by the Material World Foundation.


NOTES ON THE RESTORATION:

The 4K restoration used the dupe positive preserved by Películas y Videos Internacionales at the Filmoteca de la UNAM, where the scan was performed. Color grading was supervised by Gabriel Figueroa Flores. 


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.


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 | 1950

LOS OLVIDADOS

Director: Luis Buñuel

WRITTEN BY: Luis Buñuel, Luis Alcorira

EDITING: Carlos Savage

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Gabriel Figueroa

PRODUCER: Óscar Dancigers, Sergio Kogan, Jaime A. Menasce

MUSICAL DIRECTOR: Rodolfo Halffter

STARRING: Estela Inda, Miguel Inclán, Alfonso Mejía, Roberto Cobo, Alma Delia Fuentes

COUNTRY OF PRODUCTION: Mexico

LANGUAGE: Spanish with English subtitles

COLOR INFO: B&W

RUNNING TIME: 80 minutes

PRODUCER: Óscar Dancigers, Sergio Kogan, Jaime A. Menasce

Restored by The Film Foundation's World Cinema Project in collaboration with Fundacion Televisa, Televisa, Cineteca Nacional Mexico, and Filmoteca de la UNAM. 

Restoration funding provided by The Material World Foundation.
 


NOTES ON THE RESTORATION:

LOS OLVIDADOS was restored in 4K from the camera and soundtrack nitrate negatives preserved at Filmoteca de la UNAM. The film reels were scanned at UNAM laboratory and the soundtrack was digitized by Cineteca Nacional de México.

Special thanks to Gabriel Figueroa Flores for his supervision of the grading process.

The restoration work was carried out by L'Immagine Ritrovata in 2019.


MEXICO | 1960

MACARIO

Director: Roberto Gavaldón

EDITING: Gloria Schoemann

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Gabriel Figueroa

ADAPTED BY: Emilio Carballido, Roberto Gavaldón

MUSICAL DIRECTOR: Raúl Lavista

STARRING: Ignacio López Tarso, Pina Pellicer, Enrique Lucero, José Gálvez, José Luis Jiménez, Mario Alberto Rodríguez, Consuelo Frank

COUNTRY OF PRODUCTION: Mexico

LANGUAGE: Spanish with English subtitles

COLOR INFO: B&W

RUNNING TIME: 91 minutes

Restored by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project and Fundación Televisa at L’Immagine Ritrovata in collaboration with Filmoteca UNAM and in association with Televisa S. de R.L. de C.V. Funding provided by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Special thanks to Guillermo del Toro.


NOTES ON THE RESTORATION:

MACARIO was restored from the original camera and sound negatives preserved at Televisa. Image scanning at 4K resolution and audio digitization work was completed by Filmoteca UNAM. Restoration of the picture and sound was carried out at L'Immagine Ritrovata in 2023.

Special thanks to Gabriel Figueroa Flores for supervising the color grading.


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


MOROCCO | 1978

ALYAM, ALYAM

Director: Ahmed El Maanouni

WRITTEN BY: Ahmed El Maanouni

EDITING: Martine Chicot

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Ahmed El Maanouni

MUSICAL DIRECTOR: Nass el Ghiwane

SOUND: Ricardo Castro

PRODUCTION DESIGN: Rabii Films

STARRING: Toualàa villagers (Oulad Ziane) in the Casablanca region, and in particular: Abdelwahad and his family, Tobi, Afandi Redouane and Ben Brahim

COUNTRY OF PRODUCTION: Morocco

LANGUAGE: Arabic, French with English subtitles

COLOR INFO: B&W

RUNNING TIME: 90 minutes

Restored by Cineteca di Bologna/L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, in association with Ahmed El Maanouni.  Restoration funded by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project. 

Alyam, Alyam is a film about shattered dreams and the circumstances leading up to that point; about the shaking of the traditional social structure; about the strength born of desperation and the unrelenting dissipation of lost generations. This is stressed from the first notes of the opening music, by the strangely empty building frame that is slowly filled with people, by the village space, by the silence of the wandering woman who smokes, until the last shot of the film, when a crowd appears from behind a deserted hill. The dreams of a society growing smaller, unable to hold on to the resources that could help it survive, are mirrored by the mother’s helpless prayer, “I need your shadow, I need your light, I need your face.”

I simply wanted to show the farmers’ faces, to honor their sounds and their images, their silences and their words, and that’s why I chose not to interfere and to opt for deliberately restrained composition, movement and mise-enscène. I tried to minimize the camera’s ability to distort, make a point, or discriminate. I wanted each aspect to be presented equally. I did not look for spectacular beauty, but made an effort to let the imagery of the rural world speak through abstraction and silence.

Almost 40 years later, when I watch Alyam, Alyam again, I am still comfortable with my aesthetic choices and my intuitions, but I cannot avoid noticing how, from beginning to end – from the opening shots with the blood shed by the camels, to the crowd of peasants appearing from behind the hills – it all seemed to presage the current tragedy experienced by the thousands whose broken dreams lie at the bottom of the Mediterranean, on which the voice of Nass El Ghiwane’s Larbi Batma seems to strangely resonate: “Alyam, Alyam, oh, those were the days! Why are you crossed? Who changed your course? You were once sweet like milk, now you’re bitter. I love all men as if they were my brothers. My brothers have crushed me. I will silence my pain and let my love be loud.”

- Ahmed El Maanouni


NOTES ON THE RESTORATION:

The restoration of Alyam, Alyam used the 16mm A/B rolls original camera and sound negatives preserved at Eclair Laboratories, where the 4K scan was performed. Restoration - carried out at Cineteca di Bologna/L’Immagine Ritrovata - succeeded in stabilizing the image and bringing the original chromatic qualities to light. Director Ahmed El Maanouni supervised the color grading process and approved the final restoration.


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