Restored 4K ‘Mephisto’ Print to Open Budapest Classics Film Marathon
By Leo Barraclough
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – A newly restored 4K digital print of István Szabó’s Oscar-winning “Mephisto” will be among the European classics screening as part of the 2nd Budapest Classics Film Marathon, which runs Sept. 4-9. Claudia Cardinale, Klaus Maria Brandauer and Jean-Marc Barr will be among the event’s guests.
The first Marathon ran in November 2017, attracting more than 5,000 people over three days. This year’s edition, which runs over six days and includes the screening of more than 60 films, kicks off with an all-day workshop and conference on digital restoration and film in education, attended by the directors of European film archives. The restored “Mephisto” will screen on the opening evening, attended by Szabó, Brandauer and Lajos Koltai.
György Ráduly, director of the Hungarian National Film Archive, said in a statement: “The aim is to show, in a novel and interesting way, valuable, recently restored classical films that represent a part of the Hungarian and universal film heritage, reach out to young people, and put the spotlight on rarities and re-orchestrated popular films — all on the big screen as a true cinematic experience.”
Cardinale will attend screenings of Luchino Visconti’s “The Leopard” and Federico Fellini’s “8 ½.” Barr will present a screening of “The Big Blue.” The program features restored early masterpieces by Szabó, “Father,” “Love Film” and “Meeting Venus,” with Glenn Close in the lead role, as well as “Sunshine,” starring Ralph Fiennes.
“Mephisto” was restored by the Hungarian National Film Archive and Hungarian Filmlab. The archive, which has been operating under the wing of the Hungarian National Film Fund since the start of last year, aims to restore more than 150 masterpieces of Hungarian cinema over five years.
So far, 35 films have been restored. These have included 13 films by Zoltán Fábri, such as the Oscar nominee “Boys from Paul Street”; Ildikó Enyedi’s Camera d’Or-winning “My 20th Century”; and nine films by Szabó, including Cannes Jury Prize-winning and Oscar-nominated “Colonel Redl,” and the Silver Bear-winning and Oscar-nominated “Confidence.”
