This is topic FilmFest in Seattle, incl. new 70mm of 2001 in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 04-16-2012, 11:22 AM:
 
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/movies/2017958325_cinerama15.html?cmpid=2628

Cinerama launches science-fiction film festival
first annual sci-fi festival in Seattle.

By Moira Macdonald

Science-fiction fans, take note: Cinerama has a festival just for you.

Starting Thursday, Cinerama's first annual Science Fiction Festival will feature two weeks of special programming, kicking off with three screenings of the 1927 silent classic "Metropolis" with live accompaniment by the Alloy Orchestra. Though "Metropolis" will screen in a newly restored digital format, the festival's other 24 features will all screen on film — with several in 70mm.

Greg Wood, operator of Cinerama, said that he's been dreaming of this festival since Paul Allen (whose company, Vulcan, owns the theater) hired him in 2010. "We're trying to branch out into different things and establish some festivals," he said. "Science fiction is something close to Paul's heart, so it's very obvious for us to do."

The festival will be an annual April event, he said, joining Cinerama's classic-film festival in the fall and fitting with the cinema's evolving mixture of blockbusters ("The Avengers" will open immediately after the festival), art-house fare ("Pina") and special events.

Another highlight of the festival, along with "Metropolis," is a new 70mm print of Stanley Kubrick's 1968 "2001: A Space Odyssey." It's a rare opportunity to see this classic in its original wide, detailed format — and it's made possible by Allen himself.

"The current prints of '2001' are pretty beat up," said Wood. "We decided that we'll make a brand-new one. The people coming to see '2001' will be seeing a print that's being run for the first time." Though the new print is owned by the studio because of rights issues, Cinerama will have it "on permanent loan" said Wood, who's excited at the possibility of getting a new print back into distribution.

"2001" won't be the only 70mm film in the festival: "Ghostbusters," "Star Trek 2," "Terminator 2" and "Tron" will also show in that format. "They haven't been run that much, and it's very special to be able to do it," Wood said of the prints, noting that it's difficult to get 70mm films as many of them are in private collections. He's hoping to find more of them to run next year and is particularly eyeing the possibility of a 70mm print of "Alien."

Among the festival's many 35mm offerings, one rarity is "The War of the Worlds" — not the recent Steven Spielberg/Tom Cruise version but the original 1953 film of the H.G. Wells story, produced by George Pal. It's another gift from Allen: The two existing Paramount prints of the film were in bad shape, so Cinerama's having a new one made.

"The elements to that are kind of old, so it won't look pristine, but it'll be really nice to run it," said Wood. The festival's other 35mm films include "Barbarella," "Brazil," "A Clockwork Orange," "Flash Gordon," "Forbidden Planet," "Omega Man," "Soylent Green," "THX 1138" and more. Audiences will also notice a special new lobby display — introduced earlier this month, in time for the festival — of memorabilia from Allen's legendary collection, including a monster head from "Aliens" and costumes from "Barbarella," "Ghostbusters" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."

For those disappointed that a favorite film isn't on the schedule, Wood notes that many titles that they'd hoped to book simply weren't available. "Blade Runner," for example, is on moratorium by its studio (nobody's allowed to book it); likewise the "Star Wars" movies were off-limits. "Alien," Wood said, was "pulled away at the last minute" by its studio — because of the new Ridley Scott film, "Prometheus," coming out in the early summer (and an "Alien" prequel of sorts). "Logan's Run" was considered, but it needed a new print and "the elements were not all in good shape, so we weren't allowed to do it."

Wood hopes that some of these titles might be available for future festivals and is pleased that the cinema's establishing two annual widescreen tentpoles: classic films in the fall, science fiction in the spring. And he promises that future festivals will be even more jampacked.

"When we do something for the first time, we're very careful," he said. "For the next year, we'll really be able to go big with it."
 

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Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 04-16-2012, 12:29 PM:
 
I would hope the 70mm of 'Ghostbusters' look infinately (sp) better than the hideous looking bluray edition.
 

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Posted by Victor Liorentas (Member # 5272) on 04-16-2012, 12:41 PM:
 
Ghostbusters was one of the ugliest 70mm blow-ups.Except for certain scenes it's a very grainy film in general.
I love that Paul Allen cares enough to do these festivals and actually have new prints struck!
 

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Posted by Aaron Garman (Member # 1653) on 04-16-2012, 01:54 PM:
 
Damn I wish I was closer. Seeing T2 would be AWESOME!

AJG
 

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Posted by Paul Gordon (Member # 3320) on 04-16-2012, 01:56 PM:
 
So are there two new 2001 70mm prints now? TIFF in Toronto paid to get one made last year with DTS.
 

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Posted by Brian Guckian (Member # 1678) on 04-16-2012, 04:06 PM:
 
T2 in 70mm is truly awesome. The mix will blow you out of your seat in a properly lined up theatre!

(Why is Blade Runner not available? )
 

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Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 04-16-2012, 04:46 PM:
 
I did the set up for many of those films in first run 70mm houses. I may even still have the 70mm loops. Louis
 

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Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 04-16-2012, 05:10 PM:
 

quote: Brian Guckian

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(Why is Blade Runner not available?

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quote:

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T2 in 70mm is truly awesome. The mix will blow you out of your seat in a properly lined up theatre!

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Hopefully it's not the 70MM print that has the ticking surround channel.
 

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Posted by Lincoln Spector (Member # 6835) on 04-17-2012, 09:22 PM:
 
A few comments:

1) The Alloy Orchestra's score for Metropolis is fantastic!

2) I'm surprised--ecstatically surprised--that Warner ran a new 70mm print of 2001. I thought they had stopped making new prints of classics.

3) Does anyone know if they'll be using the Cinerama screen for 2001? Last I heard, they have two screens, a moderately-curved one for regular use, and a deeply-curved Cinerama one for special events. The Cinerama screen takes about a day to set up.

Lincoln
 

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Posted by Victor Liorentas (Member # 5272) on 04-17-2012, 10:05 PM:
 
Warner will make print's when someone pays for them.This is the second time it's been paid for outside of Warner in 2 years for 2001.
I don't think it will happen too often in the future.
 

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Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 04-18-2012, 06:03 AM:
 
It should be noted, the Seattle just recently purchased a new Kinoton FP75E projector so they could run changeovers when running film so they could keep archival film (which will quickly become ALL film) in as close to original state as possible.
 

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