Cannes Film Festival Announces Their Cannes Classics 2013 Lineup

The Cannes Film Festival recently announced the unbelievable lineup for this year’s Cannes Classics program, and it includes a virtual laundry list of films in the Criterion Collection or related titles that are bound to lead us Criterion nerds into a fit of wishful thinking.

This is the ninth year of the Classics program which was created to present old films that have undergone painstaking new restorations and to “pay tribute to the essential work being done by copyright holders, film libraries, production companies and national archives throughout the world.” The films are presented in 35mm and 2K or 4K DCP, and are usually screened in the company of the restorers or the directors of the films themselves.

Here are the Criterion titles in the program:

HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR (1959, 1h32m) by Alain Resnais – in a 4K restoration completed from the original negative.

SANMA NO AJI (AN AUTUMN AFTERNOON) (1962, 2h13m) by Yasujirō Ozu – the director’s final film presented in a comprehensive digital restoration in honor of the 110^th anniversary of his birth.

THE LAST EMPEROR 3D (1987, 2h43m) by Bernardo Bertolucci – with a 3D restoration (previously written about on the site here) in 4k supervised by Bertolucci, producer Jeremy Thomas, and the cinematographer Vittorio Storaro.

PLEIN SOLEIL (PURPLE NOON) (1960, 1h55m) by René Clément – in a 4K digital restoration.

LA BELLE ET LA BETE (BEAUTY AND THE BEAST) (1946, 1h34m) by Jean Cocteau – in a digital restoration in honor of the 50^th anniversary of Cocteau’s death.

SAFETY LAST! (1923, 1h13m) by Fred Newmeyer and Sam Taylor – in Janus Films’ restored 2K presentation in cooperation with Harold Lloyd Entertainment and apart of the festival’s “Cinema de la Plage” series.

And here are some of the Criterion-related films being screened:

CHARULATA (CHARLUTA: THE LONELY WIFE) (1964, 1h57m) by Satyajit Ray – in a restored print from the original negative and as part of Cannes 2013’s celebration of the centenary of the birth of Indian cinema.

FEDORA (1978, 1h50m) by Billy Wilder.

LE JOLI MAI (1963, new 2013 cut: 2h25m) by Chris Marker and Pierre Lhomme – in a new cut and 2K restoration supervised by Lhomme commissioned before Marker’s death in 2012, now presented in a tribute to Marker by the Festival and his friends.

LUCKY LUCIANO (1973, 1h55m) by Francesco Rosi – in a 4K restoration carried out by Martin Scorsese and the Film Foundation.

THE LAST DETAIL (1973, 1h44m) by Hal Ashby – in a 4k restoration to mark the 40^th anniversary of the film’s release.

VISIONS OF EIGHT (1973, 1h49m) by Youri Ozerov, Milos Forman, Mai Zetterling, Claude Lelouch, Arthur Penn, Michael Pfleghar, John Schlesinger, and Kon Ichikawa – in a 4K restoration presented by the International Olympic Committee.

JOUR DE FETE (France, 1949, 1h27m) by Jacques Tati – in a 2K restoration apart of the Festival’s “Cinema de la Plage” series.

We can start our Criterion speculation from the related films above, or just enjoy the wide array of other screenings in the program such Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s 1963 epic Cleopatra, Jacques Demy’s 1964 Palme d’or winner Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) starring Catherine Deneuve, or African Cinema forefather Ousmane Sembene’s first film Borom Sarret (The Wagoner).

In the meantime, check out the full lineup here, and if you find yourself at Cannes this year do not miss out on these unbelievably awesome cinematic treasures on the big screen!