The Sag Harbor Cinema presents the first edition of The Sag Harbor Cinema Festival of Preservation. The festival, taking place November 19 to 22, will emphasize the importance of preserving film and its culture, as well as create an opportunity for the community to connect with an esteemed group of experts in the field.
The program will feature a varied selection of beautifully restored films, spanning from “Forbidden Paradise,” one of Ernst Lubitsch’s early masterpieces, to a classic of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, “Enamorada.”
The schedule includes Marlon Brando’s only directorial effort “One Eyed Jacks,” the explosive glamour of Marylin Monroe and Jane Russell in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” and Melvin Van Peebles’ incendiary “Sweet Sweetback Baadasssss Song.”
The ambitious series will also feature the sublime Technicolor of Michael Powell’s “The Red Shoes” (a Martin Scorsese favorite) and the electric black and white of “Night Of the Living Dead,” directed by George Romero. Celebrated filmmaker Bill Morrison will come and introduce his latest poetic journey in disintegrating celluloid, “The Village Detective: A Song Cycle.”
Film Forum’s director of repertory programming and founder of Rialto Pictures, Bruce Goldstein, will bring his widely acclaimed Nicholas Brothers presentation to Sag Harbor Cinema, while Joe Lauro, of the East End’s own Historic Films Archive will show rare footage from his collection. Margaret Bodde, executive director of The Film Foundation, will be at hand to discuss the culture and the movement for preservation nurtured by Martin Scorsese’s organization, and Cineric Laboratories’ founder, Balasz Nayari, will share insights on the process of restoration.
“Cultivating the culture and the experience of film is an essential part of Sag Harbor Cinema’s DNA,” said Founding Artistic Director, Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan. “It seemed only natural that we would want to create an opportunity for our audience to connect more intimately with the world of film preservation through an annual program that combines great films with the insight provided by the people that make it possible for film history — and the movies we love — to remain alive, available, and relevant to our present. Especially for this first edition, I wanted a lineup that would reflect the richness and vibrancy of cinema across different decades, styles, and textures.”
For further information, tickets, and the full calendar of events, visit sagharborcinema.org.