A Nous Amours joins forces with Kino Klassika Foundation to explore the implications of reworking the 50 hours of footage famed Russian direcor Sergei Eisenstein shot on location in Mexico in 1931, footage he never worked into a finished project. But what if he had done?
This event will screen three hypothetical versions of Eisenstein’s film
as prepared by:
Marie Seton – Time in the Sun, 1939
Pavel Alexandrov – ¡Que viva México! 1979
Oleg Kovalev – Mexican Fantasy, 1998
The three versions offer different approaches to what the film might have been, varying in run time, shot selection and structure. The hope is that these screenings will provide a springboard to discussion of what exactly restoration can and should be, and what sort of thing we are looking at when we look at an old film, to a critique of the notion of authenticity, and to a consideration of nostalgia and the persistence of cinephilia despite the odds.
Guest speakers include:
Erika Balsom, Ian Christie, Sophie Fiennes, Owen Hatherley and Laura Mulvey
The Divide + Q&A at The Phoenix (24 April)