Il Cinema Ritrovato 2022: Favourites & Discoveries

Singin' in the Rain in Piazza Maggiore, July 1

When they unscrewed the heavy and majestic La Nonna (our carbon arc projector) from the pedestal in Piazzetta Pasolini and the ice cream vendor packed his stuff and went home it was clear that Il Cinema Ritrovato XXXVI was over. We had a ball. More than 400 films were shown during 8 and a half days. Cinema could be found in every corner of the city.

After the last year's round-up – seen and read by many – I asked colleagues, curators, film historians, silent film accompanists, scholars and the attendees to pick the title of the two films from the festival, one as their favourite film and the other of their major discovery at this year's edition. You can read them below.

The magic of Bologna lies in the fact that while we showed films by the masters we love (Hitchcock, Lang, Ophuls, Melville), the filmmakers that are championed in this poll are Niskanen, Muratova, Fregonese, Shahid Saless, Rossi, and Ovanessian. Rewrite the film histories now!

See you next year!

THIS BLOG POST IS BEING REGULARLY UPDATED. THE NEW ENTRIES WILL BE MARKED BY [new]

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Yuki Aditya (Indonesia)

Absolute Favorite: Thampu (Govindan Aravindan)

Major discovery: Black Tuesday (Hugo Fregonese)

Notes: [Thampu] When modernity needs uniformity and specialization, this film talks about people whom are either trapped or without any other options than living for a traveling circus company. The line between talent and survivability becomes blurred and enigmatic. Layers between old and new, old and young, tradition and modernity are blended beautifully...poetically...and convincingly in speaking about the society in the Global South nowadays and what it is to live collectively and other spectrum of definition of family. [Black Tuesday] The bleakest film-noir I have seen...no nonsensical melodrama, just a guy who just wants to live until he is not allowed to live anymore. Amazing! Highlight of the festival: Pasolini 100 years exhibition, curated beautifully of early formative period of the maestro.

Omar Ahmed (UK)

Absolute favourite: Thampu (Govindan Aravindan) 

Major discovery: Tóubēn Nù Hăi [Boar People] (Ann Hui) 

Antti Alanen (Finland)

Absolute favourite: Protéa (Victorin Jasset)

Major discovery: À vendredi, Robinson (Mitra Farahani)

Kaveh Askari (US)

Absolute favourite: Thampu (Govindan Aravindan) 

Major discovery: Apenas un delincuente (Hugo Fregonese)

José Arroyo (UK)

Absolute favourite: El (Luis Buñuel)

Major rediscovery: C'era una volta (Francesco Rosi)

Peter Bagrov (US)

Absolute favourite: Čovek nije tica [Man in Not a Bird] (Dušan Makavejev)

Major rediscovery: Menilmontant (Dimitri Kirsanoff)

Notes: I knew Menilmontant well and always admired it, but with the rediscovered and restored original colours, it's in many ways a new film.

Matthew Anthony Barrington (UK)

Absolute favourite: Singin' in the Rain (Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly) + Buck and the Preacher (Sidney Poitier)

Major rediscovery: Kahdeksan surmanluotia [Eight Deadly Shots] (Mikko Niskanen)

Cecilia Barrionuevo (Argentina)

Absolute favourite: Kahdeksan surmanluotia [Eight Deadly Shots] (Mikko Niskanen)

Major rediscovery: Tri [Three] (Aleksandar Petrovic) + Seven Thunders (Hugo Fregonese)

Janet Bergstrom (US)

Absolute favourite:  Ludwig (Luchino Visconti)

Major discovery: Hugo Fregonese (all of them)

Daniel Bird (UK/France)

Absolute favourite: Le Samouraï (Jean-Pierre Melville)

Major rediscovery: El (Luis Buñuel)

Camille Blot-Wellens (France/Sweden)

Absolute favourite: Waves at Southport [1902] + Dolgie provodi [The Long Farewell] (Kira Muratova) + Nosferatu (F.W. Murnau)

Major discovery: Dar Ghorbat [Far From Home] (Sohrab Shahid Saless) + Der Verlorene (Peter Lorre)

Notes: Best screening experience Nanook of the North (Robert J. Flaherty) in the Piazzetta. PS: I hate doing lists, I really do it for you…

Frank Bockius (Germany)

Absolute favourite: Protéa (Victorin Jasset)

Major discovery: Payday (Charles Chaplin)

Matheus Carvalho (Brazil)

Absolute favourite: Namidagawa (Kenji Misumi)

Major Discovery: Apenas un delincuente (Hugo Fregonese)

Gerard Casau (Spain)

Absolute favourite: Apache Drums (Hugo Fregonese)

Major discovery: Smog (Franco Rossi)

Peter Christian Rude (Denmark)

Absolute favourite: Dar Ghorbat [Far From Home] (Sohrab Shahid Saless)

Major discovery: Ihre Majestät die Liebe (Joe May)

Notes: I felt very happy to kick of one of my days at the festival with a 9 o’clock screening of Dar Ghorbat. A great, slow moving and beautifully looking film about the migrant’s experience that held me captivated from beginning to end. The first film I have watched by Saless, and an interesting companion piece to Fassbinder’s Ali. I think I might have to check out Still Life in the near future. As for my major discovery at the festival, I could have chosen any one of the films featured in the German Musical Comedies series, really. But Ihre Majestät… was the first one of those film that I watched, and so, in a sense, it becomes emblematic of the whole programme. A special mention also goes to two silent films at the festival, Blind Husbands that features great mountain climbing scenes that somehow and strangely enough made me think of a completely different movie, Clint Eastwood’s The Eiger Sanction, and the 1912 version of Les misérables. Both films made me realise that silent cinema is still largely an unexplored territory for me despite having watched most of the great classics. The many surprises at Il Cinema Ritrovato is one of the key reasons I return to the festival year after year and can’t wait to buckle up for next year’s edition. 

Jo Comino (UK)

Absolute favourite: Dolgie provodi [The Long Farewell] (Kira Muratova)

Major Discovery: Smog (Franco Rossi)

Notes: Reductive to select just two films when I saw so many others but I was very moved by the Muratova and Smog was a film that I never knew existed, an outsider’s view of a city that fell somewhere between documentary, fiction and satire. I was also very struck by Dar Ghorbat/In der Fremde (again a stranger, a gastarbeiter working in a strange land) its quietness and the use of repetition. I’ve been thinking about Fassbinder’s Ali: Fear Eats the Soul since watching it.  

Philip Concannon (UK)

Absolute favourite: Black Tuesday (Hugo Fregonese) + The Raid (Hugo Fregonese)

Major rediscovery: Kahdeksan surmanluotia [Eight Deadly Shots] (Mikko Niskanen)

Emilie Cauquy Kokinova (France)

Absolute favourite: Boy Meets Girl (Leos Carax)

Major rediscovery: Caught (Max Ophuls)

Lorenzo Codelli (Italy)

Absolute favourite: Ich bei Tag und du bei Nacht (Ludwig Berger)

Major rediscovery: C’era una volta (Francesco Rosi)

Francesco Crispino (Italy)

Absolute favourite: Written on the Wind (Douglas Sirk)

Major discovery: Dans la nuit (Charles Vanel)

Paola Cristalli (Italy)

Absolute favourite:  La Règle du jeu (Jean Renoir)

Major discovery: The Raid (Hugo Fregonese)

Notes: La Règle du jeu, 10 [out of 10] for the film and 7 for the restoration. [The Raid] The other side of (Gone with) the Wind.

Vaclav Demling (Germany)

Absolute favourite: The Last Picture Show (Peter Bogdanovich)

Major discovery: Deveti Krug [The Ninth Circle] (France Štiglic)

Bryony Dixon (UK)

Absolute favourite: Cunegonde Recoit sa Famille [1912]

Major rediscovery:  Die Koffer des Herrn O.F. (Alexis Granowsky)

Notes: two deliciously anarchic examples of the escalation of trouble based on a trivial faulty assumption. Apache Drums with its technicolor ‘Indians’ came close second.

Stefana Dragan (UK/Romania) 

Absolute favourite: Dar Ghorbat [Far From Home] (Sohrab Shahid Saless)

Major discovery: Dolgie provodi [The Long Farewell] (Kira Muratova)

Elena Duque (Venezuela/Spain)

Absolute favorite: Ménilmontant (Dimitri Kirsanoff)

Major discoveries: Kahdeksan surmanluotia [Eight Deadly Shots] (Mikko Niskanen) + Hugo Fregonese's films + Thampu (Aravindan Govindan)

Bernard Eisenschitz (France)

Absolute favorite: Kahdeksan surmanluotia [Eight Deadly Shots] (Mikko Niskanen)

Major rediscovery: Der brave Sünder (Fritz Kortner)

David Filipi (US)

Absolute favourite: Deveti Krug [The Ninth Circle] (France Štiglic)

Major discovery: The Raid (Hugo Fregonese)

Notes: I certainly saw “better” films during the fest (restorations of Il Conformista, El, Man is Not a Bird, etc.) but I had never seen a Hugo Fregonese film before and was surprised and delighted by all seven films I managed to see. Tessari’s Tony Arzenta was a real discovery and pleasant surprise as well.

Lukas Foerster (Germany)

Absolute favourite: Seven Thunders (Hugo Fregonese)

Major discovery: Ples v dežju [Dance in the Rain] (Boštjan Hladnik)

Sara García Villanueva (Spain)

Absolute favorite: Black Tuesday (Hugo Fregonese) + The Raid (Hugo Fregonese)

Major discovery: Dar Ghorbat [Far From Home] (Sohrab Shahid Saless) + Kahdeksan surmanluotia [Eight Deadly Shots] (Mikko Niskanen) 

Raffaella Giancristofaro (Italy)

Absolute favourite: Written in the Wind (Douglas Sirk)

Major discovery: C’era una volta (Francesco Rosi)

Seray Genç (Turkey/UK)

Absolute favourite: Dolgie provodi [The Long Farewell] (Kira Muratova)

Major rediscovery: Canoa: memoria de un hecho vergonzoso [Canoa: A Shameful Memory] (Felipe Cazals) + Dar Ghorbat [Far From Home] (Sohrab Shahid Saless) 

Inês Gil (Portugal)

Absolute Favorite: La Maman et la putain (Jean Eustache)

Absolute Discovery: Tri [Three] (Aleksandar Petrovic)

Valerio Greco (Italy)

Absolute favourite: Foolish Wives (Erich von Stroheim)

Major discoveries: Ich bei Tag und Du bei Nacht (Ludwig Berger) + Thampu (Govindan Aravindan)

Notes: I was able to see the entire series - at times with a surrealist streak - of Victorin-Hippolyte Jasset's Zigomar and Nick Carter (I love Josette Andriot, especially in Protéa), and I could not miss seeing Muratova's heartbreaking Dolgie provodi, well introduced by Peter Bagrov. Also, I would like to mark Feyder's 9.5mm version of Visages d'enfants, the incredible restoration of Béhula which is one of the few surviving silent films shot in India, Pasolini's original version of La Ricotta before the clerical censorship and the exhilarating moments had with my friends during the closing screening of Deep Throat.

Sergio M. Grmek Germani (Italy)

Absolute favourite: Gezeichneten (Carl Th. Dreyer)

Major rediscovery: The Raid (Hugo Fregonese)

Notes: I preferred not to consider the retrospective of Yugoslav films for my choice, as for me it was a confirmation of the awareness that I have for decades on the importance of this cinematography; but I am sure that in Bologna it was a revelation for many, and in particular an underrated film like Tri zgodbe (Jane Kavčič, Igor Pretnar, France Kosmač). For me, seeing it again was one of the most moving moments of the festival, together with the films of Dušan Makavejev, Sohrab Shahid Saless, Mikko Niskanen and the two films by Robert Florey with Peter Lorre. My highest choice, however, goes to a masterpiece by Dreyer (there are no “minor films” in his work) already seen several times but which I found particularly touching in this projection 100 years after the appearance on the screen of those actors doomed to death not only as characters: and on this destiny Dreyer reacts with the perennial return to life that is cinema, as revealed by Ordet. Without forgetting that this film is also the best reaction to the recurrent instinct of violence and war in human life. I also knew before the greatness of Hugo Fregonese, but often from visions on DVD: the splendid 35mm copies seen in Bologna, Technicolor and b/w (with a couple of excellent digital restorations) would push me to choose all of them, but my final choice for rediscovery value goes to his penultimate US masterpiece, the most daring film on the American Civil War together with those of Griffith and John Ford.

Kate Guyonvarch (UK/France)

Absolute favourite: Nostalghia (Andrei Tarkovsky)

Major discovery: Thampu (Govindan Aravindan)

Iga Harasimowicz (Poland)

Absolute favourite: The Raid (Hugo Fregonese) + My Six Convicts (Hugo Fregonese)

Major discovery: Zoé et le parapluie miraculeux [1913]

Kajsa Hedström (Sweden)

Absolute favourite: Él (Luis Buñuel)

Major discovery: Deveti Krug [The Ninth Circle] (France Štiglic)

Liz Helfgott (US)

Absolute favourite: Dolgie provodi [The Long Farewell] (Kira Muratova)

Major discovery: Dar Ghorbat [Far From Home] (Sohrab Shahid Saless)

Alexander Horwath (Austria)

Absolute favourite: La Maman et la putain (Jean Eustache)

Major discovery: Zaseda [The Ambush] (Zivojin Pavlovic)

Marius Hrdy (Austria/Netherlands)

Absolute favourite: Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (David Lynch)

Major discovery: Smog (Franco Rossi)

Notes: [Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me] nothing rearranged/refreshed my brain better than this. And I had never seen it under sauna conditions at Cinema Europa. [Smog] impeccably visceral, heatedly elusive, meandering like a summer breeze. 

Pamela Hutchinson (UK)

Absolute favourite: Ich bei Tag und du bei Nacht (Ludwig Berger)

Major discovery: La Femme de Nulle Part (Louis Delluc)

Alexander Jacoby (UK)

Absolute favourite: Dans la nuit (Charles Vanel)

Major discovery: Ne okreći se, sine [Don't Look Back, My Son] (Branko Bauer)

Daniel Kasman (US)

Absolute favourite: The Raid (Hugo Fregonese)

Major discovery: Kahdeksan surmanluotia [Eight Deadly Shots] (Mikko Niskanen)

Nerina T. Kocjancic (Slovenia)

Absolute favourite:  Ludwig (Luchino Visconti)

Major discovery: Tri [Three] (Aleksandar Petrovic)

Martin Koerber (Germany)

Absolute favourite: Hugo Fregonese

Major discovery: Dolgie provodi [The Long Farewell] (Kira Muratova)

Notes: I want to thank Peter Bagrov for his remarks before Dolgie provodi by Kira Muratova, which contextualized it properly and pointed out the difficulties she had to experience. I wish other introductions would be have been as concise and to the point as his words.

Maria Komninos (Greece)

Absolute favourite: Foolish Wives (Erich von Stroheim)

Major rediscovery: Blowing Wild (Hugo Fregonese)

Mikko Kuutti (Finland)

Absolute favourite: La Ciociara [Two Women] (Vittorio De Sica)

Major discovery: Apenas un delincuente (Hugo Fregonese)

Notes: Major discovery, Hugo Fregonese as a whole.

Otto Kylmälä (Finland)

Absolute favourite: Caught (Max Ophuls)

Major discovery: Die Koffer des Herrn O.F. (Alexis Granowsky) + Cainà ovvero l'isola e il continente (Gennaro Righelli)

Mark Le Fanu (France/UK)

Absolute favourite: Blowing Wild (Hugo Fregonese)

Major discovery: Dans la nuit (Charles Vanel)

Notes: I would have to say that my major discovery this year was the oeuvre of Hugo Fregonese; and out of this oeuvre, the two films My Six Convicts and Blowing Wild. Otherwise, I was enthralled by the new restoration of Foolish Wives, and blown away by the beauty and seriousness of Dans la nuit. What you miss seeing you miss seeing. But I wish I had been able to catch more of the Yugoslavian films, and those early 1930s German comedies that everyone was talking about.

Cyril Leuthy (France)

Absolute favourite: Written on the Wind (Douglas Sirk)

Major rediscovery: La règle du jeu (Jean Renoir)

Paul Malcolm (US)

Absolute favourite: Dans la nuit (Charles Vanel)

Major rediscovery: Cheshmeh [The Spring] (Arby Ovanessian) + Doroshkechi (Nosrat Karimi)

Notes: From the festival's whirl of images and sounds, Dans la nuit's opening scenes of revelry and closing moments of terror keep breaking through in my mind. It was my first time seeing it and it's stayed with me. [Cheshmeh/Doroshkechi ] I have to call a tie here. Two films I came into cold and walked out with my understanding of Iranian cinema of this period completely rearranged. The two couldn't be further apart in terms of style, intention, resources and tone which only underscores how fascinating this moment in Iranian cinema was and how much more is left to discover! 

Claire McHarry (Scotland)

Absolute favourite: Et j'aime à la fureur (André Bonzel)

Major discovery: Bobina N. 0028 - Félix le chat soulève le peuple (Pippo Barzizza)

Miguel Marías (Spain)

Absolute favourite: Blind Husbands (Erich von Stroheim)

Major discovery: À vendredi, Robinson (Mitra Farahani)

Notes: [My] rediscoveries [were] Tau Ban no hoi [and] One Way Street.

Chiara Marañón (UK/Spain)

Absolute favourite: Black Tuesday (Hugo Fregonese)

Major discoveries: Dar Ghorbat [Far From Home] (Sohrab Shahid Saless) + Kahdeksan surmanluotia [Eight Deadly Shots] (Mikko Niskanen)

Mosa Mashiya Mpetha (UK)

Absolute favourite: Yek Atash [A Fire] (Ebrahim Golestan) 

Major rediscovery: Sciuscià [Shoeshine] (Vittorio De Sica)

Lidia Merás (Spain)

Absolute favourite: Avskedet (Tuija-Maija Niskanen)

Major discovery: Doroshkechi (Nosrat Karimi)

Bruno Mestdagh (Belgium)

Absolute favourite: The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola)

Major rediscovery: Serpentin fait de la peinture (Alfred Machin)

Daniela Michel (Mexico)

Absolute favourite: Él (Luis Buñuel)

Major discovery: Hugo Fregonese

Maral Mohsenin (Iran/Switzerland)

Absolute favourite: Cheshmeh [The Spring] (Arby Ovanessian)

Major discovery: Contras' City (Djibril Diop Mambéty)

Olaf Möller (Germany/Finland)

Absolute favourite: The Raid (Hugo Fregonese)

Major discovery: Tri zgodbe (Jane Kavčič, Igor Pretnar, France Kosmač)

Anabela Moutinho (Portugal)

Absolute favourite: La Ciociara [Two Women] (Vittorio De Sica)

Major discovery: Convict 13 (Edward F. Cline, Buster Keaton) + Day Dreams (Edward F. Cline, Buster Keaton)

Dominique Nasta (Belgium)

Absolute favourite: Smog (Franco Rossi)

Major discovery: Dans la nuit (Charles Vanel)

Elliot Newton (UK)

Absolute favourite: Ich bei Tag und du bei Nacht (Ludwig Berger)

Major discovery: Canoa: memoria de un hecho vergonzoso [Canoa: A Shameful Memory] (Felipe Cazals)

Carlos Nogueira (Portugal)

Absolute favourite: Heller in Pink Tights (George Cukor)

Major discovery: Smog (Franco Rossi)

Johan Nordstrom (Sweden/Japan)

Absolute favourite: Él (Luis Buñuel)

Major discovery: Ich bei Tag und du bei Nacht (Ludwig Berger)

Veton Nurkollari (Kosovo)

Absolute favourite: Foolish Wives (Erich Von Stroheim)

Major discovery: La Maman et la Putain (Jean Eustache)

Geoffrey O'Brien (US)

Absolute favourite: Foolish Wives (Erich von Stroheim)

Major discovery: Ich bei Tag und Du bei Nacht (Ludwig Berger)

Major rediscovery: Menilmontant (Dimitri Kirsanoff)

Vivian Ostrovsky (US)

Absolute favourite: Dolgie provodi [The Long Farewell] (Kira Muratova)

Major discovery: Victorin-Hippolyte Jasset 

Anna Maria Pasetti (Italy)

Absolute favourite: Korotkiye vstrechi [Brief Encounters] (Kira Muratova)

Major discovery: Dans la nuit (Charles Vanel)

Vjeran Pavlinić (Croatia)

Absolute favourite: Menilmontant (Dimitri Kirsanoff)

Major discovery: Black Tuesday (Hugo Fregonese)

Simon Popek (Slovenia)

Absolute favourite: Zaseda [The Ambush] (Zivojin Pavlovic)

Major discovery: Black Tuesday (Hugo Fregonese)

Madeleine Probst  (UK)

Absolute favourite: Dolgie provodi [The Long Farewell] (Kira Muratova)

Major rediscovery: Buck and the Preacher (Sidney Poitier)

Rym Ouartsi (France)

Absolute favourite: Smog (Franco Rossi)

Major discovery: Cheshmeh [The Spring] (Arby Ovanessian)

Mina Radović (Serbia/UK)

Absolute favourite: Dolgie provodi [The Long Farewell] (Kira Muratova)

Major discovery: Cheshmeh [The Spring] (Arby Ovanessian)

Notes: Discovering and rediscovering great films is one of the trademark feats of Il Cinema Ritrovato where the promise of cinema is to be found in abundance. The infinitely layered dramaturgy, brilliant edge, quiet witticism, and exhilarating experience, cinematic like no other, I found in Kira Muratova’s beautiful film The Long Farewell, a unique portrait of mother and son whose life is visually expressed, unpeeled, and turned inside out on the screen. Muratova’s work has a special place in Soviet cinema and her friendship with Tarkovsky, whose restoration of Nostalghia premiered as a great rediscovery at this year’s festival, finds beautiful reflection in a film that linguistically and existentially echoes the tradition of Russian literature. By comparison Arby Ovanessian’s film The Spring was the greatest discovery for me in this year’s festival. A rare print of the film which in an equally rare feat examines the relationship between Christians and Muslims in rural Iran, The Spring features a distinct poetics, sincere in its approach to time and space, and the photographic quality which stands in nice contrast to the contemporary work of Sohrab Shahid Saless, also screened at the festival. It was a delight to have the opportunity to discover the work of Hugo Fregonese – in particular Saddle Tramp, The Raid, and Apache Drums – and words can little describe the joy of watching Georges Méliès’s A Trip to the Moon through a 35mm carbon projector on Piazzetta Pasolini, 120 years after the first fantastic venture into the cosmos.

Pauline de Raymond (France)

Absolute favourite: Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (David Lynch)

Major discovery: Thampu (Govindan Aravindan)

Mariangela M . Restrepo  (Colombia/Argentina)

Absolute favourite: Pioniri maleni [Little Pioneers] (Želimir Žilnik)

Major discovery: Canoa: memoria de un hecho vergonzoso [Canoa: A Shameful Memory] (Felipe Cazals)

Esteve Riambau (Spain)

Absolute favourite: Montand est a nous (Yves Jeuland)

Major discovery: Kid Boots (Frank Tuttle)

Paul Ridd (UK)

Absolute favourite: Black Tuesday (Hugo Fregonese)

Major discovery: Kahdeksan surmanluotia [Eight Deadly Shots] (Mikko Niskanen)

Notes: I managed to see eight of the Hugo Fregonese films screening - encompassing Noirs, Westerns, Prison potboilers and straight up crime movies - and how great they were! To discover a filmmaker so agile and skilled, so economical but so committed to the sheer joy of image-making with stripped back B&W or an explosion of colour, whose films seem like some sort of unholy mash up of Sam Fuller and Budd Boetticher but with a political voice all his own, was an absolute treat. Black Tuesday was narrowly my favourite, just because it gave such a great opportunity for Edward G. Robinson to act his socks off, and remained so fully committed to darkness and cynicism. Just the harshest, most brutal and exciting film I saw. [Kahdeksan surmanluotia] To see a stunning print of this epic, tragic and frequently darkly funny character study was one of the great joys of an already stacked festival for me. It all felt so modern and super prescient both in terms of the themes explored, and the film style. So rigorous and emotional and fundamentally moving. A joy. 

Elif Rongen-Kaynakçi (Netherlands/Turkey)

Absolute favourite: Das Lied ist aus [The Song Is Ended] (Géza von Bolváry)

Major rediscovery: The Man Who Knew Too Much (Alfred Hitchcock)

Notes: I was only able to see two of the German early sound comedies (Die Privatsekretarin being the other), now I wish I could binge-watch them all!

Jonathan Rosenbaum (US)

Absolute favourite: Deveti Krug [The Ninth Circle] (France Štiglic)

Major discovery: Die Koffer des Herrn O.F. (Alexis Granowsky)

Alex Ross (UK/Portugal)

Absolute favourite: Smog (Franco Rossi)

Major discovery: Kenji Misumi

Notes: The Kenji Misumi programme in general was an excellent selection of films which served to champion and give depth to a director mainly known (in the Anglosphere, at least) for genre favourites.

Céline Ruivo (France)

Absolute favourite: Cheshmeh [The Spring] (Arby Ovanessian)

Major rediscovery: Doroshkechi (Nosrat Karimi) + La Ciociara [Two Women] (Vittorio De Sica) + Kahdeksan surmanluotia [Eight Deadly Shots] (Mikko Niskanen)

Giulia Saccogna (Italy)

Absolute favourite: Foolish Wives (Erich von Stroheim)

Major discovery: Hägringen (Peter Weiss) + Die Koffer des Herrn O.F. (Alexis Granowsky)

Lucía Salas (Argentina/Spain)

Absolute favourite: Kahdeksan surmanluotia [Eight Deadly Shots] (Mikko Niskanen)

Major discovery: Das Lied ist aus [The Song Is Ended] (Géza von Bolváry)

Notes: My two favorite deadly shots in the festival are the endings of these two films. A tragedy and a comedy, they break your heart as only a film can. Then they piece it all together as, joyfully, they exist.

Esa Salovaara (Finland)

Absolute favourite: Kahdeksan surmanluotia [Eight Deadly Shots] (Mikko Niskanen)

Major discovery: Doroshkechi (Nosrat Karimi) +  A Vendredi, Robinson (Mitra Farahani)

Eva Sangiorgi (Italy/Austria)

Absolute favorite: Seven Thunders (Hugo Fregonese)

Major discovery: Tri (Aleksandar Petrović)

Regina Schlagnitweit (Austria)

Absolute favourite: Ménilmontant (Dimitri Kirsanoff)

Major discovery: Black Tuesday (Hugo Fregonese)

Major rediscovery: Una giornata particolare (Ettore Scola)

Beat Schneider (Switzerland)

Absolute favourite: Smog (Franco Rossi) + Decameron Nights (Hugo Fregonese)

Major rediscovery: Buck and the Preacher (Sidney Poitier)

Note: Decameron Nights for its lightness and the wonderful print. I could also mention Blowing Wild, Saddle Tramp or Tau Ban no hoi.

Joanna Seaton (US)

Absolute favourite: Una giornata particolare (Ettore Scola)

Major discovery: Sophia Loren's early career

Nuno Sena (Portugal)

Absolute favourite: The Raid (Hugo Fregonese)

Major discovery: Dans la nuit (Charles Vanel)

Tamara Shvediuk (Russia)

Absolute favourite: Foolish Wives (Erich von Stroheim)

Major discovery: L'olocausto (Gero Zambuto)

Josh Siegel (US)

Absolute favourite: Menilmontant (Dimitri Kirsanoff) + Foolish Wives (Erich Von Stroheim)

Major rediscovery: Cheshmeh [The Spring] (Arby Ovanessian)

Notes: Most pleasurable film experiences: Stephen Horne’s accompaniment to Menilmontant and Brumes d’automne, and Tim Brock’s to Foolish Wives. 

Francesco Simeoni (UK)

Absolute favourite: La Règle du jeu (Jean Renoir) 

Major discovery: Kahdeksan surmanluotia [Eight Deadly Shots] (Mikko Niskanen)

Notes: Renoir reinvented cinema for the modern age with La Règle du jeu, unquestionably one of the greatest films of all time, maybe the greatest. Seeing it newly restored just reemphasized its power. Eight Deadly Shots is a major discovery, a heart-breaking portrait of a man crumbling under the strain of his societal hardships made all the more powerful by a staggering central performance. 

Farran Smith Nehme (US)

Absolute favourite: Dolgie provodi [The Long Farewell] (Kira Muratova)

Major discovery: Black Tuesday (Hugo Fregonese)

Notes: Apologies for what amounts to cheating, but I must also mention the haunting Avskedet (Tuija-Maija Niskanen) and the graceful, crowd-pleasing Ich Bei Tag Und Du Bei Nacht (Ludwig Berger).

Imogen Sara Smith (US)

Absolute favourite: Black Tuesday (Hugo Fregonese)

Major discovery: Deveti Krug [The Ninth Circle] (France Štiglic)

Note: This year I focused heavily on two series, the Hugo Fregonese retrospective and the sampling of Yugoslav cinema. Though Black Tuesday was a film I thought I knew well, seeing it in a beautifully sharp print for the first time was a revelation, affirming that this single-minded B flick is a nearly perfect film. The Ninth Circle was moving, lyrical, complex, and humane, far from the dour experience I expected of a holocaust film. Other favorites were I By Day, You By Night (Ludwig Berger), Too Bad She’s Bad (Alessandro Blasetti), Apache Drums (Fregonese), and Tri (Aleksandar Petrović). As always, there were many films I regretted missing, from Victorin Jasset’s Protéa to Kira Muratova’s Dolgie Provody; there is always a phantom festival of the films I didn’t see, which remain to be (re)discovered.

Donald Sosin (US)

Absolute favourite: C’era una volta (Francesco Rosi)

Major rediscovery: Thampu (Govindan Aravindan)

Notes: Really, there were so many excellent films, it's almost impossible to make a choice. We mostly followed the Loren, Lorre and Fregonese series; I had never seen La Règle du Jeu, amazingly, and I just sat there letting it wash over me, without being able to pay much attention to how I was being hypnotized. Of the silent films I accompanied, I thought L'Hippocampe, ou 'Cheval Marin,' a one-reeler about the lives of seahorses, was the most beautiful  and fascinating.

Mollie Sosin (US)

Absolute favourite: Arabesque (Stanley Donen) + Saddle Tramp (Hugo Fregonese)

Juan Soto (Colombia/UK/Spain)

Absolute favourite: Kahdeksan surmanluotia [Eight Deadly Shots] (Mikko Niskanen)

Major discovery: Seven Thunders (Hugo Fregonese)

Federico Striuli (Italy)

Absolute favourite: La Femme de Nulle Part (Louis Delluc)

Major discovery: La Danseuse de Siva (Albert Capellani)

Can Sungu (Germany/Turkey)

Absolute favourite: Tri [Three] (Aleksandar Petrovic) 

Major discovery: Až přijde kocour [The Cassandra Cat] (Vojtěch Jasny)

David Thompson (UK)

Absolute favourite: La Maman et la putain (Jean Eustache)

Major discovery: Doroshkechi (Nosrat Karimi)

Fedor Tot (Yugoslavia/Wales)

Absolute favourite: Tri [Three] (Aleksandar Petrović)

Major rediscovery: Cheshmeh [The Spring] (Arby Ovanessian)

Notes: My attentions were largely focused on the Yugoslav cinema strand - and what a pleasure it was to see such titans of my home country's film industry for the first time in my life. Elsewhere, picking a single favourite is almost impossible. Cheshmeh, however, produced one of those rare moments of transcendence in a cinema for me.

Leo van Hee (Netherlands)

Absolute favourite: La Maman et la putain (Jean Eustache)

Major discovery: Thampu (Govindan Aravindan)

Giovanni Vimercati (Italy/US)

Absolute favourite: The Raid (Hugo Fregonese)

Major discovery: Smog (Franco Rossi)

Marjan Vujović (Serbia)

Absolute favourite: Il conformista (Bernardo Bertolucci)

Major discovery: Tony Arzenta (Duccio Tessari)

Jon Wengström (Sweden)

Absolute favourite: Nosferatu (F. W. Murnau) + Menilmontant (Dimitri Kirsanoff)

Major rediscovery: Dar Ghorbat [Far From Home] (Sohrab Shahid Saless) + Dolgie provodi [The Long Farewell] (Kira Muratova)

James White (UK)

Absolute favourite: All That Money Can Buy (William Dieterle)

Major discovery: Hugo Fregonese

Jason Wood (UK)

Absolute favourite: Dar Ghorbat [Far From Home] (Sohrab Shahid Saless)

Major discovery: Seven Thunders (Hugo Fregonese)

Karl Wratschko (Austria)

Absolute favourite: Subjektitüde (Helke Sander)

Major rediscovery: Trouville, Reine de plages [9.5mm print with stencil colours]

Peter Wyeth (UK/France)

Absolute favourite: Blowing Wild (Hugo Fregonese)

Major discovery: Namidagawa (Kenji Misumi)

---------------------------------------------------------------------

All the titles:

14 votes

Kahdeksan surmanluotia [Eight Deadly Shots] (Mikko Niskanen)

11 votes

Dolgie provodi [The Long Farewell] (Kira Muratova)

10 votes

Black Tuesday (Hugo Fregonese)

The Raid (Hugo Fregonese)

9 votes

Dar Ghorbat [Far From Home] (Sohrab Shahid Saless)

Smog (Franco Rossi)

Thampu (Govindan Aravindan)

7 votes

Cheshmeh [The Spring] (Arby Ovanessian)

Dans la nuit (Charles Vanel)

Foolish Wives (Erich Von Stroheim)

Menilmontant (Dimitri Kirsanoff)

6 votes

Ich bei Tag und du bei Nacht (Ludwig Berger)

Tri [Three] (Aleksandar Petrovic)

5 votes

Deveti Krug [The Ninth Circle] (France Štiglic)

Doroshkechi (Nosrat Karimi)

Él (Luis Buñuel)

La Maman et la putain (Jean Eustache)

Seven Thunders (Hugo Fregonese)

4 votes

C’era una volta (Francesco Rosi)

3 votes

À vendredi, Robinson (Mitra Farahani)

Apenas un delincuente (Hugo Fregonese)

Blowing Wild (Hugo Fregonese)

Buck and the Preacher (Sidney Poitier)

Canoa: memoria de un hecho vergonzoso [Canoa: A Shameful Memory] (Felipe Cazals)

Die Koffer des Herrn O.F. (Alexis Granowsky)

La Règle du jeu (Jean Renoir)

La Ciociara [Two Women] (Vittorio De Sica)

Written on the Wind (Douglas Sirk)

2 votes

Caught (Max Ophuls)

Das Lied ist aus [The Song Is Ended] (Géza von Bolváry)

La Femme de Nulle Part (Louis Delluc)

Ludwig (Luchino Visconti)

Namidagawa (Kenji Misumi)

Nosferatu (F. W. Murnau)

Protéa (Victorin Jasset)

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (David Lynch)

Una giornata particolare (Ettore Scola)

Zaseda [The Ambush] (Zivojin Pavlovic)

1 vote

All That Money Can Buy (William Dieterle)

Arabesque (Stanley Donen)

Avskedet (Tuija-Maija Niskanen)

Až přijde kocour [The Cassandra Cat] (Vojtěch Jasny)

Apache Drums (Hugo Fregonese)

Blind Husbands (Erich von Stroheim)

Bobina N. 0028 - Félix le chat soulève le peuple (Pippo Barzizza)

Boy Meets Girl (Leos Carax)

Cainà ovvero l'isola e il continente (Gennaro Righelli)

Convict 13 (Edward F. Cline, Buster Keaton)

Sertentin fait de la peinture (Alfred Machin)

Contras' City (Djibril Diop Mambéty)

Čovek nije tica [Man in Not a Bird] (Dušan Makavejev)

Cunegonde Recoit sa Famille [1912]

Day Dreams (Edward F. Cline, Buster Keaton)

Decameron Nights (Hugo Fregonese)

Der brave Sünder (Fritz Kortner)

Der Verlorene (Peter Lorre)

Et j'aime à la fureur (André Bonzel)

Gezeichneten (Carl Th. Dreyer)

The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola)

Hägringen (Peter Weiss)

Heller in Pink Tights (George Cukor)

Ihre Majestät die Liebe (Joe May)

Il conformista (Bernardo Bertolucci)

Kid Boots (Frank Tuttle)

Korotkiye vstrechi [Brief Encounters] (Kira Muratova)

La Danseuse de Siva (Albert Capellani)

Le Samouraï (Jean-Pierre Melville)

L'olocausto (Gero Zambuto)

The Man Who Knew Too Much (Alfred Hitchcock)

Montand est a nous (Yves Jeuland)

My Six Convicts (Hugo Fregonese)

Nostalghia (Andrei Tarkovsky)

Ne okreći se, sine [Don't Look Back, My Son] (Branko Bauer)

Payday (Charles Chaplin)

Pioniri maleni [Little Pioneers] (Želimir Žilnik)

Ples v dežju [Dance in the Rain] (Boštjan Hladnik)

Saddle Tramp (Hugo Fregonese)

Sciuscià [Shoeshine] (Vittorio De Sica)

Singin' in the Rain (Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly)

Subjektitüde (Helke Sander)

The Last Picture Show (Peter Bogdanovich)

Tony Arzenta (Duccio Tessari)

Tóubēn Nù Hăi [Boar People] (Ann Hui)

Tri zgodbe (Jane Kavčič, Igor Pretnar, France Kosmač)

Trouville, Reine de plages [9.5mm print with stencil colours]

Waves at Southport [1902]

Yek Atash [A Fire] (Ebrahim Golestan)

Zoé et le parapluie miraculeux [1913]