Cinema Rediscovered to return to Bristol for eighth annual event this July

Two brand new 4K restorations starring global screen icons will open the 50+ event programme on offer when the UK’s leading celebration of restored film and revivals – Cinema Rediscovered – returns to venues in and around Bristol, a UNESCO City of Film, from 24 - 28 July. 

Opening day highlights of the festival’s eighth annual edition will be the first of 15 UK premieres:

• Gilda (1946) Charles Vidor’s sultry film noir of lust and greed which propelled Rita Hayworth to eternal film stardom, in a screening which also marks 100  years of Columbia Pictures and follows its international premiere at this year’s Cannes Classics.
• Le Samouraï  (1967) - directed by Jean Pierre Melville, starring Alain Delon in a performance which redefined cinematic cool and credited with inspiring films by Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, John Woo, Edgar Wright and the Coen Brothers, among many others.

They launch a line-up which promises a further 13 UK premieres of new 4K restorations, a selection of film-on-film rarities; forgotten gems from countries including Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Ukraine and Venezuela; talent Q&As, talks, walks and a quiz.

Among the screen treats on offer will be:  

• Director John Sayles providing an online intro for the UK premiere of his newly restored Lone Star (1996) starring a young Matthew McConaughey + Chris Cooper, Elizabeth Peña and Kris Kristofferson in an Oscar-nominated fusion of Western and thriller set on the Tex-Mex border;
• An 80th birthday tribute to the pioneering African-American filmmaker Charles Burnett, featuring a screening of his long-lost romantic comedy The Annihilation of Fish (1999) starring James Earl Jones, Lynn Redgrave and Margot Kidder;
• A 50th anniversary screening of the new restoration of Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas, fresh from its first showing at Cannes Classics.
• Two 4K restorations of films by the Bristol-born, Oscar and BAFTA nominated director J. Lee Thompson; The Weak and The Wicked (1954) and No Trees in The Street (1959); both featuring strong performances from two recently lost British female leads: Bristol-educated Glynis Johns and Sylvia Sims.
• A strand from 1970s Hollywood exploring how American unease at scandal, lies and corruption in the era influenced a spate of films, among them Three Days of the Condor, starring Robert Redford; The Long Goodbye (starring Elliott Gould) and Chinatown (with Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway).

Festival founder Mark Cosgrove says: “One of the upsides of the surge in streaming and new social media platforms like Letterboxd is an increased interest and awareness of the history of film and a desire to see that history as originally intended: on the big screen in the company of others.

This appetite from audiences is matched by the increased industry interest in restoring and reviving classics. The combination means Cinema Rediscovered 2024 is shaping up to be our most thrilling edition since the festival started in 2016.”  

See www.watershed.co.uk/cinema-rediscovered for the festival’s full programme and how to book either by buying a festival pass or separate event tickets.

Cinema Rediscovered is a Watershed production. Its principal funders and sponsors are BFI awarding funds from the National Lottery, Park Circus and STUDIOCANAL.

The festival will be followed by a UK and Ireland-wide highlights tour from August onwards.

To stay up to date with festival news, find Cinema Rediscovered on Facebook, Instagram or X , keep an eye on watershed.co.uk/cinema-rediscovered, or sign-up for the free e-newsletter.