RESTORATION OF NICHOLAS RAY’S WE CANT GO HOME AGAIN COMPLETE FOR WORLD PREMIERE AT THE VENICE MOSTRA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 17 2011

RESTORATION OF NICHOLAS RAY’S ‘WE CANT GO HOME AGAIN’ COMPLETE FOR WORLD PREMIERE AT THE VENICE MOSTRA 2011

A beautifully restored print of We Cant Go Home Again from the late, great American cineaste and Hollywood legend, Nicholas Ray (Rebel Without A Cause), will receive its world premiere at this year’s Venice Film Festival, thirty eight years after it was first screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 1973 and marking a century since Ray’s birth (1911-1979).

The restoration of Ray’s last feature film, to which the director devoted the last few years of his life, has been undertaken by Ray’s widow, Susan, and the Nicholas Ray Foundation, in close collaboration with the EYE Film Institute Netherlands and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Academy Film Archive. This digital restoration includes the addition of Ray’s own narration, an extensive improvement to the soundtrack using the original recordings not in Ray’s hands when he rushed the film to Cannes, and the removal of defects accumulated over the years, thus allowing the spotlight again to shine on the film’s inventive use of image and sound, its experimental power, and ‘hand-made’ craftsmanship.

"The restoration of WCGHA was one of the major preservation projects for EYE Film Institute Netherlands in recent years. The restored film adds a jewel to the EYE collection, which holds more than 37.000 titles, 60% of which consists of internationally recognised masterpieces of cinema from the earliest films until today. Nicholas Ray belongs to the category of film auteurs that reinvented cinema and changed the history and the art of the moving image"

"The restoration of WCGHA was one of the major preservation projects for EYE Film Institute Netherlands in recent years. The restored film adds a jewel to the EYE collection, which holds more than 37.000 titles, 60% of which consists of internationally recognised masterpieces of cinema from the earliest films until today. Nicholas Ray belongs to the category of film auteurs that reinvented cinema and changed the history and the art of the moving image." Sandra den Hamer, CEO of EYE Film Institute Netherlands

“It’s very satisfying that the first collaboration between EYE Film Institute and the Academy Film Archive was the restoration of this ambitious film created by Nicholas Ray and his students. Working alongside Susan Ray, the restoration team was able to meet all of the challenges posed by this unique project”

Michael Pogorzelski, Director of the Academy Film Archive

Called by some ‘a visionary masterpiece’, and by others ‘a fool’s errand’, We Cant Go Home Again embodies Ray’s last explorations in the medium that he called ‘the cathedral of the arts’ and continues to provoke controversy. Along with its technical innovations unequalled in narrative film even today, the film explores the face of a community at a critical moment in our cultural-political history and offers a searing portrait of the filmmaker’s soul.

“The sophistication and emotional power of Ray’s multiple images have not yet been matched, even now that digital technology makes this technique immediately accessible”

Marco Müller, Director of the Venice Film Festival

The North American premiere of We Cant Go Home Again will take place at the New York Film Festival straight after the Venice Film Festival.

“ The New York Film Festival is proud to be a part of the rediscovery of a masterwork from one of America’s most influential filmmakers”

Richard Pena, Programme Director of the New York Film Festival

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION AND PRESS REQUESTS PLEASE CONTACT: SARAH WILBY AT SWCP (44) 207 580 0222 sarahwilby@swcp.co.uk

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Nicholas Ray Foundation Dedicated to honoring the pioneering spirit of Nicholas Ray by preserving and restoring his films and archives, and by facilitating innovation and experimentation in contemporary moviemaking. www.nicholasrayfoundation.org

EYE Film Institute Netherlands EYE Film Institute Netherlands, the Dutch centre for film culture and heritage, is dedicated to developing a vigorous film culture in the Netherlands. Through its activities and services, EYE aims to foster a viable film industry in the Netherlands and to promote Dutch film at home and abroad. www.eyefilm.nl

Academy Film Archive Dedicated to the preservation, restoration, documentation, exhibition and study of motion pictures, the Academy Film Archive is home to one of the most diverse and extensive motion picture collections in the world, including the personal collections of such filmmakers as Alfred Hitchcock, Cecil B. DeMille, George Stevens, Fred Zinnemann, Sam Peckinpah and Jim Jarmusch. www.oscars.org/filmarchive

Back 15.04.2011.