With videos and DVDs available from so many sources nowadays, we take for granted our ability to find and see any movie anytime from anywhere. Thank goodness for that! And thank Henri Langlois (1914-77), who in 1936 founded the Cinémathèque Française, a Paris-based film preservation theater and museum whose inventory grew from 10 films to more than 60,000 films by the early '70s, thus creating both French film heritage and a model for film preservation for the U.S. and entire world. Operating with a minuscule budget, staff and government support, Langlois located saved, restored, showed and lectured on countless films that otherise would have been destroyed by men and nature - including Marlene Dietrich's THE BLUE ANGEL. How he did it – and was undone doing it – is the subject of the fascinating, English-subtitled documentary HENRI LANGLOIS: CINEMATHEQUE. If you've never heard of the godfather to modern film preservation, this is an absolute must-see for cinema lovers.HENRI LANGLOIS: CINEMATHEQUE (2005)
Saving Cinema on the Seine
With videos and DVDs available from so many sources nowadays, we take for granted our ability to find and see any movie anytime from anywhere. Thank goodness for that! And thank Henri Langlois (1914-77), who in 1936 founded the Cinémathèque Française, a Paris-based film preservation theater and museum whose inventory grew from 10 films to more than 60,000 films by the early '70s, thus creating both French film heritage and a model for film preservation for the U.S. and entire world. Operating with a minuscule budget, staff and government support, Langlois located saved, restored, showed and lectured on countless films that otherise would have been destroyed by men and nature - including Marlene Dietrich's THE BLUE ANGEL. How he did it – and was undone doing it – is the subject of the fascinating, English-subtitled documentary HENRI LANGLOIS: CINEMATHEQUE. If you've never heard of the godfather to modern film preservation, this is an absolute must-see for cinema lovers.