Copyright 27East
When it comes to film history, Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan’s knowledge is both broad and deep. As the artistic director of Sag Harbor Cinema, it’s her job to program the many screenings the theater offers each week, including the biggest blockbusters of the moment. But each November, Vallan has an opportunity to dive into the vault of cinematic history and bring to East End audiences the annual “Festival of Preservation” — five days filled with cinematic gems, long-forgotten classics and some truly magical movies that very few people have ever seen. Presented under the official banner “Martin Scorsese Presents: The Sag Harbor Cinema Festival of Preservation,” this year marks the fifth iteration of the annual event, which runs November 7 to 11. In addition to screenings of restored classics and rare films, it includes Q&As and conversations with archivists and filmmakers, as well as a Preservation Panel. The festival carries Martin Scorsese’s name because, in addition to his fabled career as a director, Scorsese is also devoted to preserving films that are in danger of disappearing due to condition and rarity. Through the creation of The Film Foundation, a nonprofit which he founded and leads with 19 filmmakers, he has helped to restore over 1,100 films to date. Last year, Scorsese even came to the festival for a screening of one of them — “Leave Her to Heaven” (1945). Vallan explains that in putting together this festival, she works closely with Hollywood studios and consults with archivists in selecting the program. “Scorsese’s Film Foundation is involved in several of those studio restorations, and they collaborate closely,” Vallan said. This year, several restorations in which The Film Foundation had a hand will be screened, including King Vidor’s 1946 Western melodrama “Duel in the Sun” (a Martin Scorsese favorite) with Jennifer Jones and Gregory Peck; “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors,” a 1965 film by Georgian-Armenian filmmaker Sergei Parajanov that is considered the most important film in Ukrainian cinema (Parajonav’s mesmerizing “The Color of Pomegranates” was a fan favorite at last year’s festival); and “High Society,” Charles Walters’ 1956 musical remake of “The Philadelphia Story” with a cast including Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, Louis Armstrong and Frank Sinatra. “Some of the films in the festival I haven’t seen in a while. Most of them I know, and part of the joy is to watch them again,” Vallan explained. “The Film Foundation’s Margaret Bodde pointed to me to ‘The Greeks Had a Word for Them,’ a precode film, made in 1932. That’s one I didn’t know about. It’s about three spirited girls trying to find a husband in New York. It’s racy, fun and precode. I had no idea this film existed. The Library of Congress restored it. “One of the films I’m very happy we’re doing is ‘Duel in the Sun,’” Vallan added. “I love Westerns. This one was very controversial and it’s very beautiful. It was the first film Scorsese remembers seeing.” The film also left a lasting impression on Vallan, who recalls seeing “Duel in the Sun” as a child in her native Italy. “This is possibly one of the films I saw at the equivalent of the drive in, in Italy in Cinque Terre, where I was on vacation,” she said. “Everything is screened on a cement wall. I was a teenager or maybe in middle school when I saw it. “It stars Joseph Cotton, Jennifer Jones and Gregory Peck, and it’s a Western, but it’s really a melodrama and in Technicolor,” she said. “It was produced by David O. Selznick who thought it would be another ‘Gone With the Wind.’ But it didn’t have the same success.” Vallan notes that the cinema’s screening of “Duel in the Sun” on Sunday, November 9, at 5:30 p.m. will be introduced by Kevin Schaeffer, director of restoration and library management at the Walt Disney Studios. “It was a difficult restoration,” Vallan said. “I deliberately haven’t rewatched it because it left an incredible memory on me. I’m happy we have it.” Another frequent collaborator of Vallan’s on preservation programing is Film Forum Founding Repertory Director Bruce Goldstein. Goldstein is also the founder of Rialto Pictures, which reissues films not currently available for distribution in the U.S. In addition, he serves on the National Film Preservation Board, which selects films for preservation by the Library of Congress. Goldstein will be at the cinema on Saturday, November 8, for a 6 p.m. screening of “Footlight Parade,” a 1933 picture directed by Lloyd Bacon. “This year, we’re showing this precode Busby Berkeley movie with James Cagney,” Vallan said. “Bruce will be here for a live presentation. He has film and historical knowledge and great showmanship.” Other films to be screened during the festival are Richard Brooks’s “The Professionals” (1966), a Technicolor Western set against the backdrop of the Mexican Revolution with Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Woody Strode and Claudia Cardinale; Frank Tashlin’s 1955 musical comedy “Artists and Models” starring Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin and Shirley MacLaine; Michael Mann’s 1981 debut feature “Thief” starring James Caan; and Leos Carax’s 1991 Paris street romance “The Lovers on the Bridge” with Juliette Binoche and Denis Lavant. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. “I want everybody to see everything, but you can’t,” Vallan admitted. “It’s a total of 20 programs and everything screens once. “One thing I’m really excited about is ‘The Cotton Club Encore,” Coppola’s reconstruction of ‘The Cotton Club,’ his film from the ’80s which is set in the club in Harlem,” Vallan said. “It was a tormented project, and the film came out short. “A couple years ago, Coppola went back, located footage that was missing and added 20 minutes,” she added. “There are now two major musical numbers that were not there originally and it’s a completely different film with a bigger aspect on the club, the Black artists and the performance of the Hines brothers.” The cinema will screen the film on Friday, November 7, at 5:30 p.m. “I’m thrilled we’re going to show it,” Vallan said. “Francis Ford Coppola’s archivist [James Mcokoski] who put it together will come and introduce the film.” Also featured in the festival are a series of short films that the younger set will enjoy — specifically, the cartoons of brothers Dave and Max Fleischer which will have a prominent role in the lineup. “In our kids and family section, we’ll have two programs of Fleischer Studios cartoons,” Vallan said. “Fleischer cartoons offer a strength of artistry and animation. They keep the viewer enthralled with the level of inventiveness.” Both cartoon programs for kids and families will be offered twice this weekend — with Program 1 on Saturday, November 8, and again on Monday, November 10, at 11 a.m. and Program II on Sunday, November 9, at noon and Tuesday, November 11, at 11 a.m. “The festival is about preservation in so many ways, including memories and the experience of going to the theater,” she said. “In that sense, one thing I wanted to do this year was to pair a short with a feature for several programs. Cartoons always preceded a feature and that’s how it was.” Short cartoons preceding feature films will include “Minnie the Moocher” with Cab Calloway, which will be screened on Friday, November 7, at 5:30 p.m. prior to Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Cotton Club Encore”; “When It’s Sleepy Time Down South,” (a film discovered recently by Sag Harbor’s Joe Lauro featuring The Boswell Sisters and legendary guitarist Eddie Lang) paired with “High Society” in a screening on Friday, November 7, at 8:45 p.m.; “A Language All My Own” which will be shown on Sunday, November 9, at 9:15 p.m. prior to Howard Hawks’s 1939 film “Only Angels Have Wings”; and Betty Boop’s “Rise to Fame” which screens before Frank Tashlin’s 1955 film “Artists and Models” on Tuesday, November 11, at 1 p.m. “I like to combine old films and newer films,” Vallan said when asked how she approaches creating a program like this. “Michael Mann’s [1981 film] ‘Thief’ is a fantastic noir, and as stylistic as you would anticipate. Michael Mann was very involved in the restoration.” Also in the line up is Leos Carax’s 1991 film “The Lovers on the Bridge” with Juliette Binoche and Denis Lavant. “Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold, filmmakers of ‘The Brutalist,’ will introduce that one,” Vallan said. “I’m trying to have a combination of older films and newer films, and presenters that also bring their own personal perspective.” Also being offered in conjunction with the festival is “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered: Bruce Weber Films Chet Baker and Robert Mitchum,” an exhibition on the cinema’s third floor featuring the work of the photographer and filmmaker (see adjacent story). Weber’s 2018 film “Nice Girls Don’t Stay for Breakfast,” a portrait of Robert Mitchum, will be screened at the festival on Saturday, November 8, at 3 p.m. Mitchum’s granddaughter Carrie will take part in a Q&A with Weber after the film. Also screening with the film will be “Make Me Rainbows,” a five-minute work-in-progress series of musical shorts by Weber. The title comes from a recording on an all-new, soon-to-be released Chet Baker album, “Swimming by Moonlight.” Filmed in Miami this spring, the film presents a family of redheaded rascals messing about on the beach, intercut with footage from Weber’s “Let’s Get Lost” 1988 Oscar-nominated feature about Baker. “I’m really happy about the Bruce Weber collaboration. It’s an exciting screening followed by a book signing,” Vallan said. “I always loved his Mitchum documentary, and it hasn’t been seen much. It’s a moving portrait of an extremely reluctant star. It’s a subtle piece and Carrie Mitchum will join us.” Finally, for the cinema’s Preservation Panel on Sunday, November 9, at 11 a.m., Vallan has invited many of the archivists, historians, curators and preservation experts with films screened throughout the weekend. They include Margaret Bodde, executive director of The Film Foundation; Kevin Schaeffer, director of restoration and library management at Walt Disney; Grover Crisp, EVP asset restoration and preservation at Sony Pictures Entertainment; James Mockoski, restoration supervisor at American Zoetrope; Bill Morrison, filmmaker; Skyler Reid, great grandson of Max Fleischer. Admission is free for the panel and will be followed by brunch.
