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Monday, August 23, 2010
Entertainment
International
Suspense as Britain bids to save silent Hitchcock thrillers Agence France Presse
BERKHAMSTED, England - Examining buckled film reels under a microscope, technicians pore over each precious original frame of Alfred Hitchcock’s early movies as Britain bids to salvage the master’s magic. The delicate nitrate reel — brown, brittle and shrunken — is handled with extreme care as they scrutinise the opening credits of the 1927 film “The Lodger” for every minuscule scratch, blotch and speck. The British Film Institute is undertaking a mammoth project to restore Hitchcock’s silent movies to their former glory. In a painstaking process, they are cleaning up and restoring his first films, creating a perfect-as-possible digital version to thrill audiences again. The BFI reckons viewers will be stunned by their clarity. Hitchcock is renowned as one of the greatest ever movie directors, thanks to masterpieces like “Vertigo” (1958), “Psycho” (1960) and “The Birds” (1963). Long before his Hollywood career though, the Londoner made his name in British silent cinema, with cleverly-crafted black-and-white tales of suspense and mystery, hon-
ing the trademarks cherished in later classics. However, those fragile 1920s analogue film reels will only deteriorate further and the BFI wants to revive them in digital form before it is too late. “We are bringing in all the best and most original copies from around the world, cleaning them up, eliminating every possible glitch to produce a version as close to the original as possible,” BFI archive spokesman Brian Robinson told AFP. “This is the Rolls-Royce of film restoration. It will look like it was filmed yesterday. “We want to make copies that will last for future generations. These will be the definitive versions that will be seen in cinemas
across the world and on new DVD releases. We’re bringing Hitchcock into the digital age.” The institute is restoring the nine films at its archive base in Berkhamsted, northwest of London. The former farm contains immense vaults, where some 200,000 film reels stacked to the ceiling are stored at five degrees Celsius (40 degrees Fahrenheit) in a cavernous 12-metre (40-foot) high building. In the lab, technical project officer Kieron Webb, wearing a white coat and gloves, is comparing various prints of “The Lodger” — considered the first true ‘Hitchcock’ film — to an original reel from the vault, one frame at a time. “Until you gather all the copies in one place, you can’t tell. There might be extra frames, different versions,” he told AFP. “What people have seen is not as close as we can get to the original.” He said the state of the 1920s reels was “a crying shame”, but to work with them was hugely satisfying.
Haiti ruling ends Wyclef Jean’s run for president Associated Press Writer
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – In the span of a few weeks, hip-hop star Wyclef Jean turned the world’s attention to a little-known political race in a small, impoverished Caribbean country — with little campaigning, no TV ads and zero debates. Within a few seconds at a hastily called news conference Friday night, Jean was barred from running for president in Haiti, presumably
because he didn’t meet the residency requirements. The 40-year-old singersongwriter says he will stay involved, though in “a different role than I had anticipated it to be,” according to his statement Friday. But the question is, how? Will he support one of the 19 candidates on the ballot? And will he help with the reconstruction of the earthquake-torn country? Jean said little Saturday as he at-
AFP PHOTO/THONY BELIZAIRE
(FILES) Dated 6, 2010 filed photo shows Haitian hip-hop artist Wyclef Jean (L), with his wife Cladinette, speaks to journalists in Port-au-Prince, before he leaves Haiti for the United States.
tended a church service in Croix des Bouquets, the small town northeast of Port-au-Prince where he was born. He was preparing to fly back to the United States where his wife and daughter live later in the day. “It’s been a hard couple of weeks,” he told The Associated Press. “Right now, I just want to go with my family and relax.” Jean said he believed that he had filed the necessary paperwork regarding his residency, adding, “Somehow we got overruled.” Haiti’s electoral council did not say why it had disqualified Jean, but the singer had faced a challenge to his candidacy because he has not lived in Haiti for the past five years as required. Jean’s five-paragraph statement Friday said he disagreed with the council’s ruling but “respectfully” accepted its decision. “I want to assure my countrymen that I will continue to work for Haiti’s renewal; though the board has determined that I am not a resident of Haiti, home is where the heart is — and my heart has and will always be in Haiti,” he wrote. The winner of the November vote will take charge of recovery from the Jan. 12 earthquake, coordinating billions of aid dollars in a country with a history of political turmoil and corruption. The quake killed an estimated 300,000 people and left the capital, Port-au-Prince, in ruins. There was little evidence in Portau-Prince on Saturday of protests or unrest due to the electoral council’s decision. Still, both Jean and U.N. peacekeepers called for calm after the release of the candidates list.
AFP PHOTO/Leon Neal
In a picture taken on July 23, 2010 a close-up view of a selection of copies of “The Lodger” are shown at the BFI (British Film Institute) film archive in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire. Examining buckled film reels under a microscope, technicians pore over each precious original frame of Alfred Hitchcock’s early movies as Britain bids to salvage the master’s magic.
Jackie Chan wants kung fu as Olympic sport Agence France Presse
BEIJING - Hollywood martial arts star Jackie Chan has called for wushu, better known outside China as kung fu, to be recognised as an official Olympic sport, state media reported Sunday. “I love wushu a lot and I would love to see it included in future Olympic Games,” Chan, who was in Beijing to record a theme song for an upcoming combat event, was quoted as saying by the official China Daily newspaper. The International Olympic Committee recognises wushu as a sport but has not included it as an official event in the Games, unlike other Asian martial arts such as taekwondo and judo that are now part of the global sports gathering.
However, the IOC allowed China to organise an international wushu tournament at the same time as the 2008 Beijing Games to showcase the sport — an event that was attended by Jet Li, another Hollywood actor and kung fu star. Chan explained that wushu’s many styles of fighting and different schools could have hindered its inclusion as an official Olympic sport, the report said. “This makes it difficult for wushu to make a unified impression to international audiences,” he said. Chan, who has put his martial arts skills to use in several blockbuster films, began practising wushu as a child and says he still works on his moves daily, the report said.
Hong Kong and Hollywood martial arts film star Jackie Chan greets the media as he arrives to record a theme song for an upcoming combat event in Beijing on August 20, 2010. CHINA OUT AFP PHOTO