NEW YORK, NY.- The British Film Institute’s major retrospective Cinema Unbound: The Creative Worlds of Powell and Pressburger is coming to the USA and Canada over the next few months with a variety of cultural partners including TIFF Cinematheque, Toronto, Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Los Angeles, Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago, SIFF Egyptian Theater, Seattle and an extensive retrospective programme at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York.
The project was a major hit last fall for the BFI (British Film Institute) celebrating one of the greatest and most enduring creative partnerships in the history of film, the legendary writer-producer-director team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger and involving expert preservation and restoration work from the world-leading team at BFI National Archive. Exploring the vital creativity and magic of iconic films such as The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), A Matter of Life and Death (1946), Black Narcissus (1947) and The Red Shoes (1948), films were presented on the big screen alongside archive rarities including nitrate, new digital restorations, remastered early works, new 35mm prints from previous restorations and more at the BFI’s flagship venue BFI Southbank, London and cinemas across the UK (funded by the UK’s National Lottery).
The programme also took a closer look at Powell and Pressburger’s lasting impact, having charmed and inspired a passionate fan base of filmmakers and artists including Martin Scorsese, Greta Gerwig, Tilda Swinton and Kate Bush. True cinematic visionaries, Powell and Pressburger’s masterpieces were so numerous that in 2022 six of their films appeared in Sight and Sound magazine’s Greatest Films of All Time Poll (a feat only matched by Hitchcock), with votes from directors including, Rose Glass, Andrew Haigh, Joanna Hogg, Martin McDonagh, Sally Potter, Kenneth Branagh, Tilda Swinton and Martin Scorsese.
Thelma Schoonmaker, three times Academy Award-winning Editor and Michael Powell’s widow, was deeply involved in the BFI’s celebration, introducing screenings as well as the subject of In Conversation events across the UK. Alongside Martin Scorsese she has also overseen each of the digital restorations of Powell and Pressburger’s films and recently completed the feature length documentary, Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger, narrated by Scorsese and directed by David Hinton which premiered in Berlin. Thelma Schoonmaker will introduce a preview of Made in England at MoMA on 22 June, before the film opens in New York at the Quad Cinema on July 12 and in Los Angeles at Landmark’s Nuart Theater on July 26.
Thelma Schoonmaker said, “The BFI Powell and Pressburger celebration, Cinema Unbound, was extremely successful and many young people turned up to the events and screenings. It was thrilling to see another generation discovering the films of Powell and Pressburger. I can’t wait to see the reaction of audiences in the US and Canada. How happy Michael and Emeric would be to see the explosion of events around the world, that are honoring their fantastic films”
Following Cinema Unbound’s rapturous reception in the UK, the BFI are delighted to partner with leading cultural organisations to help present Powell and Pressburger’s films to cinema audiences across North America, collaborating on film series at TIFF Cinematheque, Toronto (10-29 May), Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Los Angeles (18 July-19 August), Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago (2-17 October), SIFF Egyptian Theater, Seattle (18 September – 20 November) and an extensive retrospective programme at MoMA, New York (21 June -31 July) Martin Scorsese will introduce Black Narcissus at the opening of the MoMA retrospective on 21 June.
Ben Roberts, BFI Chief Executive said, “Powell and Pressburger are two of the UK’s most extraordinary and influential filmmakers. Their work deserves to be enjoyed as widely as possible and the BFI National Archive has been key in ensuring their work can be shared in all its glory. Thanks to our cultural collaborators across North America for bringing the magic to a wider audience.”
The monumental task of preserving and restoring many of the films presented in these retrospective series have been completed by world-leading conservation experts, archivists, and curators at the BFI National Archive, who care for a wealth of film and paper-based material as part of the UK’s national film collection. The BFI National Archive is uniquely placed to tell the most complete story of this filmmaking duo having preserved much of their master film material and negatives for decades as well as conserving the unique paper-based personal collections of Michael Powell (donated to the BFI by Thelma Schoonmaker) and Emeric Pressburger, that include correspondence, early drafts of scripts, plans for unrealised projects and more.
