Debut of 4K Restored Film Program

 Ultra High Definition Version of Classic Films

As audiences have come to expect spectacular technology-driven production values in their films, so have screening systems such as IMAX, dual-screen 3D, and Dolby surround 7.1 become more popular. Some films made with new audio-visual technology are rapidly becoming sold-out.
At last year\'s SIFF, 4K became the new buzzword because it represents the highest definition so far available among UHD digital films. By virtue of the 4K restoration technology, films like Lawrence of Arabia took on a fresh look and became very popular.
As a result of its success last year, the 4K Restored Series is therefore being scheduled for 2014 in the Film Panorama program. The film list released by the Organizing Committee includes not only well-received classics such as Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, Coppola’s The Godfather series, and Children of Paradise, but also movie adaptations of literary works, such as Tess and the 1934 version of Les Miserables (reputed to be the best adaptation). These films will be shown to mainland audiences for the first time in 4K on the big screen at the festival.
The Organizing Committee says it added the 4K Restored Films section so that during the festival audiences would have a better chance of appreciating classic masterpieces that are rarely shown on the big screen.
In officially releasing the Film Panorama program for this year\'s SIFF, the Organizing Committee said the regular eight sections will continue to be presented. These include Tribute to Masters, SIFF Highlights, Focus China, Reproduced Classics, Multi-perspective, Touch 3D, Global Village, and IMAX Vision. Films will be selected for screening according to both artistic and popular criteria in a bid to provide audiences with strong viewing choices and an alternative options to those produced by the Hollywood system.

2015 Film Restoration: A Better Tomorrow

The 4K digital process offers exceptional advantages for film restoration because it has roughly the same resolution as traditional films. The film Stage Sisters directed by Xie Jin, which will be showed in the coming festival, has been restored based on this technique including accompanied by 4K scanning and 4K output.
The film, starring Xie Fang, Cao Yindi and Shangguan Yunzhu, was a hit after its public release in 1965 and is now regarded as a classic by Xie Jin. It has been restored by L\'Immagine Ritrovata film restoration laboratory, which also restored other famous Chinese films such as Almost a Love Story and In the Heat of the Sun. Compared to previous monochrome 2K restoration, the work on Stage Sisters required a higher resolution, more precision and color correction. Also, the shift between real life scenes and the Yue Opera singing scenes demanded greater requirements in sound restoration. In addition to L\'Immagine Ritrovata, Shanghai Film Technology Plant assisted with the 4Kscanning.
As explained by the Organizing Committee, compared to a previous 2K restoration, a 4K restoration involves much more human effort, materials and time. Thus, the restoration of Stage Sisters needed around six months and cost about four times as much as that of a 2K restoration. The film will be shown at the 17^th Shanghai International Film Festival.
Because of the costs of restoration the cooperation between SIFF and Jaeger-LeCoultre in restoring Chinese classic film has provided important support for SIFF to embark on its program of rescuing older films.
SIFF and Jaeger-LeCoultre announced in 2011 that in their cooperation for three consecutive years, one of the most important projects would be the restoration of numerous Chinese classic old movies. It would be the first time in China that a business enterprise has been involved in film restoration and making a contribution to saving China\'s long film culture tradition. During the  past three years, Jaeger-LeCoultre has funded the restoration of six Chinese classic movies, including The Spring River Flows East, Eight Thousand Li of Cloud and Moon, Crossroads, Crow and Sparrow and Three Women.
In addition to rescuing and saving images, film restoration more importantly increases public  awareness of the need to promote protection of both China\'s film and cultural heritage. In this regard, the Organizing Committee has decided to restore John Woo\'s masterpiece A Better Tomorrow with the hope of arousing more interest in the restoration project and inspiring more social institutions and individuals with concern for the preservation of China’s precious image sources to make their contribution to saving China’s film heritage.