Restoration of the Complete Film Works of Pierre Etaix
After resolving several years of legal imbroglio, Pierre Étaix fully recovers his rights and can see his complete film works finally released in restored version. This project has been conducted by Technicolor Foundation for Cinema Heritage, Groupama Gan Foundation for Cinema and Studio 37. "The Great Love", one of the five feature films is selected at Cannes Classics. All the films from this Complete Film Works will be theatrically released on July 7th in France (Carlotta) and DVD release is announced for fall 2010 (Arte).
The Technicolor Foundation (formerly Thomson Foundation) and the Groupama Gan Foundation, the only two in France to cater to cinema buckled down, conducted the “the Complete Film Works of Pierre Etaix” project for many long months, alongside the producer Studio 37. They supported Pierre Etaix and Jean-Claude Carrière during their legal problems and buckled down for restoring the five feature films and short films part of the Etaix complete oeuvre. They finally lead the promotion of this complete oeuvre in France and abroad.
Thanks to the success of a first joint adventure with Mr Hulot’s Holiday, the two foundations committed themselves to Pierre Etaix and the same high standards described above. “However, though we understood every restoration is specific, we didn’t know this one would be unique. The figures speak for themselves: eight films restored, (this is the restoration of a Complete Oeuvre), no fewer than 1000 pages of contractual documentation to resolve the years of legal imbroglio which had made these films unavailable for over two decades”, say Séverine Wemaere, Head of Technicolor Foundation and Gilles Duval, Head of Groupama Gan Foundation.
The singularity of this project also and above all depended on these two foundations’ involvement with Pierre Etaix and those close to him. “Pierre Etaix welcomed us with arms wide into both his past and present. Interview followed interview, each revealing new aspects of a body of work that is quite unique: music-hall, film, circus, magic, and Pierre’s whole artistic world of his drawings, posters, installations...”, emphasize Gilles Duval and Séverine Wemaere.
All these reasons – the legal support, the restoration and the release of eight films – make this project unusual in the milieu of restoring heritage films.
This project is part of the framework conceived by both foundations for promoting worldwide film heritage is defined by their quality chart: “we thus set ourselves conditions we deemed necessary to achieve this kind of operation and which cover the entire enterprise. These were: respect for the filmmaker and the original film; complete restoration using the negative to ensure its preservation, an obligation to deposit the preserved masters as well as prestige prints in appropriate archive facilities, and, above all, to give the restored film the widest possible exposure. All these aspects are dealt with in the preliminary phases with all parties concerned (rights owners, producer, distributors, etc.)”, explain Gilles Duval, Head of Groupama Gan Foundation and Séverine Wemaere, Head of Technicolor Foundation.
Complete Pierre Etaix Œuvre in restored version:
Rupture (1961) / short film
Happy Anniversary (1963) / short film
The Suitor (1963)
Yoyo (1965)
As Long as You’re Healthy (1966)
The Great Love (1969)
Land of Milk and Honey (1971)
Feeling Good (2010 – unreleased) / short film