The 64th New York Film Festival has unveiled its Revivals lineup, led by a newly restored, uncensored version of Ken Russell’s “The Devils” and a 4K restoration of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s “Gone To Earth,” overseen by Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker.
This year’s section comprises 12 restored features and two programs devoted to Armenian filmmaker Artavazd Pelechian. Four restorations—“Gone To Earth,” Allen Fong’s “Just Like Weather,” Barbara Hammer’s “Nitrate Kisses,” and Fred Camper’s “Suicide Note”—will receive their world premieres at the festival.
Perhaps the biggest draw is “The Devils,” Russell’s famously controversial 1971 drama, which will screen in a newly restored 35mm print incorporating footage censored from its original release. Built around Vanessa Redgrave’s vengeful nun and Oliver Reed’s accused priest, the film’s graphic collision of sexuality, religious iconography, and institutional corruption has made it one of the most notorious British films ever released.
The 4K restoration draws from Russell’s privately constructed 2004 edit and the original camera negative. Following its North American premiere at NYFF64, Warner Bros.’ Clockwork label will open “The Devils” for a one-week 35mm engagement at Film at Lincoln Center beginning October 16.
“Gone To Earth,” meanwhile, returns in a version designed to recover Powell and Pressburger’s original 1950 vision. Producer David O. Selznick substantially recut the film—and altered its negative—before releasing it as “The Wild Heart” in 1952. Using surviving positive materials held by the British Film Institute alongside the damaged negative, the new restoration was supervised by Schoonmaker (Powell’s spouse), with Scorsese (a devoted acolyte) and Steven Spielberg among those credited by the restoration team.
The Revivals slate also includes three significant rediscoveries from the 1980s: John Abraham’s Malayalam political landmark “Report To Mother”; Pradip Krishen’s “In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones,” written by a then-28-year-old Arundhati Roy; and Fong’s Hong Kong New Wave hybrid “Just Like Weather.”
Elsewhere, the section will present new restorations of Paula Delsol’s underseen French New Wave film “The Drift,” Yuri Ilyenko’s Soviet-suppressed Ukrainian debut “A Well For The Thirsty,” Alexander Kluge’s New German Cinema landmark “Yesterday Girl,” Hou Hsiao-hsien’s “Goodbye South, Goodbye,” and Luchino Visconti’s final film, “L’innocente.”
Two programs will offer a near-complete survey of Pelechian’s work, including “We,” “The Seasons,” “Our Century,” “The End,” and “Life.” Restored under the supervision of the 88-year-old director, the films span more than three decades of his singular documentary and avant-garde practice.
NYFF64 runs September 25 through October 12 at Lincoln Center and venues across New York City. Single tickets go on sale to the general public on September 15 at noon ET.
Full NYFF64 Revivals Lineup
“The Devils” — Ken Russell
“The Drift” — Paula Delsol
“Gone To Earth” — Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
“Goodbye South, Goodbye” — Hou Hsiao-hsien
“In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones” — Pradip Krishen
“L’innocente” — Luchino Visconti
“Just Like Weather” — Allen Fong
“Nitrate Kisses” — Barbara Hammer
“Report To Mother” — John Abraham
“Suicide Note” — Fred Camper
“A Well For The Thirsty” — Yuri Ilyenko
“Yesterday Girl” — Alexander Kluge
Pelechian Project: Program 1
“Mountain Patrol”
“Land Of The People”
“We”
“The Seasons”
Pelechian Project: Program 2
“The Beginning”
“Our Century”
“The End”
“Life”
