Scorsese Announces World Cinema Foundation

By Rich Drees

     May 24, 2007- Director Martin Scorsese the formation of a foundation dedicated to finding and preserving neglected world cinema classics during an appearance at the Cannes Film Festival Tuesday.

     Describing the opportunity to launch the project at Cannes as a “dream come true,” the World Cinema Foundation is an outgrowth of Scorsese’s work with the preservation organization The Film Foundation in the United States. Co-founded by Scorsese in 1990, The Film Foundation has been responsible for the preservation of numerous classics including It Happened One Night (1932), How Green Is My Valley (1941), Hitchcock’s Shadow Of A Doubt (1943), On The Waterfront (1954), Night Of The Hunter (1955), Kubrick’s Paths Of Glory (1957) and Eraserhead (1977).

     “We thought it would be a wonderful thing to pull together the influence of directors around the world to work in their countries, to work on raising financing,” Scorsese said.

     The World Cinema Foundation’s reach will extend to all cinema with a bevy of international directors including Mexico’s Guillermo Del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth), Germany’s Wim Wenders (Wings Of Desire) and China’s Wong Kar-Wai (In The Mood For Love) on the organization’s advisory board.

     "Preserving films is preserving cultural identity," stated Brazil's Walter Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries), another board member. "We're talking here about preserving diversity and plurality, and the possibility to know one each other better."

     In an interview for American Movie Classics Shootout program, Scorsese expounded further.

     “We find that a lot of the films you are seeing at Cannes, a lot of the films that are winning awards here at Cannes, they were influenced by other movies that we never saw,” he stated. “Now their films are going to influence American filmmakers and vice versa. It will be really fascinating to see where their inspiration came from. We’re influencing each other back and forth and creating new forms- we hope. This is why I think restoring films from other cultures is so important.”