Date:
16 November 2023, 18:00 Thursday
Once upon a time...
Images
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Description
Once upon a time...
José Escobar, Alexandre Cirici-Pellicer · 1950 · 75'
Thursday 16 November 2023 · 18:00
Conference by Jordi Artigas after the screening
Laya Room
Technical sheet
Directed by José Escobar, Alexandre Cirici-Pellicer
Production Catalonia
Year 1950
Version VE (Original version in Spanish)
duration 75'
DCP format
Recommended from 3 years
In few cases are the challenges of film conservation as visible as in this children's film based on the tale of Cinderella, animated by Josep Escobar under the artistic direction of professor and art critic, Alexandre Cirici i Pellicer and with the historian Josep Benet in the production, in addition to notable participations such as that of Manel Cubeles with Esbart Verdaguer or the musician Rafael Ferrer-Fitó, and made with the Cinefotocolor system, developed by Daniel Aragonés at Fotofilm Barcelona.
Despite the special mention of the Venice Film Festival in 1950, it was forgotten and all the original materials in 35 mm and color were lost; only 16mm black-and-white copies of poor photographic quality and heavily scratched by multiple screenings survived.
Its historical significance was decisive in 2014 when the Filmoteca de Catalunya started the reconstruction project, with the appearance of some frames with the original colors deposited in the JG Tharrats Collection. From the 2CR, the capture and restoration of the image has been carried out, as well as the calibration and direction of the entire project; Enric Giné has restored the sound, making the music and voices recover the characteristic tonality of those years; and thanks to the research of Luciano Berriatua and Isabel Benavides it has been possible to locate more materials with color, but what has been decisive has been their ability to devise a respectful way to re-introduce color digitally, managing to bring it closer to the original film.
Animation has always been a team effort, a fabric of complicity, this same spirit has guided this project. Thanks to Filmoteca Española, National Archives of Catalonia, Municipal Archives of Granollers, as well as collectors and specialists... they have all made it possible to bring it back to the big screen, and in color.