'Buñuel restored', in Spanish Film Archive

After passing through Cannes, the Cine Doré of the Filmoteca Española will screen three restored masterpieces by the Aragonese director.

Spanish Film Archive, as the highest representative of the conservation and restoration of Spanish cinematographic heritage, hosts this month three recently restored Luis Buñuel films. Three milestones in his career, The golden age (1930), The forgotten (1950) y Nazarin (1958), which have gone through the latest edition of Cannes Classics, the section of the international festival dedicated to showing some of the most important restorations in the cinematographic world.

The projections of these three jewels, gathered under the name of restored buñuel, will begin on June 8 with a pass of Nazarin which will be presented by Josetxo Cerdán, director of Filmoteca Española, and Héctor Orozco, curator of the Nazarín exhibition. Manuel Álvarez Bravo and Luis Buñuel, which is part of PhotoEspaña 2019 and can be seen at the Casa de México from June 1 to September 1.

The restoration of these three titles has been possible thanks to the efforts of multiple organizations committed to preservation of the film legacy: The Film Foundation, Fundación Televisa, Cineteca Nacional de México, Filmoteca de la UNAM, Cinémathèque Française, Center Pompidou, Pathé y Maison de Champagne Piper-Heidsieck.

The impact of The golden age remains indelible almost 90 years after its tumultuous premiere in Paris. So tumultuous, in fact, that the film was banned in France and the United States, a ban that continued until the early 1980s. Today, the first surrealist film is also one of the most important in the history of cinema, appearing again and again on lists of the best films, and is the recognized influence of directors such as Aki Kaurismäki, Jonathan Glazer and Guy Maddin.

Just as fundamental are The forgotten y Nazarin, two of the most important titles of Buñuel's fertile Mexican production. The first, a unique fusion of neorealism and surrealism, generated strong controversy during its premiere in Mexico, with voices that even called for the filmmaker's expulsion from the country due to the crudeness with which he had portrayed the misery of the young protagonists. Criticism, however, died when Buñuel won the best director award at the Cannes Film Festival with the film. Also awarded at the French festival, Nazarin It is considered by many the best film of Mexican cinema. This adaptation of a novel by Benito Perez Galdós is an excellent example of the depth and intensity with which Buñuel, a self-confessed atheist, approached religion.