PARIS - Restored films by three cinema giants are to be screened on the sidelines of the Cannes film festival, organisers said Thursday.
This year`s Cannes Classics will pay homage to the work of 1950s movie hero James Dean, British director Michael Powell and French filmmaker Jean Renoir.
The showing of Dean`s "East of Eden" and "Rebel without a Cause" pay tribute to the screen legend who died 50 years ago in a car accident when he was just 24.
The Cannes Classics, which will be chaired by US actress Betsy Blair, will screen a restored copy of "Marty" by Delbert Mann, which won the Palme d`Or in 1955.
The festival will also honour the work of the Film Foundation -- founded by Martin Scorsese in 1990 with Woody Allen, Francis Ford Coppola, Stanley Kubrick, George Lucas, Sydney Pollack, Robert Redford, Steven Spielberg, Robert Altman and Clint Eastwood with the aim of restoring old films -- with a screening of a restored version of Jean Renoir`s 1951 film "The River".
Films by British director Michael Powell will be presented by the British Film Institute to mark the 100th anniversary of his birth. They will include "The Edge of the World " (1937), "I Know Where I`m Going" (1945), "A Question of Life and Death" (1946), "49th Parallel" (1941) and "Black Narcissus" (1947).
Mexico will also be honoured with a presentation of a restored copy of the 1950 film "Los Olvidados" and a tribute to Emilio "Indio" Fernandez.
Meanwhile, the National Film Office of Canada announced Thursday that it was setting up a prize in honour of Norman McLaren, one of the most decorated filmmakers in history for his pioneering abstract animations.
The prize, with a 3,000 euro cheque, will be awarded to the winner of the Palme d`Or for the best short film.
04/28/2005 17:02 GMT