Monday, October 25, 2010

Pierre Etaix Update

[post 102]

We last left Pierre Etaix (post 99) with the happy news of the legal triumph that restored his rights to his own films, paving the way for their reappearance in film festivals and, ultimately, their DVD debut.  Now that I'm back on the case, I thought I should try to find out how much of that has actually come to pass since my May 19th post. Here's the scoop:
• A restored version of Etaix's Le Grand Amour was shown at this year's Cannes Film Festival.
• Restoration of the entire Etaix ouevre was completed this July by the Technicolor Foundation and the Groupama Gan Foundation.  Click here for details.
• At least four of his films are being screened this week at the Cinémathèque Québécois in Montreal. Click here for an article from the Montreal Gazette.
• A September DVD release of the collected works, Intégral Pierre Etaix, was said to be forthcoming from Carlotta, but their web site was only promoting live screenings and video on demand, and the VOD was only available in France
• So I wrote Carlotta and this morning heard back from them that it is Arte, not Carlotta, that is releasing the entire collection — and it's due out next week!  Click here to link to Arte's Etaix page. As of today, they are not yet taking orders, but the release date is set for November 2nd.  So, yes, I will get my order in and try to post a review to your favorite physical comedy blog as soon as I can work my way through the nine hours (!) of material.

Meanwhile, here are a few tidbits for you:
• A new article by Frank Wren on the re-emergence of Etaix, with some interesting connections to Chinese cinema.
• There's now an Etaix Facebook page. Search for Intégrale PIERRE ÉTAIX.
• And here's a podcast of an interview (in French) with Etaix.  Just click here to go the podcast.



All's well that ends well!

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