World Cinema Project

The World Cinema Project (WCP) is a non-profit organization devoted to the preservation and restoration of neglected world cinema.

Founded in 2007 as the World Cinema Foundation by Martin Scorsese, it was inspired by the work of The Film Foundation in the United States, a similar venture which Scorsese founded with George Lucas, Stanley Kubrick, Steven Spielberg and Clint Eastwood in 1990.

The World Cinema Foundation is backed by an advisory board "Filmmaker Council" which includes Martin Scorsese, Fatih Akin, Souleymane Cissé, Guillermo Del Toro, Stephen Frears, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Wong Kar-Wai, Abbas Kiarostami, Deepa Mehta, Ermanno Olmi, Raoul Peck, Cristi Puiu, Walter Salles, Abderrahmane Sissako, Elia Suleiman, Bertrand Tavernier, Wim Wenders, and Tian Zhuangzhuang.[1]

After leaving his position at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, Kent Jones became the foundation's executive director.

Trances, a music documentary about Nass El Ghiwane an influential Moroccan music group, was picked by Martin Scorsese as the inaugural release for the foundation; it was screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007 and at Djemaa el-Fna square in Morocco.[2]

Restored films

English title	Year	Director
After the Curfew [A 1]	1954	Usmar Ismail
Alyam, Alyam	1978	Ahmed El Maanouni
Black Girl	1966	Ousmane Sembène
Borom Sarret	1963	Ousmane Sembène
The Boys from Fengkuei	1983	Hou Hsiao-hsien
A Brighter Summer Day	1991	Edward Yang
Chronicle of the Years of Fire	1975	Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina
The Cloud-Capped Star	1960	Ritwik Ghatak
The Color of Pomegranates	1969	Sergei Parajanov
Downpour [A 1]	1971	Bahram Bayzai
Dry Summer[A 2]	1964	Metin Erksan
The Eloquent Peasant	1969	Shadi Abdel Salam
Enamorada	1946	Emilio Fernández
El fantasma del convento	1934	Fernando de Fuentes
The Housemaid[A 2]	1960	Kim Ki-young
Insiang[A 3]	1976	Lino Brocka
Kalpana	1948	Uday Shankar
Law of the Border[A 3]	1966	Lüfti Ö. Akad
Limite[A 3]	1931	Mário Peixoto
Lucía [A 1]	1968	Humberto Solás
Manila in the Claws of Light	1975	Lino Brocka
Memories of Underdevelopment	1968	Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
Muna Moto	1975	Jean-Pierre Dikongué Pipa
Mysterious Object at Noon[A 3]	2000	Apichatpong Weerasethakul
The Night of Counting the Years	1969	Shadi Abdel Salam
Los Olvidados	1950	Luis Buñuel
Pickpocket	1997	Jia Zhangke
Pixote [A 1]	1980	Héctor Babenco
Prisioneros de la tierra	1939	Mario Soffici
Raid into Tibet	1966	Adrian Cowell
Redes[A 2]	1936	Emilio Gómez Muriel & Fred Zinnemann
Revenge[A 3]	1989	Ermek Shinarbaev
A River Called Titas[A 2]	1973	Ritwik Ghatak
Soleil Ô[A 1]	1970	Med Hondo
Taipei Story[A 3]	1985	Edward Yang
Touki Bouki[A 2]	1973	Djibril Diop Mambéty
Trances[A 2]	1981	Ahmed El Maanouni
The Treasure	1970	Lester James Peries
Two Girls on the Street	1939	André de Toth
Two Monks [A 1]	1934	Juan Bustillo Oro
Woman with the Knife	1969	Timité Bassori

Upcoming restorations

English title	Year	Director
Bluebeard's Castle	1963	Michael Powell
The Winds of the Aures	1967	Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina
Eight Deadly Shots	1972	Mikko Niskanen
Sambizanga	1972	Sarah Maldoror
Faces of Women	1985	Desiré Ecaré

References

1. World Cinema Foundation
2. Official Film Foundation site
3. "Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project". The Criterion Collection.
4. "Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project No. 2". The Criterion Collection.
5. "Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project No. 3". The Criterion Collection.

Notes

1. Included in the Criterion Collection WCP No. 3 Boxset[5]
2. Included in the Criterion Collection WCP No. 1 Boxset[3]
3. Included in the Criterion Collection WCP No. 2 Boxset[4]

External links

• Official Film Foundation site