Whenever Version restaurée appears in a festival program guide, trailer (bande-annonce), or before the start of a film, it indicates a new and exciting chance to revisit a beloved classic, or make a significant discovery. In recent years, extraordinary ‘restored versions’, particularly from the French speaking world, have been made available by archives, cinémathèques, rights holders and studios. Most of these restorations have never screened in the U.S., and in some cases, haven’t been shown since their original release, if ever released in the U.S. at all.
For the Fall 2024 season, L’Alliance New York presents an expansive series consisting exclusively of New York, U.S. and world premieres of Version restaurée films. Running from September 10 to December 17, the series will comprise over twenty features and short films from France, Senegal, Tunisia, Switzerland, Burkina Faso, and the Louisiana Bayou, including a 1929 muet (Gaston Modot’s Conte Cruel) to a masterpiece of the new century (Godard’s Éloge de l’amour), and films by Frederick Wiseman, Marguerite Duras, Fernando Arrabal, Idrissa Ouédraogo, Christian-Jacque, Jacques Deray, Yolande Zauberman, Samba Félix Ndiaye and Jean Cocteau.