Restoration of Mr Hulot's Holiday (France)
The Technicolor Foundation for Film & Television Heritage restored "Mr Hulot’s Holiday", a film selected at Cannes Classics 2009. A program conducted with another foundation acting in the field of film heritage, the Fondation Groupama Gan pour le Cinéma.
Released on 1953, this Jacques Tati's second feature film gives birth to Mr. Hulot and will be screened all around the world. The original elements were damaged and weakened by the repeated re-editing process, as well as by numerous changes performed by the director during 25 years.
The restoration project undertaken in 2009 is based on the last version that Jacques Tati edited in 1978. Thanks to the photochemical process and digital tools, the original image quality of the picture and the richness of the sound have been successfully recreated.
The restoration project started at the end of 2008 with the setting up of an unusual project team. “Restoring a film is a singular act, consisting of giving back life to a work without betraying the intentions of its author. The exercise is difficult and fascinating", says Séverine Wemaere, Managing Director of Technicolor Foundation. “The restored version of Mr Hulot’s Holiday is the result of a highly fruitful encounter between two foundations acting for film heritage, the Technicolor Foundation and the Fondation Groupama Gan, les Films de Mon Oncle - the Jacques Tati copyright holders- and the Cinémathèque française.” The image restoration work has been done at Technicolor, Los Angeles.
As for the restoration of Lola Montès in 2008, one of the Technicolor Foundation’s objectives is to promote Mr Hulot’s Holiday internationally in order to better raise the audience’s awareness about the importance of the film heritage and the risks to films when not properly stored.
The restored version of Mr Hulot’s Holiday was screened during the International Film Festival of Cannes, Cannes Classics section, at Cinémathèque française, during the International Film Festival of la Rochelle and during Il Cinema Ritrovato Festival.