KL is releasing "SERGEI EISENSTEIN ¡MÉXICO! /.../ newly restored versions of those films derived from Eisenstein's legendary Mexican footage: Thunder Over Mexico (1933) and Death Day (1934) by Sol Lesser, Time in the Sun (1940) by Marie Seton, Bell & Howell’s four-volume Mexican Symphony by Willam F. Kruse and Egon Mauthner (1940-41), and the debut of Idols Behind Altars (2026), a diptych of Eisenstein's raw footage conceived by Bruce Posner with a new score by Paul D. Miller (aka DJ Spooky). This special two-disc collection also includes rare outtakes, photographs, sketches, and documentaries"
https://kinolorber.com/film/sergei-eise ... ZDLyd-qaRh
Death Day is showing in the 2026 Pordenone film festival. Notes on the restoration, from the festival catalogue:
”This 2026 restoration was sourced from a nearly complete 35mm nitrate print acquired by the British Film Institute from Upton Sinclair in 1939, and several seconds of a 16mm reduction print held in the David Bradley Collection at Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive. The original film negat ive and release prints of the 1934 Death Day were destroyed in a nitrate fire in 1938. It remains unclear which version Sinclair sold to the BFI in 1939. But the image quality i superior. I believe it is the original release print, slightly damaged in projection. This newly restored version is unique, not an altered edit: the viewer can see the entire 35mm picture full silent aperture as registered on the 1939 print. Previously much of the top and bottom were cropped by the Academy sound aperture. The version we are seeing is exactly the same, less 8-11 seconds of footage lost to projection damage; I added back 3- 4 seconds from the 16mm print. The actual film is 15'08"; the complete digital file with titles, 15'51"; with the Kino Lorber logo, 15'57”. Thanks to digital scanning technology we can see for the first time everything photographed by Tissé on the 35mm film frame, except the left-side optical track area that was blocked out in the print. In much of the Mexican footage one can see full silent compositions and sound film compositions. Tissé often reverted to silent film framing. /…/ Bruce Posner”
Source: 2026 Pordenone catalogue - PDF downloadable here, under menu Giornate:
https://www.giornatedelcinemamuto.it/en ... V-TB6_lGJk
See also:
https://www.americancinematheque.com/no ... o-4-18-26/
https://www.americancinematheque.com/no ... s-5-14-26/
https://www.americancinematheque.com/no ... s-5-23-26/
Two films related to the above release but apparently not included in it:
10 minutes of filmed drawings by Eisenstein;
https://ilcinemaritrovato.it/en/film/se ... s-1930-32/
A Philological Quandary, Kenneth Anger’s ¡Que Viva Mexico!
https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2026/films/a-p ... exico-1950
