criterionforum.org

[Nobushige Toshima, president and sales division manager,] describes actively pitching Toho’s head office project by project, arguing that decisions about which films to restore shouldn’t be judged purely on whether a single title can recoup its costs, but treated as a cultural obligation.

That argument extends to national policy where Japan is lacking. Both executives pointed to France’s CNC (Centre National du Cinema et de l’Image Animee, an agency of the French Ministry of Culture), which channels a share of every movie ticket into film preservation and promotion.

They noted that the National Film Archive of Japan recently had to launch a crowdfunding campaign after its government subsidy was cut, even as Toshima’s own long-term ambition, stated plainly in Toho Archive’s mission materials, is to help push Japan toward becoming an “archive-advanced nation.”

Ironically, streaming platforms have become an ally in this fight. Whereas theatrical release windows once meant a film’s commercial life was brief, on-demand platforms now give restored classics a durable “second life,” in Toshima’s words, by enriching the content available to the public long after the works’ initial release.

Stefan Andersson wrote: Tue Aug 04, 2026 4:59 pm New restorations in the 2026 TIFF Classics Programme:

Kissed | Lynne Stopkewich | Canada | 1996 – World Premiere of 4K restoration
Spring in a Small Town (Xiao cheng zhi chun) | Fei Mu | China | 1948 – World Premiere of 4K restoration

https://thefilmstage.com/tiff-2026-unve ... c-lineups/
https://tiff.net/films

tenia wrote: Fri Aug 07, 2026 5:34 am Malavida keep saying they'll do stuff on BD, but in the end, they only did 3 very recently. Jeannd was supposed to be released on BD at least 2 years ago.

Rupert Pupkin wrote: Fri Aug 07, 2026 8:02 pm

tenia wrote: Fri Aug 07, 2026 5:34 am Malavida keep saying they'll do stuff on BD, but in the end, they only did 3 very recently. Jeannd was supposed to be released on BD at least 2 years ago.

ah ok... Too bad. Perhaps in another country in a not so distant future (the Desplechin restored by Eclair (his 3 first movies) were released in Japan) : La Sentinelle, Comment je me suis disputé (ma vie sexuelle...) - I bought the Japanese box set the transfer are great.