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nawin.sona wrote:The time should come when those powers that be ( criterion ! and second run please note ) should not only accept available prints, but also hunt down and discover masterpieces which shook the world once and now lie asleep in someone's house.

Well, that's exactly what Second Run has been doing from the start - their attitude has always been that any print is better than nothing at all, which I think is commendable.

The digital revolution means that people do tend to fetishise picture quality a little too much these days, and in some parts of the world - eastern Europe, India, south-east Asia - it's just not realistic to expect first-class materials to be available.

So all you can do is make sure that you present what you've got to its best advantage - which is where Second Run is miles better than Facets, whose lousy transfers and out-of-sync forced subtitles end up adding insult to existing injury.

nawin.sona wrote:The time should come when those powers that be ( criterion ! and second run please note ) should not only accept available prints, but also hunt down and discover masterpieces which shook the world once and now lie asleep in someone's house.

Um, to echo MichaelB's comments, isn't that exactly what Second Run have done with Rat Trap? Which is not to say that I wouldn't welcome further releases of other Golpalakrishnan films.

RAT-TRAP screening this week at Bath Film Festival as part of their Second Run Night:
Friday October 31st at 6.30pm
At The United Reform Church, Bath

A opportunity to see two more wonderful Adoor Gopalakrishnan films (and a chance to meet the great man himself) at this year's Belfast Film Festival.

Screening as part of the Festival's 'Spotlight on Indian Film' on Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th March are The Walls (Mathilukal) from 1990 and his 2002 film Shadow Kill (Nizhalkuthu).

Adoor Gopalakrishnan will be in attendance at the screenings for post-film panel discussion and Q&A.

Shadow Kill is an amazing film--also, the only Gopalakrishnan film available on R-1 DVD.

Your chance to interview Adoor Gopalakrishnan.

...and here are his reponses.