http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6682811.stm

It seems he is scouring the globe for soon to be gone movies. I hope he has a pit stop in India. I guess no one from the Indian National Film Development Corporation has the funds to do this (likewise the British Film Institute). So here's hoping that at least a few classics are saved (and maybe restored?)

I hope Scorsese puts India on the top of his list. The film geeks of the world(myself included) need to know more about the likes of Guru Dutt, Bimal Roy, John Abraham, S. Sukdev. Also, members of the neo-realist movment; Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Mani Kaul, Ketan Mehta. The list is simply looong! We keep reading or hearing about the era of bodacious Indian filmmakers that once "was", but simply never actually have any root to their works, it's almost nearly untraceable. Help us Scorsese

I read another interview with Scorsese - he specifically mentioned how he learnt about India by watching Indian films made by Indians ... not by watching films about India made by non-Indians.

I guess he has an interest in Indian cinema. I'm hoping - of course - that he is able to do something for Guru Dutt's films and also I would love to see more old Bengali movies. I have hardly seen any but the ones I have seen have been great!

Also - in the same interview there was mention of how many old Chinese films have been kept in good condition due to Chinese traditions of wanting to preserve things ... that was interesting!

DVD collector, I don't know if he's gonna put 'all' Indian films at the top of his list, but you can be sure Satyajit Ray's films will be there. Scorsese has spoken about Indian arthouse cinema and in particular Satyajit Ray whom he greatly admired and pushed the Academy awards to give Ray a lifetime achievement oscar a few days before his death. He took part as a keynote speaker at a Sayajit Ray retrospective a few years back. I had heard that him, Spielberg, George Lucas and Attenborough were doing something to restore all of Ray's old films.

"I was in high school and I happened to see 'Pather Panchali' on television. Dubbed in English. With commercials. "It didn't matter. It didn't matter. The image of the Indian culture we had had before, and I'm talking I was 14 years old or 15 years old, were usually through colonialist eyes. And when Satyajit Ray did his films you suddenly not understood the culture because the culture was so complex but you became attached to the culture through the people, and it didn't matter what they were speaking, what they were wearing, what their customs were. Their customs were very, very interesting and surprising, and you suddenly began to realize there are other cultures in the world."
- Martin Scorsese Pays Tribute to Satyajit Ray , Washington Post, February 28, 2002

http://www.satyajitray.org/about_ray/critics_on_ray.htm

Maybe Scorsese should also consider films by Ritwik Ghatak and Mrinal Sen. It would be a shame if their films were forgotten.

I believe Indian cinema needs to be closer examined, passing the works of Satyajit Ray, whom already is a house-hold name amongst film lovers Worldwide.

There's alot of these 'parallel cinema' films that are not even released or have been deleted or just shown at film festivals and would simply be forgotten unless people step in (most likely non-indians) because I think alot people in India are not bothered to support them. A film like 'The Terrorist' wouldn't have been noticed if John Malkovich hadn't stepped in to promote it. By Scorsese stepping in, he is doing a great service to world cinema and maybe a few generations later Indians will realise that they once produced some of the best films in the world.

This is really UNBELIEVABLE!...I can just picture all the Indian film masters that are now beyond the infinite banging their heads on some hard surface in disbelief with this news. I even feel sorry for Scorsese going through all the trouble for nothing. Interestingly, Anurag Kashyap once pointed out on twitter that Guru Dutt worked as a technician in this film and it was from the inspiration of this film that he got the idea to make Pyaasa.

http://www.mid-day.com/entertainment/20 ... godown.htm

'Kalpana' languishes in Jogeshwari godown
A restored print of Uday Shankar's 1948 classic is apparently being held at a suburban location
July 23, 2012
MUMBAI
Shakti Shetty



Uday Shankar’s Kalpana has run into more trouble. Earlier, after the film was digitally enhanced, thanks to the efforts of Indian restorer Shivendra Singh Dungarpur in collaboration with Hollywood filmmaker Martin Scorsese, the film could not be screened in India, due to some legal issues associated with the project.


Kalpana film poster and (inset) Shivendra Singh Dungarpur

Now, word is that the digital print that has arrived in India is stuck with the Customs, in a postal godown in the Western suburbs of Mumbai since the last three weeks. The restored film was recently screened at Cannes and is scheduled to be handed over to National Film Archives of India (NFAI) in Pune. According to Dungarpur, the reason behind this anomaly is the Custom department’s lethargic attitude towards the much-awaited parcel.

He alleges that despite having already cleared the dues stipulated by the authorities, he hasn’t received the print. He adds, “It’s officially the property of the Government of India but being the person who has been part of this effort right from the very beginning, it’s frustrating to see the kind of treatment meted out to our national heritage. It also bears the official chapa on it. Apparently, the word ‘restored’ on the parcel is what’s bothering them.”

Dungarpur is currently in London for the pre-Olympics screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s debut feature Lodger (1927); a film he helped restore. He informed via phone that the 35 mm dupe negative is also the only surviving copy of the film. Along with it a 35mm positive restored print is currently in the same postal godown in Jogeshwari.

Other than the red tape, the weather is also a worry. “Nobody has a clue what’s going to happen. Lack of communication is a problem too. On top of that, the monsoon is not a very convenient season for storage,” Dungarpur sums up. NFAI was unavailable for comment.

Scorsese had to pay the customs duty to get the film released from customs.

http://www.india-forums.com/bollywood/h ... alpana.htm

Customs release restored print of Uday Shankar's 'Kalpana'
Monday, July 30, 2012 | 9:55:47 PM IST (+05:30 GMT) 0 Comments

After a delay of 25 days, the restored digital print of "Kalpana" - noted dancer Uday Shankar's 1948 film on experimental dance - was finally handed over to its Indian restorer who will give it to the National Film Archives of India



After a delay of 25 days, the restored digital print of "Kalpana" - noted dancer Uday Shankar's 1948 film on experimental dance - was finally handed over to its Indian restorer who will give it to the National Film Archives of India (NFAI).

The film was digitally enhanced after Indian restorer Shivendra Singh Dungarpur collaborated with Hollywood filmmaker Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Foundation, that undertook the restoration process.

The restored digital print arrived in India July 5, but was stuck at customs. It was finally delivered to Dungarpur Monday.

"Lack of proper documentation by the courier agency caused all the delay. I tried to sort it out from my side and these were a bad 25 days," Dungarpur told IANS.

According to Dungarpur, he provided all necessary paperwork including letters and documents from the NFAI but still there was a delay.

"Apparently, the customs department could not determine the section under which they could grant exemption of duty to the restored print," he said.

"Finally, the customs claimed a huge duty on July 17, which was paid by World Cinema Foundation. I also paid the separate octroi duty. All this for the print which will finally be in a government film archive," he added.

Dungarpur lamented that in spite of the restored print officially being the property of the Indian government, it was Scorsese who ended up paying the customs duty.

"It is frustrating to see the kind of treatment given to an object of national heritage," he said.

A customs officer told IANS: "There were some unresolved issues owing to which the department could not clear the release of the print. Hence, it was lying in the warehouse of the international courier agency UPS Solutions."

An official from UPS Solution Monday told IANS that it has obtained necessary clearances and that the shipment has been delivered.

"Kalpana" is considered to be a masterpiece by film antiquarians and dance historians alike who consider it to be an ode to experimental choreography.

The film was shown at Cannes this May after a painstaking six-month restoration in Bologna in northern Italy by Scorsese.