The UCLA Film & Television Archive will present the 22nd edition of its biennial UCLA Festival of Preservation, from Friday, May 29, to Sunday, May 31, at the Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer Museum. Showcasing the Archive's latest preservation and restoration work, the festival features a diverse lineup of film and television, ranging from silent-era gems to mid-century television rarities to 1990s independent productions. Audiences will have the opportunity to hear from film preservationists and special guests through introductions and conversations.
A total of 45 titles will be screened for audiences during the weekendlong festival: 11 feature films, four television programs and 30 short works, including world and regional restoration premieres.
"The UCLA Film & Television Archive's 22nd biennial UCLA Festival of Preservation is a place to witness, critique and celebrate works brought back to life as they were meant to be seen," said May Hong HaDuong, director of the Archive, a division of UCLA Library.
Opening night on Friday, May 29, will showcase the new restoration of director Ossie Davis' third feature, "Black Girl" (1972), adapted from J. E. Franklin's critically acclaimed play centering the intergenerational conflicts that arise within a Black family. The film will be followed by a screening of "…& Beautiful" (1969), the first syndicated television special produced for African American audiences to be sponsored by a Black-owned company, preserved from a rare surviving 2-inch videotape from an era when many TV productions were erased.
On Saturday, May 30, classic film highlights include the swashbuckling "Adventures of Casanova" (1948), directed by Roberto Gavaldón, one of the most prominent filmmakers of Mexico's golden age of cinema. The film had a simultaneous premiere at the Bruin Theater and the Fox Westwood Village Theater on Feb. 17, 1948, and has been restored from UCLA-held nitrate elements and sources from the Harvard Film Archive. "Merrily We Live" (1938), starring Constance Bennett, is among the zaniest examples of the Hollywood screwball comedy genre. Making its theatrical debut is a new restoration of "The Magnificent Matador" (1955), starring Oscar-winning actor Anthony Quinn and filmed in Mexico in vibrant Eastmancolor. From Argentina, "Si muero antes de despertar (If I Should Die Before I Wake)" (1952) is a film noir reminiscent of a Grimm's fairy tale, restored from scant surviving materials nearly lost to decomposition.
Saturday's programs include the animated shorts "The Mouse of Tomorrow" (1942) and "The Nutty Network" (1939) from Terrytoons, as well as Fleischer Studios' "Copy Cat" (1941) and "Way Back When a Triangle Had Its Points" (1940), restored from 35mm nitrate film materials.
On Sunday, May 31, the work of pioneering director Lela Swift, who won three Emmy Awards, will be featured through digitally preserved episodes of the television dramas "The Web" (1953) and "Justice" (1955). The groundbreaking local documentary "The Unwanted" (1975), a humanizing portrayal of Latino immigrants in the United States, is another television highlight. The "Touring California" program will showcase the Archive's preservation of short works filmed throughout the state dating back to the 1920s. The festival concludes with a pair of Hollywood classics directed by André de Toth, "Pitfall" (1948) and "The Other Love" (1947), with the latter featuring the original ending that has not been seen by audiences since the 1940s.
Newsreels from the Hearst Metrotone News collection — one of the largest newsreel collections in the world at 27 million feet of film — will be shown throughout the festival.
"It's one of the great events on the Los Angeles movie calendar [...] still as exciting and groundbreaking as ever," wrote former Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan of the 2024 UCLA Festival of Preservation. "The UCLA event inevitably includes remarkable movies you never even knew existed, films that expand our knowledge of the extent of the vast cinematic universe."
Special guest speakers will include writer J.E. Franklin ("Black Girl"), animation historian Jerry Beck, producer-director Gini Reticker ("the heart of the matter") and producer-director José Luis Ruiz ("The Unwanted").
All screenings, presented at the Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer Museum, are free thanks to a gift from an anonymous donor; admission is on a first-come, first-served basis. Visit the Archive website for the full festival schedule and program details.
