February 25, 2012
Martin Scorsese, through the World Cinema Foundation, has restored the 35mm film REDES which has been a cult favorite in art houses over the intervening 76 years since its release in 1936 in Mexico. This cultural protest film, one of the first of its kind in Mexico, features several firsts beyond the simple genre statement. It was the first major score for the Mexican composer Silvestre, it was the first Fred Zinnemann directed film, and it was the first Paul Strand produced film. The World Cinema Foundation, or WCF, patiently and quite expensively restored the film with its original English subtitles. Their painstaking work is superb, capturing the the distinct mood and feel of the original.
The WCF operations director, Mr. Doug Liable, had an interest in incorporating a number of Ned Scott’s stills from the film to be placed as supporting material for a DVD extra which will be tied to the restored DVD. The Ned Scott Archive was happy to oblige. On this DVD extra, Professor James Krippner is interviewed about his new book “Paul Strand in Mexico”, Aperture Foundation, 2010. One of the four chapters of this book deals with the production of “Redes”, and he details the cultural aspects and production highlights of this film during the interview. While he is speaking, the Ned Scott stills from the movie will be presented in the background in a similar fashion to the process of a Ken Burns feature documentary.
Martin Scorsese
Photo courtesy of World Cinema Foundation , Brigitte Lacombe, photographer