Modern classics of Mexican cinema to be restored

A total of 32 Mexican films will be restored for their screening at international and domestic theaters, according to the Mexican Institute for Cinematography (IMCINE) .

The films, which include Arturo Ripstein's " El castillo de la pureza " (“The Castle of Purity”), and Alberto Issac's " El rincón de las vírgenes " (“The Corner of the Virgins,”) among other films made from the 70's to the 90's.

“We made a selection of films property of the Mexican Institute for Cinematography, already considered classics, even if they are modern,” said Héctor Ramírez, Deputy Director of Cultural Circuits and Files at the Institute.

Ramírez clarifies that even modern films need to be restored, depending on how many times the original negative was used to to make copies.

The restoration process consists in digitizing the material, removing visible strips or white spots, and then return the original color to the films.

“The Corner of the Virgins,” (1972) and "The Place Without Limits" (1978), which are part of that list, were recently screened at the National Cineteca.

According to Ramírez, the selection was made by a committee of experts in national cinema.

“They decided the films based on their historic, artistic, and cultural value,” adds Ramírez.

“Several [films] had some marks and color degradation , and this is something you have to fix frame by frame (there are 24 frames in a minute of film),” he says-

The restoration process is the joint effort of Churubusco Studios and the Cineteca.

According to an investigation made by EL UNIVERSAL last year, Mexican films made between 2010 and 2017 are at a greater risk of disappearing.

Pursuant to data obtained from the Statistics Yearly Books of IMCINE, close to 900 feature films and documentaries have been filmed yet only a third of them are housed at the vaults of the Cineteca or the National Film Archive, which control storing conditions such as temperature and handling.

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