Story perspectives

Cannes Classics Opens with 4K “Pan’s Labyrinth” Restoration

5/6/2026

Summary

Cannes Opens Classics

Cannes Festival opened its Classics strand on May 12 with a 4K restoration of Guillermo del Toro’s *Pan’s Labyrinth*.
The program, honoring Dean Tavoularis, presented 21 restored features, three shorts and six documentaries, including *The Fast and the Furious*, *Moonlighting* and *Sugata Sanshiro*.
Guests such as Guillermo del Toro, Bruce Dern, Laura Dern, Artavazd Pelechian, Jia Zhang-Ke and Zhao Tao attended screenings and documentaries like *The Story of Documentary Film (The 70s)*.

Summary

Archives Restore Classics

Toho released a 4K Kurosawa’s 1943 Sugata Sanshiro with a restored 12-minute sequence.
Cinémathèque française and Library of Congress restored Welles’s 1945 thriller The Stranger from negatives.
Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project supplied a 4K print of Plyta’s 1953 drama Eva.
France’s CNC and Library of Congress digitized Malraux’s 1938 film Espoir (Sierra de Teruel) from nitrate.
Film Heritage Foundation restored Abraham’s 1986 Indian film Amma Ariyan from two prints.

History

Historical Context

Early institutional efforts began when MoMA started collecting films in 1935 and the Cinémathèque Française opened in 1936. Decades later, Congress passed the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, creating the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry, which each year selects 25 culturally significant titles. The Registry’s support spurred worldwide restoration projects.

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Cannes Opens Classics

Cannes Festival opened its Classics strand on May 12 with a 4K restoration of Guillermo del Toro’s *Pan’s Labyrinth*.
The program, honoring Dean Tavoularis, presented 21 restored features, three shorts and six documentaries, including *The Fast and the Furious*, *Moonlighting* and *Sugata Sanshiro*.
Guests such as Guillermo del Toro, Bruce Dern, Laura Dern, Artavazd Pelechian, Jia Zhang-Ke and Zhao Tao attended screenings and documentaries like *The Story of Documentary Film (The 70s)*.

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