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Zulu - Public Showing - rights etc
Carl Daeche


Joined: 27 Jul 2006
Posts: 45
Location: Broadstairs
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Hi,

Can anyone help me? I am at the planning stage for a Zulu event on the south East coast of Kent. One opportunity is to show the movie ZULU in a local cinema.

I need some help. I have a contact in Film production who is looking into getting an original copy of the movie ( mind you I think playing the HD on blu ray will be a better picture) but I have no idea about any copyright or public showing costs etc.

Can anyone help me? Sheldon are you out there?

PS. Do let me have your thoughts on a Zulu event on the SE coast?

Carl
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Sheldon Hall


Joined: 01 Sep 2005
Posts: 377
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Hi Carl,

ZULU is distributed by Paramount and they have a couple of 35mm prints left over from the original theatrical release(s) still in circulation. They are available for hire, something which can probably be handled by the cinema itself. Showing a Blu-ray or DVD on a big screen is certainly possible in a non-theatrical venue (a lecture theatre or church hall, say) but the rights to this too would have to be negotiated with Paramount and a fee paid; the British Federation of Film Societies might be able to help with setting up a non-theatrical screening.

So really, it all depends on the venue you choose, whether you open the event up to the general public, and whether you sell tickets or charge an entry fee. How much you pay as a fee will depend on each of these options (the booking and transport fee for a 35mm print will not be much more than the fee for showing a Blu-ray or DVD, but the terms are different depending on whether or not it's a commercial screening).

Hope this helps!
Sheldon
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leightarrant


Joined: 21 Feb 2006
Posts: 131
Location: East Sussex
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Hi Carl - May I suggest you try Hailsham Pavilion in East Sussex, they hold these kind of events in their old fashioned complex. Look them up on the internet. They can give you advice on how to go about doing such an event.
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rich


Joined: 01 May 2008
Posts: 897
Location: Long Island NY USA
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Sheldon...regarding the 35mm prints...I'm just wondering if digital copies say of Zulu will make the go-round of theaters soon. What do you think?
I know some theaters aren't geared up for it but I'd think the digital presentation could give a "better" image on the screen and consequently a better film experience for the viewers. I only note this beacuse if we recall we have the "vinyl" aficionados (old media) knocking the cd ("new" media) saying the cd doesn't reproduce sound as well as vinyl.

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Sheldon Hall


Joined: 01 Sep 2005
Posts: 377
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Hi Rich,
If you mean a digital re-release, I doubt it - a number of older films have been digitally restored and reissued in the UK (new digital prints of the Bond film FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE will be released in April), but I don't think that "Zulu" will be one of them. The cost of making a digital "print" of a movie for theatrical projection is much less than making a 35mm print, but the cost of marketing a re-release is much the same no matter what the format!
Having said that, a cinema equipped with professional digital projectors is perfectly capable of showing both regular domestic DVDs and Blu-ray discs with often spectacularly good results. I have often seen DVDs shown in art-house cinemas when a 35mm print is not available and the visual quality is beyond what I would have expected. (The discs still have to be licensed from the distributor and/or copyright holder as a film print would.)
Blu-ray would be even better, and if most of the reports I've heard are correct then projecting the Blu-ray of "Zulu" should give outstanding results. My reservation is based on the minority reports I've heard that the digital transfer shows too much artificial enhancement of the film image (something that would be evident in any digital format, whether intended for domestic or theatrical projection). It might look great, but it might not look exactly like a FILM ought to look! (See the one or two hostile user comments on the Blu-ray on the Amazon websites.)
Sheldon
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rich


Joined: 01 May 2008
Posts: 897
Location: Long Island NY USA
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Very good overview Sheldon....Your last few sentences really interest me because they impinge on the viewer experience in the new digital film environment and I think there's some merit in that criticism on "artifical enhancement". With me, when I view a film I always seem to be checking off on "how it looks" and it's nearness to "reality". Sometimes I don't like it when it's so "nice" if you get my drift. For example, they put out Day the Earth Stood Still out on blu ray but I think it was perfectly fine in the original b&w. Is it better much "cleaned" up in blu? Probably an aesthetic call, eh? On the other hand, you certainly know about Sirk and his films. I would think they'd really jump out in blu-ray and really add to his artistic work. If his work was "artifically enhanced", I think he would love it with the way he shot his films!... Cool

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leightarrant


Joined: 21 Feb 2006
Posts: 131
Location: East Sussex
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Hi Sheldon - Where is the print (and what was the print?) shown at Bradford three years ago. Is it still in existance? Can it be hired? Whats the likelehood of it being shown again? Also, what would have been the 'print' shown in the cinerama cinema back in 1972? Would this still be in the archives somewhere? Thanks in advance. Leigh.
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Sheldon Hall


Joined: 01 Sep 2005
Posts: 377
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Hi Leigh,
The print shown at Bradford was Paramount's mint-condition archive print, which had been flown in by the BFI for a Michael Caine retrospective at the NFT on London's Suth Bank and which we managed to "borrow" for the Widescreen Weekend. It was returned to Los Angeles shortly thereafter, but I daresay it could be brought back for some other special event (though air freight costs are not cheap!).
The 70mm print shown at the London Casino Cinerama in 1972 (and which toured regional cinemas for the next year or so afterwards) was, I'm told, imported from South Africa (it had played Cinerama theatres there in 1969 and possibly also on first release in 1964-5). As far as I know it's no longer in the country. I made extensive inquiries with South African archives to see if they had it, but they don't. I've never seen a 70mm print of the film, nor I know of the existence of one, so if anyone out there knows better please tell me!
Sheldon
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leightarrant


Joined: 21 Feb 2006
Posts: 131
Location: East Sussex
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Thanks Sheldon, Interesting to note that out there 'somewhere' is a 70mm print....so the Bradford showing was a 35mm archive print...question is, would the 70mm print have looked a a whole lot better on such a widescreen compared to the shown 35mm 'archive' print on that day?
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Sheldon Hall


Joined: 01 Sep 2005
Posts: 377
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The fact that there used to be one or more 70mm prints in the 1970s doesn't mean that there are any left today - they were probably junked long ago, though it's possible a collector has picked one up somehow. Prints of this vintage are usually badly colour-faded and worn, so the pristine 35mm print was probably the better option visually; however, it had mono sound rather than the six-track stereo of a 70mm print - you win some, you lose some!
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rich


Joined: 01 May 2008
Posts: 897
Location: Long Island NY USA
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...."junked long ago"....

Amazing...You know you'd think movie co's would have a dedicated individual who would put at least a few prints away for all time where you wouldn't have to worry about it being lost, stolen, destroyed, faded et etc.
When Zulu was first made wasn't one print put in a vault or something???

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Sheldon Hall


Joined: 01 Sep 2005
Posts: 377
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You'd think so, wouldn't you? The American majors do usually keep one or more fresh prints as reference copies (at least of major movies), though by definition they are not likely to be made available for public screening. I'm not sure that British companies did the same. Usually all prints made were "working" copies and even the ones deposited in Archives like the BFI's were old, worn release prints rather than new copies.

The fact that so many films have been lost in their entirety (around 88% of all silent films, it's been estimated) is due to lack of care for commercial products which, once they'd done their duty, were largely considered worthless and not worth keeping. Even negatives were often junked, and many have been lost through accidents such as fires (including the negative of "Citizen Kane"!). The recent fire at Universal's vauilts in LA destroyed over a thousand prints of old movies (though apparently no negs).

In the 1960s it was realised that no 35mm prints or negatives of John Ford's "Stagecoach" (an independent production) were known to exist anywhere in the world except for John Wayne's personal print, which he loaned to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences for copying and preservation; it's been said that all prints of the film in circulation today (including the DVD) derive from this one source.
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leightarrant


Joined: 21 Feb 2006
Posts: 131
Location: East Sussex
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Which of course leads us on to the ALAMO and the lost 31 minutes, which, depending on what source you find on the internet, there is this footage somewhere. I'm quite surprised that the duke himself never had his own full length version put away in his own vault for safekeeping, much like he did for STAGECOACH. It is quite incredible to think that loads of classic movies have been lost over the years, considering how much a film cost to make then and now. Everybody check their attics and garages please!!
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rich


Joined: 01 May 2008
Posts: 897
Location: Long Island NY USA
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Sheldon/Leigh..

Boy, I am simply astounded at that state of film affairs. Truly the industry was short-sighted and absolutely negliegent in protecting "the
work". On the other hand, I can understand it beacuse it was the same with archaeological finds where they were simply thought of as throw-aways and not felt as subjects to be studied and revered. I don't know. Perhaps we should exult that "Zulu" from that ancient year of 1964 AD is still around!.... Cool

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Zulu - Public Showing - rights etc
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