70mm Promotion Tour 2010 to Los Angeles
On May 28 Johan Wolthuis had an appointment with Andrew Oran vice-president of FotoKem in Burbank (World's Only Complete 65/70mm Film and Digital Post Facility). Andrew invited me to their screening room to show me what they had reached sofar in the digital restoration of “The Sound of Music”, ordered by 20th Century Fox . They were very proud of the result with the 8K scanning of the negative, which is a very time-consuming and difficult work. But the result of the 4K digital master was really amazing and spectacular, never before had I seen so sharp images of the “Sound of Music”! To compair they showed me also some restored images on 70mm film, which were also great, but the digital images looked undoubtedly better, no flicker and a steady image. It shows that the future of restored 70mm films will/can also be digital.
On May 29 I was invited for dinner in a cosy restaurant by Robert (Bob) Dickson (72) a former documentary film maker and historian, who is still working at the Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in L.A.. I was happy to meet him again after 10 years. He bought three books “Digital & 65mm” and complimented me upon this new colourful publication.
Sunday May 30 evening I had a presentation of books and posters in the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica during a 70mm screening of “Lawrence of Arabia”. 400 seats and a full house for this famous film!
Some people came to my table during the intermission asking: “What does it exactly mean, that 70mm!” So I had a lot to explain and a lot of nice conversations. Luckily I had some pieces of 70mm and 35mm with me so I could show the difference. But the majority of the visitors was more interested in popcorn. I also met David Niggeman, a young and passionate filmmaker who lives in Santa Monica and is currently preparing for his first feature film. “Technique is tool, but story is eventually key”, said Niggeman (20), who is originally from Germany and has come to the States to work his way into Hollywood. “It's not easy out here, but I always said that no one with a camera and a dream should ever give up or take 'no' for an answer.” We wish him loads of luck1
On Wednesday 2 June I had my last appointment before flying back to The Netherlands with Mark Magidson producer of the famous 70mm film “Baraka”. We met in an internet café (the Rumor Mill) opposite my hotel. Mark bought some books and a tube with 10 70mm composite posters (with Baraka on top!). On my question about the new 70mm sequel “Samsara”, Mark told me that the shooting was still not finished, but he hoped the film could be completed before the end of this year.
