The Global Best Rediscovery Restored DVD Award Goes to a DVD Restored by BRICKBOX DIGITAL MEDIA
The jury of the Il Cinema Ritrovato, an international festival of archived and restored films held in Bologna, Italy, decided that the Best Rediscover Forgotten Film worldwide is Vančura’s love story Marijka nevěrnice (Maria the Unfaithful) from 1934, launched a few weeks ago by FILMEXPORT HOME VIDEO s.r.o. on a DVD. The DVD including all digital restoration work has been prepared by the team of BRICKBOX DIGITAL MEDIA s.r.o.
This success is all the more pleasing since BRICKBOX DIGITAL MEDIA has been cooperating with FILMEXPORT HOME VIDEO for several years, during which these two firms completed numerous joint and also very successful projects, such as Zeman’s Bláznova kronika (The Jester’s Tale) or Smrt si říká Engelchen (Death is Called Engelchen). The two firms are in the near future going to work jointly on other films from this director: Tam na konečné (There at the Terminal) or Tonka šibenice (Tonka of the Gallows).
Apart from Bláznova kronika or Argento’s horrors of the 1970’s, Marijka nevěrnice has been one of the films that required the restoration team of BRICKBOX DIGITAL MEDIA to render truly a special and very exclusive care. The digital restoration specialists focused on removing insufficiencies primarily due to the film’s age, and produced a film in a quality corresponding to a very unique DVD issue as apart from the said film, the DVD also contains numerous bonus tracks.
In terms of video restoring, the film had to be cleaned of various dirt particles and film flaws and some frames had to be newly created. The flaws were in particular due to aging, i.e., also the type of film material used at the time of recording. Furthermore, the team had to remedy mechanical damage caused by frequent rerecording. The restoration tasks of the audio department primarily involved noise corrections and video and audio synchronization. At some points the cracking was so enormous that it had to be removed manually. In addition, it was necessary to filter away the power frequency and its higher harmonic components and to eliminate the DC offset.
The DVD with the Marijka nevěrnice film, available in the 4:3 aspect ratio, contains the Czech audio track in Dolby Digital 2.0 (Stereo), English and Czech subtitles including subtitles for the deaf. Added have also been numerous bonus tracks that include film commentaries, bibliographies and filmographies, contemporary documentation and reactions from the press of that time, photographs and short films under the titles “Spring in Carpathian Ruthenia”, “Carpathian Ruthenia” and “Song of Carpathian Ruthenia”.
The ballad-style love story realistically describes life in Carpathian Ruthenia in the 1930’s and captures not only its poverty and backwardness but also boiling passions leading to irreversible acts. A classic love triangle is a popular theme that can appeal even to the present-day audience.
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ABOUT BRICKBOX DIGITAL MEDIA
BRICKBOX DIGITAL MEDIA s.r.o. is a leading provider of services in optical and digital media processing and production in Central and Eastern Europe. The company provides a wide range of services covering the entire product lifecycle – from content management and processing to the production, distribution, repackaging and recycling of optical media.
Over the long years of its market presence, BRICKBOX DIGITAL MEDIA has gained abundant experience, evidenced by the recent media acclaim for the restoration of the horror classics of Suspiria and Day of the Dead.