Starts Thursday

DATELINE: Amsterdam, April 6, 2012

This evening the EYE Institute Netherlands (formerly Netherlands Filmmuseum) unveiled their spectacular new home on the northern shore of the Ij.  Also unveiled today was the Institute's new restoration of  the Paramount feature THE SPANISH DANCER (1923) directed by Herbert Brenon and starring Pola Negri and Antonio Moreno.  By all accounts the day was a spectacular success.  With great fanfare, the opening festivities featured Queen Beatrix officially opening the facility.  Most special to me has been seeing photos and videos from so many of my friends and former colleagues at EYE celebrating their new home.  

Today's events are special to me for several reasons.  Knowing how hard the people at EYE have worked, and being aware of the exceptionally difficult challenges they have faced over the past year, it is a joy seeing how happy everybody looks on this occasion.  I am also thrilled to see THE SPANISH DANCER presented to an appreciative audience, even though unfortunately I was not able to be present.  With my participation supported through a Haghefilm Foundation Fellowship, I lived in Amsterdam part time last year completing working with my good friends Annike and Elif (an unbeatable combination!) to complete the restoration,  In total we combined four different fragmentary print sources, only one of which had English titles, into a wonderful complete feature that now finally returns to the screen.  

Now that the film has premiered, when will American audiences have a chance to appreciate this newly restored gem?

Watch this space for further details...