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Night Riders are heading to Lyon

Digitally restored film Night Riders (1981) by Martin Hollý will world premiere at the of one of the largest and most respected international festivals of the classic film Lumière Festival in Lyon (October 10 - 18, 2020). This is the fourth digitally restored film from the collections of the National Film Archive of the SFI that festival has selected for its program in the past four years.

The festival draws attention to essential films from the history of cinema and helps classic cinema to stay alive. The program is dedicated to restored classic films, retrospectives and tributes to significant filmmakers. The Lumière Classics label covers three program sections including Treasures from Archives Around the World which highlights the little-known and yet indispensable movies as Night Riders.

Night Riders captures two strong individualities facing each other. They fought for the same ideals of freedom in the Great War. If they met in the trenches they would be friends now. After the war, Edo Halva joined the service of newly established republic to protect its law and maintain the order. Marek Orban returned to his village to secure better life for his people with a plan that requires money. A lot of it. He crosses the border every night smuggling horses. During the day, the two men respect each other. At night they shoot to kill without blinking an eye. One wears a uniform, the other is an outlaw. Each of them fights in the name of his own truth.

The selection of a film for the Lumière Festival program is always a great chance for the archive institutions to bring back the attention for some of their classic films. Night Riders is the fourth Slovak digitally restored film to be presented at the festival. In 2017, the festival introduced a feature-length animated film The Bloody Lady (1980) by Viktor Kubal, a year after, a tragicomedy The Barnabáš Kos Case (1964) by Peter Solan and at the latest festival’s edition Wild Lilies (1972) by Elo Havetta was premiered. "Since 2017, the festival organizers have included in the program every year a Slovak film, digitally restored by the Slovak Film Institute," explains Marian Hausner, director of the National Film Archive of the Slovak Film Institute (SFI), who supervises the digitization and restoration of classic films. "For us, this is another confirmation of the meaningfulness of the digitization workplace at the Slovak Film Institute, built in 2014, which is key to the presentation and accessibility of Slovak film heritage."

As part of the festival, the SFI will also online participate in the Marché International du Film Classique (October 13 – 16, 2020).

Screenings:
October 15 / 19:30 / Institut Lumière
October 16 / 18:15 / Pathé Bellecour

Web:
http://www.festival-lumiere.org/en/

Related AIC articles:
Digitally restored Wild Lilies at Lumière Festival 2019
Viktor Kubal Retrospective in Sitges and The Barnabáš Kos Case in Lyon
Digitally restored animated film Bloody Lady at Lumière festival 2017

published: 07.10.2020
updated: 07.10.2020