Martin Scorsese uses the new to show us the wonders of the old. Films restored by his World Cinema Foundation are now being promoted by the foundation widely through distribution to museums, colleges, festivals, film clubs, and ONLINE. You’ve got it digital copies are now available via the online movie theater, theauteurs. The even better news is that many of the restored films can be watched for free!
A lot of really old films are really great but I have to admit that I am one of those who find myself not giving most of them a chance. Scorsese knows this and that is why his foundation is working so hard to expose people to old masterpieces. As Scorsese said in a press con in France, “To be appreciated, they have to be seen. Now, they should be seen as they were intended to be seen, but audience awareness can build in surprising ways…The more audiences see these films, the more they want to see other films like them, then what happens is the audience changes, which means the movies that are being made change.”
Along with Martin Scorsese other celebrated directors such as Abbas Kiarostami, Wim Wenders, Stephen Frears, Guillermo del Toro and Alejandro González Iñárritu, who all serve in the board of the World Cinema Foundation, are very much active in pushing for the preservation of old obscure films.