Park Circus

We are extremely proud to announce the international premiere of Sony Pictures' sparkling new 4K restoration of THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI on Sunday 17 October at 5pm, Odeon West End.

Inspired by real life events, David Lean’s first Hollywood epic stars Alec Guinness, William Holden and Jack Hawkins. The film, originally released in 1957 and based upon the novel by Pierre Boulle, centres around the story of a British Colonel and his men, imprisoned in a Japanese prisoner of war camp and forced to labour in building the infamous bridge. The title won seven Academy (including Best Picture and Best Director) and four BAFTA awards.

THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI has been digitally restored by Sony Pictures, using the latest 4K film restoration process from the original negatives, to create Digital Cinema Prints. Following its London debut, Park Circus will begin a worldwide rollout of the film.

Pathé Productions' fully restored version of Jean Renoir's 1932 classic BOUDU SAVED FROM DROWNING (Boudu sauvé des eaux) screened to an excellent reception at this year’s Cannes International Film Festival and will receive its UK Premiere at the LFF on Tuesday 19 October at 6.30pm, BFI Southbank, NFT1.

A Parisian bookseller, Lestingois, fishes Boudu, a vagrant, out of the Seine after seeing the man throw himself into the river. He befriends the tramp and puts him up at home. Boudu's coarse and irreverent behaviour shocks the whole household at first but he agrees to change his appearance and Madame Lestingois succumbs to his charms. Boudu, however, only has eyes for the maid, who happens to be the bookseller's mistress. Events take a different turn when Boudu wins the lottery…

The restoration was carried out through a 2K digitalisation of the original nitrate negative and a safety print. The film's grading was completely revised by Isabelle Julien, renowned for her work in this field (and recently on the restoration of La Dolce Vita). The work was carried out at the Immagine Ritrovata laboratories in Bologna and at Digimage, Paris. Park Circus will re-release BOUDU SAVED FROM DROWNING theatrically from 17 December, followed by a Blu-Ray release in 2011.

Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by William Inge, PICNIC (1955), gained director Joshua Logan an Academy Award nomination for Best Director. In a beautiful restoration from Sony Pictures, this romantic drama will be screening on Saturday 16 October at 4pm, BFI Southbank, NFT 1.

Starring Hollywood’s ‘Golden Boy’ William Holden and stunning Hitchcock heroine Kim Novak, the film tells the story of the effects a handsome stranger’s arrival has on a small Kansas town. The morning of a Labor Day picnic, a drifter called Hal Carter blows into town to visit his old fraternity friend Alan Benson, the son of the richest man in town. When he meets Madge Owens, the town beauty queen and Alan Benson’s girlfriend, emotions are ignited.

This Academy Award-winning (Best Art Direction and Best Film Editing) title has been newly restored by Sony Pictures. After being scanned at 4K, considerable digital restoration was undertaken and a new 35mm colour negative was recorded. The digital workflow allows the film to be shown in the original 2.55:1 aspect ratio, which would normally have been cut off on the left side due to printing the optical soundtrack. Digitally, Sony Pictures was able to record the negative to 'fit' the 2.55 within the traditional 2.35 frame, so that we can now see the film as it was intended. Park Circus is pleased to handle the international theatrical distribution of the picture on behalf of Sony Pictures.