San Sebastián (EFE).- The film ‘Tasio’, which Montxo Armendáriz directed in 1984, is revived 40 years after its premiere thanks to the restoration of a copy in digital format and 4K resolution and will be screened in the section dedicated to classics from the Cannes Film Festival this May.
Relive in 4K
The renewed film, which will be screened next September at 72 Zinemaldia, was presented this Monday by Joxean Fernández and Bingen Zupiria, heads of the Basque Film Library and the Department of Culture of the Basque Government, the two institutions that have made it possible, in an event held at the Tabakalera center in San Sebastián with the Navarrese filmmaker himself.
As Fernández explained, the restoration work was carried out in the ‘L’immagine Ritrovata’ laboratories of the Bologna Cinematheque between October and November of last year. An original ‘Tasio’ tape that was kept by the Spanish Film Archive was used.
In Bologna, the deteriorated material has been first cleaned with ultrasound and repaired manually, to be later scanned and restored digitally, in a complex phased process that has included everything from image stabilization to the removal of scratches and dirt, through corrections of color and sound recovery.
Italian laboratory
Technical staff from the Euskadi film library and Armendáriz himself have controlled and participated in these works, which the veteran Navarrese filmmaker has thanked on behalf of the entire team that participated in the making of ‘Tasio’ for allowing him to have this second life.
He highlighted the emotion he felt when he saw, on the screen of the Italian laboratory, the frozen image of the frame with the title “perfectly outlined.” She then recalled its premiere – at the San Sebastian Film Festival – and the situations that surrounded its filming and editing. Also “the sensation” of reliving the original “light, color and texture.”
Montxo Armendáriz has remembered with nostalgia the deceased Elías Querejeta, who was the producer of ‘Tasio’ and whom technology “cannot restore.”
After confessing that he does not usually watch his films after they have been released, he has indicated that by now attending the screening of the restored film he has realized that, 40 years later, “the fundamental philosophy on life” of the charcoal burner “has taken on a new meaning.” sense”.
Natural balance
Based on the story of a real person, Anastasio Ochoa thought that “the mountain gave you everything you needed to live, as long as it was done respecting nature and in harmony.” He also “refused to work for others because it only served to enrich some.”
“This philosophy of Tasio” clashes with what “the human species has done.” Man, he has said, has insisted on “destroying the natural balance” with “an atrocious neoliberalism that commercializes everything,” he has declared.
The film is the first of “a restoration project of great classics of Basque cinematography” that the Film Library intends to develop. In addition to Cannes and Zinemaldia, the distributor Tamasa has bought the rights to screen it in theaters in France during 2025.
