Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project, No. 2 (1931-2000)

[Scottie]

Established by Martin Scorsese in 2007, the Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project has maintained a passionate commitment to preserving and presenting masterpieces from around the globe, with a growing roster of more than two dozen restorations that have introduced moviegoers to often-overlooked areas of cinema history. This collector’s set gathers six important works, from the Philippines (Insiang), Thailand (Mysterious Object at Noon), Soviet Kazakhstan (Revenge), Brazil (Limite), Turkey (Law of the Border), and Taiwan (Taipei Story). Each title is an essential contribution to the art form and a window onto a filmmaking tradition that international audiences previously had limited opportunities to experience.

LIMITE
Mário Peixoto 1931
One of the earliest works of independent Latin American filmmaking, Limite was for most of the twentieth century famously difficult to see. It is a pioneering achievement of Brazilian cinema that continues to captivate with its timeless visual poetry.

https://www.criterion.com/films/28407-limite

REVENGE
Ermek Shinarbaev 1989
Rigorous and psychologically complex, Revenge weaves together luminous color imagery and inventive narrative elements in its unforgettable meditation on the way trauma can be passed down through generations.

https://www.criterion.com/films/29208-revenge

INSIANG
Lino Brocka 1976
A savage commentary on the degradation of urban social conditions under modern capitalism, Insiang introduced Filipino cinema to international audiences by being the first film from the country ever to play at Cannes.

https://www.criterion.com/films/29099-insiang

MYSTERIOUS OBJECT AT NOON
Apichatpong Weerasethakul 2000
As a recent film-school graduate, Apichatpong Weerasethakul brought an appetite for experimentation to Thai cinema with this debut feature, an uncategorizable work that refracts documentary impressions of the director’s native country through the concept of the exquisite corpse game.

https://www.criterion.com/films/2909...object-at-noon

LAW OF THE BORDER
Lütfi Ö. Akad 1966
Set along the Turkish-Syrian frontier, this terse, elemental tale of smugglers contending with a changing social landscape combines documentary authenticity with a tough, lean poetry.

https://www.criterion.com/films/28415-law-of-the-border

TAIPEI STORY
Edward Yang 1985
Edward Yang’s mournful anatomy of a city caught between the past and the present illuminates the precariousness of domestic life and the desperation of Taiwan’s globalized modernity.

https://www.criterion.com/films/29110-taipei-story

2K, 3K, or 4K digital restorations of all six films, presented courtesy of the World Cinema Project in collaboration with the Cineteca di Bologna, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks on the Blu-rays
Remastered digital soundtrack of Limite created almost entirely from archival recordings of the same musical performances director Mário Peixote and his musical arranger Brutus Pedreira originally selected to accompany the film, presented in uncompressed monaural sound on the Blu-ray
New introductions to the films by World Cinema Project founder Martin Scorsese
New interview programs featuring film historian Pierre Rissient (on Insiang), director Apichatpong Weerasethakul (on Mysterious Object at Noon), director Ermek Shinarbaev (on Revenge), filmmaker Walter Salles (on Limite), producer Mevlüt Akkaya (on Law of the Border), and actor and cowriter Hou Hsiao-hsien with filmmaker Edmond Wong (on Taipei Story)
Updated English subtitle translations
Three Blu-rays and six DVDs, with all content available in both formats
PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by Phillip Lopate, Dennis Lim, Kent Jones, Fábio Andrade, Bilge Ebiri, and Andrew Chan

Cover by Jason Hardy

https://www.criterion.com/boxsets/12...a-project-no-2