Stop Making Sense 2023 Restoration: Difference between revisions

As part of the deal with the film's original distributor, Cinecom, the ownership of the rights to ''Stop Making Sense'' reverted back to Byrne, Weymouth, Frantz, and Harrison shortly before the 40th anniversary of its original release. Hoping to commemorate the occasion, the group sought out potential companies to partner with on a re-release, eventually settling on [[A24]]. A24 announced they had obtained the distribution rights in March 2023, and revealed plans to release a 4k restoration in theaters the following September.

[[James Mockoski]], a restoration supervisor who primarily worked with Zoetrope studios, was called in by A24. Although seeking out as much of the original materials as possible for the restoration, it was soon reveled that the original [[Negative (photography)|negative]] for the film was missing. For the 1999 re-release of the film, had used scans made from a "copy of a copy" of the film that Demme had donated to the University of Michigan.<ref name=":0">Baine, Wallace. “UCSC Alum’s Detective Work Revives Classic Talking Heads Concert Film.” ''Lookout Santa Cruz'', 11 July 2024, lookout.co/ucsc-alums-detective-work-revives-classic-talking-heads-concert-film/. Accessed 18 July 2024.</ref> Mockoski remarked in a Rolling Stone write up of the restoration that "''I wanted to know what they were working with, and she told me that the Talking Heads’ manager [<nowiki/>[[Tomas Cookman]]] had got everything in from the previous distributor. They sent me a list, and there were almost no film elements included. There might have been, like, one screening print, and that was it. I asked, ‘So, where’s the negative?’ And the answer was, ‘Well, it should all be there.’ Which was … not quite the case. Not at all.''”<ref>Fear, David. “Big Suits, Lost Tapes, and Dancing Heads: Inside A24’S Incredible “Stop Making Sense” Restoration.” ''Rolling Stone'', 27 Sept. 2023, www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/stop-making-sense-talking-heads-restoration-david-byrne-a24-40th-anniversary-1234828312/.</ref>

After an extensive search, the original negative for the film was found in an [[wikipedia:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM]] film vault, despite MGM not having been involved in the making of the film. The story goes that Mockoski, after exhausting all other options, and even beginning some restoration work on the "copy of a copy" film, called a contact he knew at the vault. Although the vault doubted they had the film in the collection, they still agreed to check. After about 10 minutes, Mockoski recieved a text message from the vault with a photo of the original negative and the message "It’s just been sitting here for 30 years. It’s never been checked out."<ref name=":02">Baine, Wallace. “UCSC Alum’s Detective Work Revives Classic Talking Heads Concert Film.” ''Lookout Santa Cruz'', 11 July 2024, lookout.co/ucsc-alums-detective-work-revives-classic-talking-heads-concert-film/. Accessed 18 July 2024.</ref>

== IMAX Release ==