A restored 4K version of Charlie Chaplin‘s classic silent comedy “The Gold Rush” is set to have its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival ahead of a global release timed exactly 100 years to the day that it first screened at the Egyptian Theater in Los Angeles.
Backed by French sales, production and distribution company mk2 Films, the restored 1925 masterpiece — which alongside starring Chaplin as his famous Tramp character, was written, produced, directed by the icon and is still one of his most celebrated works — has been given the prestigious pre-opening slot in Cannes, serving as the curtain raiser to the Cannes Classics section.
“After ‘La Maman et la Putain’ by Jean Eustache in 2022, and ‘Napoléon’ by Abel Gance last year, this year’s Cannes Classics will open with none other than the never-before-seen 4K restoration of Charlie Chaplin’s ‘The Gold Rush,’” said Cannes festival director Thierry Frémaux. “As we celebrate 130 years since the invention of the Lumière brothers’ cinematograph, Chaplin’s much-loved classic — blending adventure, romance and comedy — will mark its centenary with a special premiere on the Croisette!”
Following its Cannes premiere, the newly restored “The Gold Rush” will be released in cinemas worldwide simultaneously on 26 June. Organized by mk2, the global rollout will include more than 250 screenings spanning over 70 territories on the same day, in collaboration with a network of local distributors, including mk2 (France), Janus Films (U.S. and U.K.), Cineteca di Bologna (Italy), A Contracorriente (Spain), StudioCanal (Germany), Budapest Film (Hungary), Mars Production (Turkey), Lev Cinemas (Israel), Kadokawa (Japan), Cinetopia (Spanish-speaking Latin America) and Yema Distribution (Sub-Saharan Africa) as well as theatres and cinema networks worldwide, such as: Broadway Cinematheque (via Edko, Hong Kong), New Horizons (Poland), Cine Paris (via Cinobo, Greece) Kino Moscow (Armenia). More are set to be announced.
To accompany the re-release, a new international poster has been unveiled, presenting a fresh design that aim to honour the timeless image of the Tramp.
“We have been working on Chaplin’s oeuvre for nearly thirty years, with the goal of giving back to each and every film all the beauty originally imagined by its author,” said Gian Luca Farinelli, director of La Cineteca di Bologna. “Each of Chaplin’s feature films has etched itself into the memory, cultural formation, and sentimental education of several generations of people. What more can Chaplin tell us? To answer this question, one must watch his films and realize that contemporary audiences laugh at the very same scenes people laughed at a hundred years ago.”
Added Farinelli: “The new restoration of The Gold Rush is based on Kevin Brownlow’s research, and, thanks to new technologies and the discovery of new materials, it will bring us even closer to the version first screened on June 26, 1925.”
The 4K restoration was made possible by the elements created by Photoplay for the 1994 restoration produced by Roy Export and by materials made available by BFI National Archive, Blackhawk Films and The Lobster Films Collection, Das Bundesarchiv, Filmoteca de Catalunya, George Eastman Museum, MoMA – Museum of Modern Art.
“We are delighted to see this centennial release made possible through our long-standing collaboration with mk2 Films, Cineteca di Bologna and L’Immagine Ritrovata, ensuring that audiences worldwide can rediscover the film with unparalleled clarity,” said Arnold Lozano, director of Roy Export. “Audiences will experience the film’s rich detail, emotional depth, and its perfect blend of adventure, comedy and romance on the big screen like never before.”
First released in 1925, “The Gold Rush” — featuring Chaplin’s memorable “roll dance” — was met with instant critical acclaim. In 1942, Chaplin re-released a “talkie” version, featuring sound effects, music and narration, which would receive two Academy Award nominations (the original out four years before the first Oscars). In 1992, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
