Carried out by Video Mercury Films, streaming service FlixOlé and the ECAM Madrid Film School, the restoration project will be showcased at the Classic Film Market Re>Birth Programme during Lyon's Lumière Film Festival Glauber Rocha’s 1970 work “Cabezas Cortadas” (“Cutting Heads”) will be among the anticpated restorations in progress presented at this year’s International Classic Film Market (MIFC), taking place during the Lumière Film Festival in Lyon. The MIFC’s Re>Birth Programme showcases five ongoing or upcoming restoration projects as well as five recently restored films, selected for the Lumière Festival under the Lumière Classics label. Described as “one of the most unique and fascinating works in the history of Spanish cinema” as well as “one of the most unusual and misunderstood works” by Rocha, a leading figure of Brazil’s Cinema Novo movement, “Cabezas Cortadas” is being restored by sister companies Video Mercury Films and FlixOlé and the Madrid Film School (ECAM).
The film centers on Díaz II (played by Francisco Rabal), an exiled dictator haunted by his memories of repression and brutality as he descends into decadence and madness. The cast also included Pierre Clémenti, Marta May, Rosa María Penna, Emma Cohen and Luis Ciges. For some, according to FlixOlé, “it was an allegorical masterpiece, a visceral scream against tyranny, colonialism and the agony of dictatorial power.” For the general public and mainstream press, “it was unintelligible nonsense, unable to assimilate its fragmented aesthetic and excessive symbolism.” Indeed, not only was it a major flop, it is seen as a “cursed film” that all but disappeared from the history of Spanish cinema.
Rocha, in self-imposed exile from Brazil and its military dictatorship, shockingly realized his tale of fascism with the assistance of the Franco regime. The director initially presented the project under the title “Macbeth 70,” disguised as a harmless and very loose adaptation of Shakespeare, successfully obtaining official screenplay approval from the Spanish authorities and substantial state funding from the Franco government. We hope to have a new digital copy of the film ready by 2027.” Video Mercury Films is overseeing the digitization while ECAM is handling the grading and color correction.
Although the film has been digitized in full-screen format at 6K resolution, during the editing process, the final master will be cropped to remove perforations and elements that do not belong to the film’s original format, resulting in a genuine 4K resolution, without the need for re-scaling, López explains. As Spain’s biggest film rights owner, Video Mercury Films is a leading player in restoring heritage titles. The company holds the rights to “Cabezas Cortadas” and will oversee its distribution.
All worldwide rights and formats are available, with the exception of Brazil.The collaboration between Video Mercury Films, FlixOlé and ECAM reflects their common goal of preserving and raising the profile of Spanish films of great historical value that do not have digital copies available for distribution, López stresses. While a formal agreement has yet to finalized, the hope is that the collaboration will be extended to include more Spanish films in the future.
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