Event

Red Shoes

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1948, USA, 35mm, 133 min)

A Technicolor classic based on Hans Christian Andersen's tale of magic ballet slippers whose wearer cannot stop dancing, The Red Shoes tracks a ballerina's rise to the lead role in a ballet version of the well-known story. As Powell noted of the film's role in a postWorld War II free world, "For 10 years we had all been told to go out and die for freedom and democracy; but now the war was over, The Red Shoes told us to go out and die for art." A landmark in film style and themes, The Red Shoes has become a touchstone to cineastes, lovers of dance and filmmakers ranging from Vincente Minnelli to Martin Scorsese. Its astounding production design, music and choreography, and its shockingly sumptuous color palette and revolutionary treatment of dance on film now may be rediscovered and savored anew. This new 35mm print debuted at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.