POLSELLI ARCHIVE, Read it and...weep?

[WANYON]

Hey guys....been a long time...=(

Just wanted to test the waters with regards to my possibly having to sell my entire Renato Polselli Archive or even a portion of it. =(

The entire archive of materials as a whole is of an estimated worth of well over £10,000 as far as values placed on poster materials by various professional specialist outlets/websites, etc. and tapes, etc. are also of varying (but hefty) values. There are many rare posters and some supremely rare ones. Many photos, stills, tapes, 8mm reels, etc. and even ad-mat printing blocks.

Would anyone have the money and passion to buy it up and continue to preserve it? Or would someone have the few thousand for the tapes alone? There are some seriously rare tapes and i believe just those tapes alone as a bulk purchase would be worth a few thousand...

As you know, i tend not to discuss what tapes i have acquired over the years for the book and archive due to wanting to get the book finished one day and out to highlight such things rather than have the sleeve images and info plastered all over forums and websites around the world and showing off things i have spent alot of time and money getting hold of. But i think you have an idea of the types of films i am on about and the sort of rarity these things go for. And if the right person with the big pockets/bank account comes forward with genuine interest i would be willing to discuss things in more detail....possibly...i am still making my mind up at the moment as i am loathe to part with any of it (it breaks my heart thinking about it even) but our current situation is horrible and we have suffered some upsetting times and everything seems to be falling apart around us after alot of planning and hope...=(

Facebook me preferably (as i have had little time to jump on here recently) or leave me a PM on here and i will try check in soon...

Hope all my fellow Cinepups are well....W.

[MARIOBAVA]

...

My friend Wayne, they are very sad news

[magnus]

Sorry to hear about the problems Wayne. Even if you have to part with the stuff i really hope you don´t give up the book project.
Best of luck with everything! (unfortunally i can´t buy the lot of you...)

[WANYON]

Thanks guys. Just been having some horrible times in the past week or so after life being so great as to be a dream. Still unsure what to do with the Archive/materials. Depends on whether someone steps forward in the coming few days with serious interest and a hefty offer. If not, then it will not help our current situation/emergency and the Archive will remain with me...

As for the book, it will still get done. Just trying to prioritize my life still and get organised. Still some materials missing that are vital to the book too. Saying that though, i hope to have some QUANDO L'AMORE E'OSCENITA' materials coming my way soon courtesy of a good friend...original materials for the original-titled film NOT the re-titled and re-worked version we know as OSCENITA'...

But my family is my life and i must get this sorted firstly. Everything else is second and can wait...it has to...

[MARIOBAVA]

Wayne, my question is stupid him you some day we will see "MANIA" ???

[WANYON]

I know as much as you do about when (or whether) MANIA will get a release. My guess is that it WILL get a release eventually but only if:

a) The original materials (negative/inter-negative or even inter-positive...even a high quality 1" master perhaps) are found. Presently, these original elements have not surfaced and only a 35mm print is currently known of.

the existing 35mm print archived in Rome is restored and a new print or master struck from it to preserve and for a release to be initiated (if the original high-quality elements cannot be found in the interim).

There is obviously a means for it to be seen these days. But the responsibility for that lays in the hands of the archive in Rome that hold the 35mm print that surfaced. The reason it has not been shown since the screening at the Trevi cinema in Rome back a few years ago is hazy but apparently it is because the condition of the print is not in the best shape and needs work to preserve it which, combined with the fact it is the ONLY currently known way of seeing the film, means they are keen to refrain from scheduling screenings as this MAY possibly be the only existing material for all we/they know and so must be cared for strictly until such a time when they have the time and money to devote the attention to restoring the condition of it (and possibly striking a fresh print from it). This is understandable, i am sure we all agree. However, it is about time someone started this work on it. The original elements were something that Renato and my friend Massimo spent several years searching for in various vaults, labs, archives, etc. and never found. This frustrated Renato greatly. Even the CSC, who are meant to retain a print in their archive for every film granted a certificate by the Italian film censor, was checked by Renato and Massimo years for an archive print of MANIA but had no record of one existing in their archives. That in itself is a strange thing, especially seeing as a print surfaced only a few years ago and was screened and is now archived there. Did they simply lack records for it? Did they lose records for it? Was the print belonging to a private collector and donated in recent years for preservation? Did the CSC stumble across a print during some vault-searching at an old cinema or company (or maybe in their own archives but mislabelled)? Or was it removed from the CSC by someone who had no right to remove it (which would be illegal and would mean someone inside the CSC allowed it or someone provided false documentation) and then later returned (in which case, why would someone remove such a rarity and then give it back?!). It is a weird situation, albeit one that may have answers amongst fans in Italy that i am currently unaware of. I certainly have never heard any reasons as to why or how the 35mm print suddenly appeared and for anyone to say it has always been archived at the CSC since the film was seen by the censor back in the 1970s would seem wrong based on the director himself having visited the CSC himself some years prior to his death in the belief that they may have a print archived only to find out that they did not...

There was talk of someone having run off with the original negative back in the 1970s and with some of the prints too. The story of why MANIA became so impossible to see or find has come in several versions over the years too, which makes it harder to assess just what happened. But, despite it being one of several theories, it is always a possibility that this did indeed run off with it after the embarassment of dealing with the censor's wrath and that of the religious bodies who also got involved and felt he wanted it buried and forgotten.

There is always hope though...and whilst that 35mm print exists under the CSC's archive arm, there is always the chance now of it being seen. You can bet your ass that the CSC will ensure the print does not deteriorate any further and will eventually work on it. Once they have done so (and if no original elements have surfaced by that time) you can also bet that some company will jump at the chance to work on a release. A shame though that it will be cut to some extent. But a cut version of such a super-rarity and near-lost film is far better than nothing at all, i am sure we all agree on THAT!

[MARIOBAVA]

very sad news and future doesn't seem to be good neither according to your comment wayne...

If i'm not wrong there was a meeting between B-cult's Antonio La Torre and NOSHAME but in the end they didn't arrived to an agree. R Polselli's daugther was also there...

I thought it was because they'd found it by their own and were trying to sell it to NOSHAME for restoratin y distribution on DVD¿?¿?¿?¿?.... I can see it didn't happend, my good Lord Wayne what a kick in the balls this is Wayne...

There must be a 35mm somewhere, filmoteca de Italia, for instance, maybe not¿? even I doubt it, there must be at least 6 or 7, maybe private collecions and sadly forgotten in some basement...

There's also a posibility it's on super 8 or another format, you never know if someone sold it by his own (something very usual those years) to someone outside Italy... Cavallone's ZELDA and AFRIKA were released in Spain and not in Italy, MANIA could be the same case...

Anyway, I'm very sad with this ...

Thanks to Mario (Argentina) for the translation

[WANYON]

Well, one 35mm exists so far under the watchful eye of the CSC in Rome, so that is a good start. And, like you say, there could be a few vaults still to search or even some private collectors who may have a print (perhaps collectors who are not so much cult-film fans but just happen to have a 35mm print of it that they acquired from a cinema closure, etc).

I know that Renato daughter attended the Trevi Cinema screening along with a representative from NoShame and also one or two other people but i have never heard of any information regarding NoShame, Bcult and Renato's daughter planning to cut a deal for the 35mm print back then to release it. I only heard of NoShame's supposed plans to give it a DVD release. This fell through for a number of reasons: firstly, NoShame were not a healthy company and were about to fold and, secondly, they did not have the rights for the film to release it.
The rights for MANIA were retained/owned by Renato until his last days and so now possibly are inherited by his family possibly. No documents are deposited at the CSC or elsewhere for the film's ownership and this was for that very reason...

[Mondo Pete]

that whole story of prints/negs etc appearing and then disappearing is such a familar one (especially in Italy, for some reason). I think the business there collapsed so fast and so spectacularly that companies were going oiut of business on a weekly basis and the labs coudln't keep up with who owned what and when so stuff was vanishing out of the door at a rate of knots. And now the guys who have the negs/prints are asking for insane money for access to things they don't really own. But with the tiny amounts of income these things now generate who's going to bother to pursue legal claims? I have quite a long list of films of which the elements are locked away in vaults in Italy that no-one can access unless huge and unrealistic sums change hands. And for a relative obscurity like Mania, its chances are even more limited. On the other hand, maybe it's good that some things remain hard to see. That's how "cult" films are created, not via the Best Buy bargain bin...

[WANYON]

I think alot of people will agree with you on that one Pete. I don't know why some of these people insist on holding us to ransom for access to various elements (and in many cases the rights). Pitiful really...
Renato owned the rights on MANIA until his death and so, hopefully, his family should have inherited those rights possibly. But no documents have ever been deposited at the film registration offices for the film.
LA VERITA' SECONDO SATANA is another sad tale. The original elements reappeared some years back in Renato's hands only to disappear some time later. The reasons for this are shady and will become apparent in time when my book gets finished. But at least the rights are available. Sure, they have not been deposited for many years but they exist in legitimate hands and with the proper signatures attached (unlike the rights i believe you told me some years ago you were offered by some French guy who claimed them to be legitimate rights for the film) and if Sarcophilous Films can get back on track we still have big plans for this one and OSCENITA'...