Storytelling has always been linked to the ability to rework and rewrite, leading to moments of rebirth.\u00a0Cinema is no exception.<\/p>\n
A story unfolds and is transformed into a cinematic narrative whether from world events (and how those events are told) or from personal reflections that later emerge. Existing stories in different mediums, whether as a book, a work of art, or a video game, take on another life on the cinematic screen. Even a musical composition can be transformed.<\/p>\n
However, let\u2019s concentrate on literature and its relation to cinema. Again this year, several of the programme\u2019s films derive from books: at times the book itself is more well-known than the film, at other times the opposite; the question remains the same, which is better, the book or the film?<\/em><\/p>\n In the following sections of the festival we find:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Recovered and Restored<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Highlights: A particularly dense section of the festival, full of masterpieces and cult films restored to their original splendor, so famous that they sometimes hide interesting backstories… such as the literary works to which they are indebted, equally famous or often hardly known, yet nevertheless worthy of\u00a0 attention. In the same section: <\/p>\n One Hundred Years Ago: 1924<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Highlights: Gabriellino D’Annunzio and Georg Jacoby’s Quo vadis? <\/i><\/b>(1924), based on the novel of the same name by Polish author Henryk Sienkiewicz (1895), who achieved international fame and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1905 thanks to this work.<\/p>\n In the same section: <\/p>\n Gustaf Molander, the Actresses\u2019 Director<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Highlights: Molander’s diptych consisting of Ingmarsarvet<\/i><\/b> (1925) and Till \u00d6sterland<\/i><\/b> (1926), which we can consider the epilogue of the golden age of Swedish silent film, are both derived from famous literary works (the first and second novels of Selma Lagerl\u00f6f’s Jerusalem<\/i> saga).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\nFor example, did you know that Spielberg’s Jaws<\/i><\/b> (1975) has a novel behind it? Written by Peter Benchley of the same name (1974), quickly becoming a bestseller with over twenty million copies sold worldwide. What about Hellraiser<\/i><\/b> by director Clive Barker (1987), based on the book The Hellbound Heart<\/i><\/b> (1986) by the same Barker? Or Max Frisch’s anti-rationalist novel Homo Faber<\/i><\/b> (1957), which we find at the festival in Voyager<\/i><\/b> directed by Viktor Schl\u00f6ndorff (1991)? Not to mention classic authors such as Robert Louis Stevenson, with his short story The Body Snatcher<\/i><\/b>, later inspiring dark film adaptations of the same name such as by Robert Wise (1945).<\/p>\n
\nJulien Duvivier’s P\u00e9p\u00e9 le Moko <\/i><\/b>(1937), based on the novel of the same name by Jacques Krauss.
\nJohn Ford’s The Searchers <\/i><\/b>(1956), from the novel of the same name by Alan Le May.
\nJohnny Got His Gun<\/i><\/b>, directorial debut of Dalton Trumbo at the age of 66 in 1971, from his novel of the same name from 30 years prior.
\nHarry K\u00fcmel’s Malpertuis <\/i><\/b>(1971), based on the novel by Jean Ray.
\nDeliverance<\/i><\/b> by John Boorman (1972), based on the novel by James Dickey (1970).
\nPhase IV<\/i><\/b> by Saul Bass (1974), based on Empire of the Ants<\/i><\/b>, the short story by H.G. Wells.<\/p>\n
\nThe Paul Street Boys<\/i><\/b> (A P\u00e1l utcai fi\u00fak), a Hungarian children’s novel written by Ferenc Moln\u00e1r, on which B\u00e9la Balogh based his film.
\nUsagi to Kame<\/i><\/b> by Sanae Yamamoto is based on Aesop’s fable.
\nThe Saga of Gosta Berling<\/i><\/b> by Mauritz Stiller comes from a novel by Swedish writer Selma Lagerl\u00f6f (1891).<\/p>\n