The First Asian Film to Win the Venice Classics Award for Best Restored Film at Venice International Film Festival — Koroshi no Rakuin (Branded to Kill), the 4K Digitally Restored Version
The 4K digital restoration of Koroshi no Rakuin (Branded to Kill), directed by Seijun Suzuki and produced by Nikkatsu Corporation, received the Venice Classics Award for Best Restored Film at the 79th Venice International Film Festival. Imagica Entertainment Media Services, Inc. undertook the digital film restoration.
4K Digital Restoration of Koroshi no Rakuin (Branded to Kill)
In this restoration project, original negative film (35mm) preserved at Nikkatsu Corporation was picked as the source material. Physical repairs, film cleaning, 4K overscan, and digital restoration were carried out, followed by screen grading to complete the 4K digital restoration process. From the 4K digital source master, digital cinema packages (DCPs) were made for distribution to theaters.
Our restoration team initially conducted a thorough study of the film development technology of the time when the film was made (1967) using the documents provided courtesy of Nikkatsu Corporation, such as screenplays, production notes, and related publications.
In the grading process, our colorist, who had long been working on Nikkatsu films, took charge. The aim was to achieve a look as beautiful as the original film at the time of its first presentation. As much detailed information about the images as possible at 4K was extracted while preserving the original look of the film.
The team also researched how directions about sounds were given in the original film. Noises resulting from aging and other types of deterioration were carefully removed to restore the original, clear sounds. The focus was on emphasizing the effect of the sounds created by the initially designed well-balanced sounds.
Venice Classics Category of the Venice International Film Festival
Venice Classics is a selection of the finest classic film restorations made the prior year. This year marks the first time for a Japanese film to win the Best Restoration award, even though many Japanese films have been selected for this category since it was established in 2012.
Our company has been developing our restoration technologies by integrating our long-standing film laboratory expertise with digital imaging technologies and engaging in restoring films with history. It is a great honor for our company to see the film in which our restoration team worked to receive the prestigious award.
Koroshi no Rakuin (Branded to Kill), the 4K digitally restored version, will be shown as part of the Nikkatsu World Selection from Thursday, November 3 to Thursday, November 10, 2022, at Cine Switch Ginza and will be released nationwide after that.
