A pioneering Swiss melodrama, shot in 1934 by an Estonian born in the Russian Empire who fled the Bolshevik Revolution, has won a new lease of life after meticulous restoration. Swissinfo met the restorers at a film festival in Bologna to talk about the kidnap drama Rapt – a commercial flop at the time of its release but now widely viewed as a milestone in Swiss cinema. The courtyard of the Cine Lumière at the Cineteca di Bologna serves as a meeting place for film lovers, archivists, and critics all year round, but especially during Il Cinema Ritrovato, the legendary Italian festival of archival and restored film. In the shade of a few trees and hammock-like overhead tarpaulins, festivalgoers gather between screenings to escape the scorching sun, imbibe gallons of water and garrulously pore over the day’s cinematic treasures. In June, this courtyard was where Swissinfo met Caroline Fournier, head of heritage, and Julie le Gonidec, responsible for the digital lab at the Cinémathèque ...
