Leading the Way: Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation

Founded by Martin Scorsese in 1990, The Film Foundation has been at the forefront of the effort to find, restore, and preserve the world’s cinematic treasures. Tonight, the foundation’s Margaret Bodde presents an overview of the organization’s history and its continued efforts to educate the public on the importance of preserving our moving image heritage. The talk is followed by a screening of Memories of Underdevelopment, a fascinating Cuban film restored through the foundation’s World Cinema Project.

Very much in keeping with the “new wave” movement sweeping the world of cinema at the time of its release, Memories of Underdevelopment follows Sergio, a wealthy writer who decides to remain in Cuba after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, even as his wife and family flee to Miami. Scornful of both his bourgeois family and the country’s devoted Marxists (whom he perceives to be naive), he fills his voluminous free time by chasing women. His outlook begins to change, however, when confronted with the new reality of living in a Communist bureaucracy. (97 mins., DCP)

Restored through The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project by the Cineteca di Bologna in association with the Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos.