Not only does the photography benefit from the color depth and added resolution from celluloid, but the 35mm format is but another of the film's sly anachronisms. The film posits that things change slowly, but - watching this on the last day of this year's digital-heavy Cannes festival - nothing has felt more rushed than the disappearance of film prints in our theatres.
Iconic director Ken Russell was in town to receive a lifetime achievement award from Fantasia for his 50-plus years in the business, a career that has spawned many genre classics including Altered States, Gothic, and The Lair of the White Worm. But it was the little-seen and hard to find The Devils from 1971 that proved to be Russell's most controversial work, and Fantasia managed to snag a copy to be screened on Russell's big night. In the video, Russell discusses the true story behind the film and receives his award with the grace befitting one of the great filmmakers of all time.