Paul Carpita’s retrospective

Presented by Eric Le Roy, Head of the Access, Promotion and Enrichment of Collections Department at the Centre national du Cinéma et de l’image animée (CNC).

The son of a docker, Paul Carpita (1922-2009) was involved in working-class struggles from his childhood in Marseille. He made his film debut with a small camera during the Occupation. After the Liberation, he set up the Cinépax company, with the aim of producing documentaries and newsreels free from censorship, while continuing his career as a schoolteacher. Shot in 16 mm, the films were screened in public places, without the knowledge of the police. In 1953, Paul Carpita undertook a militant feature, Le Rendez-vous des quais, evoking the 1950 demonstrations and strikes against the Indochina war that took place in the port of Marseille. In the same vein, Paul Carpita made a number of commissioned short films, documentaries or fiction in which reality is always present (Rencontre à Varsovie, 1956, La Récréation, 1959; Marseille sans soleil, 1960; Des lapins dans la tête, 1964).  Paul Carpita deposited most of his work with the CNC’s Film Heritage Department in the early 1990s. Following his death, and in order to secure and promote his work as an independent and militant filmmaker, the CNC and the Association Les Camarades de Paul Carpita joined forces to launch a program to restore his films. After a new restoration of Rendez-vous des quais, several short documentaries are now being restored by the CNC laboratory. Eventually, the work of Carpita should be fully digitised and available to the public.

The restorer, the CNC laboratory

The CNC’s Direction du patrimoine cinématographique (DPC) is responsible for preserving, restoring and promoting France’s cinematographic heritage. It coordinates major heritage institutions, supports national initiatives and participates in international cooperation. With over 110,000 titles conserved, it ensures that the collections are enriched and made accessible, in particular through consultation in libraries and cinematheques in France and abroad.

In this context, the 4K digital restoration was carried out entirely by the CNC from an original 35mm negative belonging to the Paul Carpita Estate, in collaboration with Ciné-Archives and the Cinémathèque française. The sound was restored by Le Diapason.