Overview
- Locarno announced Monday that a new 4K restoration of Dances With Wolves will premiere on August 7 at the festival’s Piazza Grande as part of its Histoire(s) du Cinema program.
- The restored director’s cut runs nearly four hours and incorporates about 30 minutes of previously unseen material that organizers say reflect the director’s intended edition.
- Zurich-based lab Cinegrell carried out the restoration in partnership with the Locarno Heritage project and international sales agent K5 International.
- Locarno said the screening highlights the film’s legacy—Dances With Wolves won seven Academy Awards and helped draw mainstream attention to Indigenous histories in the western genre.
- The presentation is part of a wider archival strand at Locarno79 that includes new restorations of Safi Faye and a tribute screening of Grave of the Fireflies, a programming move that could prompt fresh critical reevaluation and new audience access to classic works.