New York-based Rialto Pictures is gearing up for the release of Studiocanal’s 4K restoration of Jean-Luc Godard’s 1961 musical comedy “A Woman Is a Woman.”
The film, Rialto’s first release of 2025, stars Anna Karina, Jean-Claude Brialy and Jean-Paul Belmondo. The film will hit selected U.S. theaters on Feb. 7.
The new restoration, which premiered this year in Locarno, was made from the negative 35mm original copy, digitized by Paris-based post production company Hiventy and realized by Studiocanal with the collaboration of France’s National Center of Cinema (CNC).
Rialto’s biggest success this year was the 75th anniversary of “The Third Man,” Rialto Co-President Adrienne Halpern told Variety at the Lumière Film Festival’s International Classic Film Market (MIFC) in Lyon, France.
‘The Third Man’
Courtesy of Studiocanal
The 4K restoration of Carol Reed’s 1949 classic, starring Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles, was carried out by Deluxe Restoration on behalf of Studiocanal.
The 50th anniversary restoration of Francis Ford Coppola’s 1974 thriller “The Conversation,” starring Gene Hackman, has been another excellent performer for the company, Halpern added.
American Zoetrope restored “The Conversation” in 4K this year in collaboration with Studiocanal at Roundabout Entertainment and American Zoetrope laboratories from the original negative.
Rialto handles theatrical distribution in the U.S. and English-speaking Canada for Studiocanal’s entire catalogue, which accounts for most of the company’s releases, but it also works with other high-profile studios, among them American Zoetrope as well as major French companies like TF1 and MK2.
Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1969 World War II drama “Army of Shadows” has likewise wowed U.S. audiences this year. Scanned in 4K from the original negative by Image Retrouvée and supported by CNC, the Studiocanal title had a seven-week run at Film Forum in New York and is now playing around the country.
A regular attendee at the Lumière Festival and MIFC in Lyon, Halpern noted that French film noir was a favorite genre for the company.
Rialto this year also released the 4K restoration of Claude Sautet’s acclaimed 1960 crime drama “Classe Tous Risques” (“The Big Risk”), starring Lino Ventura, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Sandra Milo.
Next year is the 70th anniversary of Jules Dassin’s award-winning heist thriller “Rififi,” starring Jean Servais and Carl Möhner, and Halpern hints that something will be in the works to celebrate the occasion.
