Relive The Glory Of Old Cinema

ANY SELF-RESPECTING CINEPHILE would have seen Yasujiro Ozu's 1953 masterpiece Tokyo Story. In 2012, 358 top directors around the world, including Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Mike Leigh and Quentin Tarantino, voted the black-and-white Japanese film as "the greatest film ever made" in a poll conducted by British premier film magazine Sight and Sound.

Now, Singapore cinephiles will get a chance to see the film in the exact condition that Japanese audiences saw it in 1953. A newly restored version of the film will be screened at Capitol Theatre as part of the Asian Restored Classics film festival organised by the Asian Film Archive (AFA), a subsidiary of the National Library Board.

Now in its third year, the AFA film festival has gained a loyal following among movie buffs eager to catch old classics on the big screen, especially the long forgotten and overlooked titles. At a time where cineplexes are dominated by loud blockbusters, and TV streaming services such as Netflix have made it tempting to just stay home, the festival is the perfect antidote for the jaded viewer.