Gaumont to restore, digitize 270 pix

Move is backed by the French gov't

The first 25 films include such cult pics as Maurice Pialat's Under the Sun of Satan," Henri-Georges Clouzot's "The Murderer Lives at Number 21," Ingmar Bergman's "Fanny and Alexander," Jean Vigo's "L'Atalante" and Max Ophuls' "The Earrings of Madame De."

The restoration project is backed by the French government, which will invest Euros 10 million ($12.2 million), in exchange for a revenue share from the restored films over the next 15 years.

The pact is part of the government's plan called Investissement d'Avenir (Future's Investment), which was created by Nicolas Sarkozy. It has a budget of $122 million to digitize the libraries of select French mini-majors, which could possibly include StudioCanal, EuropaCorp and/or SND, according to French reports.

"This agreement signed with Gaumont aims at preserving and promoting French film heritage on all distribution platforms -- theatrical, television and VOD, in order to boast our legal offer," said Antoine Gosset-Grainville, managing director of Caisse des Depots, a French government-owned bank.