UPDATE: On his blog, Doug Pullen of the El Paso Times reports on this event, plus he has dirt on some the behind-the-scenes stuff that led to the event being moved. A few days later he had more, including quotes from Kevin.

Alert Regular Nate, aka “Disco 3:16” attended Saturday night’s premiere of the restored “Manos” The Hands of Fate. Here’s his report.

Hello from the Sun City! On Saturday, my wife and I had the pleasure to attend the world re-premiere of Manos: The Hands of Fate. The screening, part of the Plaza Classic Film Festival, was initially scheduled to be held at the Kendle Elizabeth Kidd Performance Hall, the main venue of the Plaza Theatre, but was moved to a ballroom at the nearby Camino Real Hotel because another event in the festival ran long. The original premiere of the film was held at the Capri Theater, which stood where the hotel’s fountain and entrance now sit. I’d estimate there were about 200 or so at the screening, including a striking pair in costume as Margaret and Michael from the movie.

The screening was hosted by Ben Solovey, the man restoring the film. The film shown was about 90 percent restored, and while a few spots were definitely still rough, the overall picture was much sharper and truer to what I would imagine the initial premiere looked like. Solovey confirmed that he has made sure to keep the sound synchronization, or, more accurately, the lack thereof, intact. The audience was very receptive, and laughter filled the room for the majority of the movie. Applause broke out both at the title screen and the end credits, when each major actor and Hal Warren’s Producer/Director credit got a separate round of applause.

Jackey Neyman-Jones, who played the little girl Debbie, was the guest star for this event. She helped introduce the film by explaining how her father, Tom Neyman (who played the Master and whose sculpture and artwork is displayed throughout the film), had fallen asleep in 1993 with the TV on, only to wake up to familiar music and his own face staring back at him. After he had called his daughter about seeing the film on “Mystery Science Theater 3000,” she had called in to Comedy Central to see about obtaining a print of the film they had recently shown of which she had been a part. The operator at Comedy Central asked her which film, and upon hearing the name, he said, “Oh my God, you’re Debbie!” Apparently the people in the call center had been big fans of the movie after it ran there.

After the film, Solovey and Neyman-Jones hosted a Q&A session, where some well-known and lesser-known stories were told. All the voices were later dubbed by three people: Hal Warren, Tom Neyman and a voice actor from the sound studio who did all the female voices. Neyman’s sculptures of hands were his specialty, and he was the one who suggested the name “Manos: The Hands of Fate” to the largely non-Spanish-speaking crew after a previous suggestion of “Fingers of Fate.” My wife had asked about the local reaction to the film, and Neyman-Jones related the first review that treated Manos as a comedy, the day after the premiere, with the headline, “Hero Massaged to Death.” Apparently the reviewer treated Torgo as the hero, and his quest to break away from the Master as the main plot. On a more sober note, she also cleared up the rumors of John Reynolds demise, stating he had taken his life six weeks prior to the premiere, and referring to him as a troubled young man, whom had always treated her nicely during shooting.

The World Re-Premiere of Manos: The Hands of Fate was truly a great event, and I’m glad we were able to attend. Being El Paso’s most well known independent film, I look forward to the eventual showing of the completed print at a future Plaza Classic Film Festival.

Your intrepid reporter and Jackey Neyman-Jones.