Just when you thought it was only European car manufacturers and multinational beer and liquor subsidiaries easing their branding tentacles into the film business, check out couture icon Prada coloring the mix with its restoration of Chinese films.

This just came through The Reeler's transom from the Film Society of Lincoln Center:

Xiao cheng zhi chun (Springtime In A Small Town) is one of ten films produced between the mid-1930s and 1949 that have been recently restored by [the Venice Film Festival] and Fondazione Prada, in collaboration with other partners. ...

All ten restored films will be screened as part of A Centenary of Chinese Film. ... Through its president, Miuccia Prada, and its Artistic Director, Germano Celant, Fondazione Prada organizes a wide range of cultural events, including exhibitions, screenings, catalogues and symposia, that engage the broadening languages of contemporary arts, including photography, video, sculpture, architecture and film.

The press release goes on to emphasize Prada's space on Broadway as a venue that can "transcend shopping and engage public space and cultural programming." I hear you, paisans--that is exactly what I have always thought was missing in New York when I have to settle for getting plastered on Stella Artois at some goofy indie premiere. No fucking class, man--and everything is in English! So, so gauche.