Classic-film distribution rarely gets a pop-chart hook, but Clara Bow has one. The silent star to whom Taylor Swift paid tribute with a song named after her on “The Tortured Poets Department” is now the face of a pact built to put Hollywood restorations in front of French audiences, and the title chosen to lead it is the comedy that made her the original “It girl.”

As Variety first reported from Lyon, French classic-film distributor Carlotta Films will represent the catalogue of U.S. restoration company Artcraft Pictures across all rights in France, a collection of Hollywood classics from the silent and early sound eras. The partnership launches at the Lumière Film Festival with a newly restored version of Clarence G. Badger’s “It,” the romantic comedy that propelled Bow to stardom. Bow’s screen afterlife predates the song, too: she inspired Margot Robbie’s Nellie LaRoy in Damien Chazelle’s “Babylon.”

Beyond “It,” the agreement covers Herbert Brenon’s “Beau Geste” (1926), starring Ronald Colman; Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Affairs of Anatol” (1921), starring Gloria Swanson; and William C. deMille’s “Miss Lulu Bett,” adapted from Zona Gale’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play. The slate also reaches into early sound with Lionel Barrymore’s “His Glorious Night” (1929), starring John Gilbert.

Artcraft was founded by James Mockoski, a longtime archivist and restoration expert who worked with Francis Ford Coppola’s American Zoetrope, and Robert A. Harris, whose work with James C. Katz includes landmark restorations of David Lean’s “Lawrence of Arabia,” George Cukor’s “My Fair Lady” and Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo.” The name itself is a revival: the original Artcraft Pictures was a distribution banner established in 1916 that became part of Paramount Pictures and was associated with silent-era stars such as Mary Pickford.

“So many wonderful classics could easily fade away, but together with Carlotta, we’re making sure that never happens,” Mockoski said. Artcraft also works with the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, which began collaborating with Mockoski and Harris in 2025 on restorations from Paramount’s silent-era library; the restored “Beau Geste” was presented at the Telluride Film Festival earlier this year.

For Carlotta, which has spent close to three decades distributing classic cinema in France, the deal deepens a silent-era catalogue that already holds F.W. Murnau’s “Sunrise,” films by Frank Borzage and Erich von Stroheim, and G.W. Pabst’s “Pandora’s Box,” starring Louise Brooks. Carlotta’s Vincent Paul-Boncour said the company is “delighted to represent Artcraft in France and introduce audiences to its restorations of both celebrated and lesser-known American silent films.”

“It” screens Oct. 17 at Lyon’s Auditorium, accompanied on the organ by Italian musician Gabriele Agrimonti. Carlotta plans to release the films in France theatrically and on Blu-ray, with individual release dates yet to be announced. The Lumière Film Festival runs through Oct. 18.

The hook that sells the package may be a pop song from 2024, but the opening-night soundtrack is an organ played live beneath a silent comedy, the way picture palaces presented Bow’s films in her heyday.

Tags: Taylor Swift, Artcraft Pictures, Carlotta Films, Clara Bow, film restoration, Lumière Film Festival