Why bother with film preservation? Who are the people who do the work? How do they do it? This ambitious and successful feature about the archivists, the preservationists, and the restorers answers those questions.
It begins with the nuts, like Henri Langlois and Iris Barry, collectors convinced that there's something there, and moves towards the current generation, who seem to view film like people; one gestures towards the camera negatives of GONE WITH THE WIND and notes that everyone involved in the production is now dead, but the negative was on the same sound stage as Clark Gable. Then it's on to the job of saving and preserving and restoring, and why, and what comes next.
Frankly, given the transitory nature of all the media they talk about, I think they should go back to paper prints for the archival copies, on acid-free paper. They're pulling high-definition film prints off paper prints from 1905, and with good paper, you're talking about half a millennium easily. As compared to 50 for nitrate, and five for digital.
In any case, this is a heartfelt and compelling documentary about its subject. It certainly appealed to my taste for early cinema.
It begins with the nuts, like Henri Langlois and Iris Barry, collectors convinced that there's something there, and moves towards the current generation, who seem to view film like people; one gestures towards the camera negatives of GONE WITH THE WIND and notes that everyone involved in the production is now dead, but the negative was on the same sound stage as Clark Gable. Then it's on to the job of saving and preserving and restoring, and why, and what comes next.
Frankly, given the transitory nature of all the media they talk about, I think they should go back to paper prints for the archival copies, on acid-free paper. They're pulling high-definition film prints off paper prints from 1905, and with good paper, you're talking about half a millennium easily. As compared to 50 for nitrate, and five for digital.
In any case, this is a heartfelt and compelling documentary about its subject. It certainly appealed to my taste for early cinema.