Cineteca del Comune di Bologna
Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film
Association des Cinémathèques Européennes
L’Immagine Ritrovata – Film Restoration and Conservation

FILM RESTORATION SUMMER SCHOOL
FIAF SUMMER SCHOOL - BOLOGNA 2009

Theory lessons on Film Restoration:
distance learning, May 19th to June 23rd (each Tuesday)
Introduction and attendance to Il Cinema Ritrovato film Festival
Bologna, June 27th to July 4th
Restoration practice
Bologna, July 6th to July 17th

(the complete information on the Film Restoration Summer School / FIAF Summer School - Bologna 2009 is also available on pdf format by clicking - here -

1.1. Why a FIAF summer School focused on restoration?
1.2. Film restoration Summer School / FIAF Summer School 2009 and Il Cinema Ritrovato
1.3. Film restoration Summer School / FIAF Summer School 2009 targets
1.4. Analog and digital restoration
1.5. Final aim

1.1. Why a FIAF summer School focused on restoration?

While the whole film community numbers many film archives, specialized laboratories are by contrast very few. Every year, many film archives restores a considerable number of prints. Hence, it appears necessary for today’s curators and their staff to be trained to use new digital equipment to preserve and restore old films, and to learn about digital strategies for access. Furthermore, all students who are interested in working in a film archive and/or restoration laboratory in the near future should be provided with highly specialized digital and analog tools to enter this field.

1.2. Film restoration Summer School / FIAF Summer School 2009 and Il Cinema Ritrovato

Film restoration should not be confined within the walls of a specialized laboratory. Presenting and exhibiting restored films is an active part of the restoration process. For this reason we have decided to open the Film Restoration Summer School / FIAF Summer School 2009 in Bologna, in conjunction with the festival Il Cinema Ritrovato (27 June-4 July 2009], a true meeting place for researchers and experts. The connection between learning about digital and analog restoration and Il Cinema Ritrovato is therefore a close one. It is important to put restoration into practice and to learn how to restore a film, while it is equally crucial to understand how films, restored by different archives, can be exhibited today.

1.3. Film restoration Summer School / FIAF Summer School 2009 targets

The project’s main objective is to teach and update participants on how to restore, reconstruct, and preserve a film using analog and new digital technology, and how analog systems and new digital technologies can actually coexist. Participants will have the chance to experience everyday work in a highly specialized laboratory, including all departments and every step of the process, from beginning to end. Film Restoration Summer School / FIAF Summer School 2009 participants are expected to acquire certain skills: being able to operate all digital and analog equipment in an archive and a restoration laboratory; being able to follow a complete restoration process; performing all the main necessary operations needed to restore a film; evaluating the state of conservation of a film, and deciding the best practice to restore, reconstruct, and preserve it.

1.4. Analog and digital restoration

The innovative Film Restoration Summer School / FIAF Summer School 2009is a film school programme dedicated to teaching digital and analog techniques to restore archival prints. While digital technologies have a well-established role in the contemporary film industry, the importance that they play in film restoration has been somewhat neglected as a teaching/learning experience. At L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory participants will follow the entire restoration process: analog, digital and sound restoration, from repairing to printing preservation material and projection positive, from film scan to film recording, from sound acquisition to optical sound film recording.

1.5. Final Aim

After completing the Film Restoration Summer School / FIAF Summer School 2009, the target group will possess the following skills: - knowing how a film can be restored following new digital and analog technologies in a modern, flexible work environment;
- being able to assess the best format to restore a film and have it translated from film support to HD and SD broadcasting until DVD support;
- being able to discuss with a restoration laboratory about how to carry on a restoration project;
- knowing the diverse approaches to restoration of different FIAF archives;
- how managing a budget for a film restoration project.

Finally, past editions of Film Restoration Summer School / FIAF Summer School 2009 have proved to be an excellent meeting ground for people working in the same field who might work on the same restoration projects in the future. This is a great chance for the beginning of new collaborations.

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