Academic Courses in the Film Heritage Field

The one-and-a-half-year Dual Master’s in Preservation and Presentation of the Moving Image invites students to engage with and critically reflect on current practices of collecting and selecting, preserving and restoring, providing access to, presenting, and curating moving images and sound. In the first year of the programme, students acquire critical knowledge, with a focus on academic debates and archival concepts, while also becoming acquainted with professional organizations in the field. In the second year (first semester), students apply and examine this knowledge in practice during an extensive internship.

Diversity of audiovisual media – analogue and digital

Audiovisual media serve different purposes for different audiences and communities: as sources of information and documentation, carriers of memory, works of art, means of entertainment, as well as technological artefacts, commodities, and heritage objects. Accordingly, our programme deals with different types of moving images and sound, focusing alternately on cinema, broadcasting, web videos, and media art. While knowledge of analogue media and historical formats is important in our field, digital technologies have profoundly transformed the ways in which moving images and sound are produced, distributed, and consumed. These developments also affect the preservation and presentation of audiovisual heritage. For that reason, digital standards, (meta)data, tools, and workflows in audiovisual archives and related institutions are extensively discussed in class, and they likewise inform research methods and theoretical approaches.

Preservation and presentation in a changing world

Audiovisual media, in archival collections and beyond, are records of different times and places, while they have actively participated in historical developments as well. As part of ‘living archives’, they are not merely documents or traces of the past; they continue to shape history and offer perspectives for the future. However, (historical) media face multiple challenges in serving these purposes. The preservation and accessibility of media are affected by physical decay, technological obsolescence, environmental factors, institutional burdens, as well as political and economic conditions. At the same time, these domains are also spheres of interaction in which (historical) media can have an impact. Facing such challenges and finding possibilities to make a difference requires an understanding of responsibility and positionality. This directly aligns with questions of presentation: what is presented and why. Taking into account the interests and needs of different stakeholders, we consider various forms of collaboration and participation and, correspondingly, strategies for programming and curating audiovisual media.

Collaboration

The programme is part of the Department of Media Studies at the University of Amsterdam. There are various cross-connections and collaborations with other Master’s programmes, in particular the Dual Master’s in Archival and Information Studies. To familiarize students with the practice of preservation and presentation, we collaborate with various institutions in the Netherlands, in particular Eye Filmmuseum, the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision, LI-MA (Living Media Art), and the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, as well as various organizations abroad. Importantly, these organizations host site visits, supervise interns, and contribute to the programme’s courses and to the ongoing development of an up-to-date curriculum.

Degree certificate

The MA Preservation and Presentation of the Moving Image is an accredited Master’s programme in Media Studies. Upon successful completion of the programme, graduates receive a legally accredited Master’s degree in Media Studies and the title Master of Arts (MA).

General information

• Duration: 1.5 years
• Credits: 90
• Number of students: max. 24
• Application deadline: 1 March
• Start: 1 September

For more information, please check the website or contact directly the Admissions Office.

The Graduate Certificate in Audiovisual Archiving consists of four subjects developed jointly by the National Film and Sound Archive and Charles Sturt University. It provides formal, university-level education for personnel working or wishing to work in the audiovisual archiving industry. By providing audiovisual archivists with a distinctive professional identity and a distinctive ethical and philosophical base, it makes available what is now recognized by the industry as a necessary requirement for improving professionalism in that industry. Students will gain an overview of the discipline and its history, philosophy and ethics, before concentrating on four areas: collection management, collection development, preservation, and access. Its online delivery mode makes this course accessible to international students.

Subjects can be studied as part of the Graduate Certificate in Audiovisual Archiving (which requires the completion of four subjects) or as single subjects. To be awarded the Graduate Certificate in Audiovisual Archiving, students must complete the subjects which are offered in the following sequence:

Session I (February to June)

• Audiovisual Archiving
• Preservation of Audiovisual Material

Session II (July to November)

• Audiovisual Archiving 2
• Digital Preservation

For each 8-point subject you are enrolled in, you should expect to spend 10 to 12 hours per week working on assignments and assigned readings, tutorial assistance, individual or group research/study, forum activity, workplace learning, and attending lectures, intensive schools, or examinations. If you are studying four subjects per session, this is equivalent to a full-time job. The workload for some subjects may vary as a result of approved course design.

For more information, please check the website.

To apply

Applications generally close with CSU at the end of November for the year before study commences. If you wish to apply, please try to meet this date. Applications after this date will be accepted if places are available.

If you are enrolling into the Graduate Certificate in Audiovisual Archiving (4 subjects). Note that if you wish to take only one subject, you can enrol as an Associate Student.

The HTW – University of Applied Science’s degree course in the preservation of audiovisual and photographic cultural heritage offers a uniquely interdisciplinary scientific-materials and hands-on training approach. Film preservation, the youngest of conservation and restoration disciplines, is pursued in an in-depth programme, not only alongside photography preservation but within the entire context of cultural heritage conservation.

Individual professorships at HTW are devoted to teaching each of the respective realms of cultural heritage to be preserved – archaeological and historical artefacts, modern materials and industrial heritage, and audiovisual and photographic heritage – as well as to teaching the practices of unearthing and scientifically investigating cultural heritage (i.e., field archaeology and conservation science).

Students enrol in one of the programme’s focus areas to participate both in interdisciplinary classes across courses and in focus seminars by the respective teachers or visiting scholars in the specialties unique to their field. Course topics for the audiovisual/photographic preservation curriculum thus range from cultural to film and photo history; manual photography retouching to digital moving image processing; general materials science to photographic chemistry; and collection surveys and passive conservation to film reconstruction and restoration. Within the curriculum, the choice of individual projects, course and thesis subjects, and external internships allows students to pursue a somewhat broader education, or to focus on a particular area of interest (for instance, film preservation or sound restoration).

The school offers both a Bachelor’s degree and a subsequent Master’s programme. Given certain prerequisites, candidates with Bachelor’s degrees from other programmes may directly enrol for the Master’s degree, offering further opportunities for those with previous moving image studies or preservation training or credentials. Graduates from the programme have thus found employment in institutions ranging from EYE Filmmuseum to the Deutsche Kinemathek, from the Swedish Film Institute to the Bundesarchiv/German Federal Archives.

Teaching is both in German and English; thus a German language certificate is indeed required for the programme. That being said, international visitors have always been a vital and integral part of the student body, and the programme continues to embrace an international, global approach. 

Thus, international candidates interested in studying moving image preservation in Germany in one of the world’s most vibrant municipalities are emphatically encouraged to apply.

FilmMemory is an Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters (EMJM) that engages with the study of audiovisual heritage and with the preservation, restoration, recirculation, and utilization of that heritage in the context of current and evolving screen cultures. The programme partly focuses on working with film stock archives, but also emphasizes other contemporary challenges, including the role of digital media, tools, and associated skills, addressing emerging possibilities regarding the scope and dissemination of film heritage material. As a joint Master's programme, taught in four countries across Europe, FilmMemory offers a thorough interrogation of the social, political, and industrial diversity of European film cultures. This includes the analysis of historical and contemporary modes of production, distribution and presentation, and the contextualization of filmic material within discourses of reception, critique, and scholarship. Students will explore the ways in which films and documents about film cultures are archived, preserved, restored, re-circulated, re-used and re-constructed. In this programme, “film” is understood – in its broad, expanded sense – to include audiovisual creations that are usually viewed on single screens, whether in cinemas, on television sets, or on computers and mobile devices. It is additionally understood to refer to moving image recordings including, but not limited to, feature-length fiction films, animation, documentary, non-fiction, broadcast material, and series.

A distinctive feature of our programme is that it is jointly delivered by four HEIs (Higher Education Institutions) involved in the European Alliance FilmEU, and supported by several relevant non-educational partners (audiovisual archives, film festivals etc). The HEIs each have a different profile but complement each other in important ways. The HEIs educate filmmakers and practitioners within a pedagogical domain based on the interrelation between documentary, fiction, and animation. They also train film archivists, preservationists, and curators. In doing so, they offer a theoretical and critical exploration of film and the practice of filmmaking, as well as of researching and valorizing film cultures, instilling in graduates a broad sense of the historical value and future potentials of screen media. FilmMemory will play a significant role in providing specialists for audio-visual archives, cinemas, festivals, film funds, journals, museums, digital image processing labs, distribution companies, production companies, publishing/press agencies, and government agencies, where this kind of expertise, and associated skill sets, are in increasingly high demand.

‍Taught entirely in English and combining academic rigor with a practical approach, FilmMemory offers a unique curriculum. For each edition, around twenty-four students from all around the world are accepted. These students will follow a mobility track from Belgium to Portugal, via Ireland and Estonia. In doing so, students are immersed within diverse cultural environments, learning how to make use of their abilities outside their usual social contexts.

A short description of the curriculum can be found here.

The Master's programme Audiovisual Archives: Preservation and Programming is the first of its kind in Romania and Eastern Europe and is taught in English. For two years, the programme will provide its students with in-depth theoretical and practical training in these two central areas of audiovisual heritage preservation and valorization. A comprehensive restoration project requires documentation skills, a vast knowledge of the historical context and the aesthetic and technical codes of the period and space in which the film was made, as well as practical skills in identification, handling, cleaning, repairing, scanning, digital image and sound restoration, and colour correction. Similarly, putting together a film programme requires a broad film culture, curatorial vision, multi-register writing skills and the ability to moderate discussions with guests and audiences; an excellent knowledge of the materiality of the medium is also essential. This Master’s programme aims to train professionals who will be equally competent in all of these activities.

Courses and Perspectives

Some of the lectures and seminars that will promote the understanding of audiovisual heritage as a dynamic subject in continuous dialogue with the present will be: “Histories and practices of audiovisual curation", "Preservation practices in the Romanian audiovisual context" or "Digital film restoration". Combining theoretical and technological education, the Audiovisual Archives: Preservation and Programming programme will train multi-skilled specialists, up to date with the most current technical, methodological and ethical issues in the field and able to work in cinemas, festivals, media libraries, video libraries, museums, foundations, associations or private companies owning or producing audiovisual collections around the world.

DURATION: 2 years
CREDITS: 120
NUMBER OF STUDENTS (FREE OF CHARGE): 6
LANGUAGE: English
ADMISSION: September

The Masters programme “Film Culture: Archiving, Programming, Presentation” prepares academic personnel for working in film and media archives and other film culture institutions. It is the first programme of its kind in a German university, and is offered by the Goethe Universität (Institute for Theater, Film and Media Studies) in conjunction with the DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum in Frankfurt am Main.

In addition to the various departments and archives of the DFF, the programme benefits from a diverse, well-developed and enduring partnership with a wide range of cultural and audiovisual institutions located in the Frankfurt region, and also collaborates with numerous national and international bodies.

Archiving, Programming, Presentation

The process of digitization has resulted in a fundamental transformation of all areas of research and practice in film culture. There is thus a clear demand from institutions for qualified academic personnel with a profound knowledge of film history and theory, who can meet the present challenges through critical thinking, long-term vision and with the specific tools of the discipline.

At the same time, we can presently observe an “analogue turn”, and, above all, a renewed deployment of the concept of the archive in artistic practice, as well as in preservation and exhibition practices. Phenomena such as the archival preservation of the world’s film heritage, the experimental use of film materials by curators and artists, and the presentation of moving images (both digital and analogue) for a public whose configurations are equally in motion, represent a field of tension and a significant challenge for work in film culture and academic reflection.

Perspectives

The Masters in Film Culture prepares academic personnel for working in film and media archives. The programme also represents a response to the question of how smaller disciplines, which do not train students for teaching in schools, can support their graduates in their transition to professional careers.

Completing the programme qualifies students for professional roles in cinémathèques, film and media archives, print and television journalism, museums and collections with an emphasis on film and audiovisual media, film production and distribution companies, and independent organizations and initiatives, as well as for curatorial activities in both the exhibition sphere and in cinemas and festivals. There is also the possibility of progressing to doctoral study.

The Universidade Lusófona MA in Film Heritage offers an interdisciplinary two-year course that aims to meet the growing needs for documentation, conservation and restoration, programming and access to audiovisual archives. Because of the technological evolution and the rapid expansion of various media, the MA's main goal is to train specialists in the various areas of film collections, videos and new digital formats to promote the idea of a living archive. Future professionals acquire solid theoritical and practical skills through disciplines related to film history and technologies, collections preservation and management, film museology, and heritage curatorship among others.

The main learning objectives of the MA in Film Heritage are the acquisition of skills in the various areas of film and audiovisual collections management such as:

• the dissemination of cinematographic heritage through multiple national and international actions and programmes;
• preventive conservation measures for audiovisual collections, including its cataloguing;
• the acquisition of critical, ethical and analytical skills to restore a film based on a historical, aesthetic and socio-cultural research in the era of digital technology;
• the practice of analogue and digital restoration;
• knowledge of the various technologies of image and sound over time and the main types of deterioration.

Among other institutions, the MA in Film Heritage collaborates with the Portuguese Cinemateca-Film Museum and the National Archive of Moving Image, as well as with digital laboratories specialized in film restorations as IRMALUCIA and Cineric. 

Classes are in Portuguese and English.

Duration: One year full-time or two years part-time

Attendance: Two days a week full-time or one day a week part-time, October to July

A first of its kind, this MA in Film Programming and Curating explores the diverse ways in which films are selected and presented to an audience. Studying in the heart of London, one of the world’s leading media hubs, this MA takes full advantage of its location to help you build professional networks, visit various sites of exhibition (from galleries and museums to film festivals and cultural centres) and learn about contemporary film programming and curatorial practice. 

The MA provides a strong academic foundation and relates the latest theoretical thinking to critical practice. It encourages an independence of intellectual thought and spirit, equipping you with the necessary skills and historical and critical knowledge to nurture film and film culture. This MA offers a historical, intellectual and conceptual understanding of film programming, curatorial practice and moving image culture. The curriculum involves: 

• theories of spectatorship, the audience and the changing conditions of film reception 
• sites of exhibition and the architecture of the filmic experience 
• the role of the archive, film canons and the exhibition of great collections 
• the practicalities involved in programming a film and locating audiences for it. 

The MA combines these strong historical, theoretical and academic foundations with site visits across London, as well as providing internships at leading cultural institutions and film centres, such as the ICA and BFI. You will have the chance to programme events for organizations as diverse as BFI Education, the Korean Cultural Centre and other film centres around London. 

The MA’s teachers are internationally distinguished academics, while visits from cultural practitioners will introduce you to experienced film programmers, curators and art practitioners. Making full use of the opportunities offered by our proximity to London’s vibrant film culture, this MA provides a first step towards building a career in film programming and exhibition, or for further research into the cultures of curating and curatorial practice.

Delivered in partnership with the British Film Institute (BFI), this innovative MFA will develop your professional practice in film curation and related fields. The course is delivered by film professionals working in exhibition and distribution, festivals, archives and film criticism, alongside academics and filmmakers, equipping you with everything you need for this industry.

You’ll learn about the practicalities of film exhibition in a wide range of environments, and how this intersects with other areas of film culture and industry, including distribution and archives.

You will also study the practice of film criticism and comment - including reviewing and critically writing about films, filmmakers and the broader culture. You will also create a video essay to develop your skills in audiovisual criticism. The unique learning environment of the NFTS encourages creative dialogue between makers, curators and critics.

As part of the course, you will also attend film festivals and will have the opportunity to curate or contribute to festivals, seasons, pop up screenings and other events.

A rigorous academic framework is combined with practical and real-world applications, enabling you to develop your own skills, knowledge and understanding to provide a strong foundation for a career in film and media.

Throughout the course, you’ll be devising and contributing to programming projects; writing film criticism and reviews and researching and producing video essays. You will also be receiving professional tuition on the theoretical, historical and critical understanding of film, to bring much greater depth to your projects.

You will gain a thorough understanding of the process by which a film moves from a creative idea to an audience experience, and explore the history, theory and critical contexts of film and look at a variety of critical writing.

At the start of the second year, you will undertake a six-week professional work experience engagement at the BFI or an associated organisation. Students are also encouraged to find second work experience opportunities which are aligned with their own interests, with the support of the Head of Department.

This official Master Programme is focused on research (for institutions or doctorates) with later employment possibilities in the audiovisual sector.

The 60-credit Master Programme is taught in afternoon sessions at the School of Communication.

Compulsory subjects (6 credits each) are:

1. The history of cinema as an area of research;
2. The history of photography as an area of research;
3. The history of television as an area of research;
4. Recovery and documentation of audiovisual heritage;
5. Management of audiovisual heritage and relevant legislation.

Master thesis (18 credits)

Optional subjects (6 credits each) are:

1. Photography: research, documentation and management methodologies. Case histories
2. Television: research, documentation and management methodologies. Case histories
3. Cinema: research, documentation and management methodologies. Case histories
4. Practicum: students who so wish can spend a two-month internship in any part of the world during the second semester 

This Master is the only programme devoted to conservation in cinema, television and photography; hence our special interest in reaching agreements with film libraries in Latin America. We would be delighted to send them an informative brochure about the Programme.

The Programme has received excellent quality assessments.

Enrolment opens in February each year and continues until May. Access to the Complutense University is via official or Europe-certified qualifications.

As a European Master Programme, Erasmus rules regarding exchange and mobility apply.

The Moving Image Archive Program is a two-year course of study that trains future professionals to manage preservation-level collections of film, video, new media, and other types of digital works. The programme provides prospective collection managers and archivists with an international, comprehensive education in the theories, methods, and practices of moving image archiving and preservation.

Dan Streible is the programme’s Director, and Howard Besser and Mona Jimenez are Associate Directors.

The curriculum covers all aspects of moving image archiving, including:

• Film history/historiography and film style
• Conservation, preservation, storage, and management
• Legal issues and copyright
• Laboratory techniques
• Moving image cataloguing
• Curatorial work and museum studies
• Programming, new media and other digital technologies
• Metadata and access to archival holdings

The first year of this specialization takes place at Paris 8, and the second year in one of the countries in the programme's network of international partner institutions, adding a multicultural dimension. 

The programme for each of the two years of study covers the following four areas:

• Film history, aesthetics and theory;
• Theoretical, methodological, and legal aspects of film archive management;
• Techniques and problematics of conservation and restoration;
• Programming, distribution, and promotion of film and audiovisual heritage.

The Master includes two professional internships of at least three months, the first in the Paris region and the second abroad, in an institution that promotes film heritage (company, festival, museum film library or film archive). During the two internships, the student will carry out various everyday tasks and contribute to ongoing projects; they may also carry out a particular programme of investigation. In all cases, a detailed internship report is written by the student and approved by the double internship supervisor.

At the end of the first year, the student presents a report on the state of the art of his/her subject of study, clearly presenting the corpus, bibliography and references of the sources consulted or requested. N.B.: As international mobility in the second year does not allow for a make-up session, all the courses in the curriculum must have been taken and validated, and their grades obtained before the viva voce held in June. At the end of the second year, the student presents a final thesis for the award of the Master's degree.

More information in the leaflet [in French]

The collaboration with Filmmuseum Potsdam, the university's artistic and practical degree programmes as well as numerous Berlin-Brandenburg-based institutions preserving film culture ensures that practice is added to the theoretical parts of the programme. Audiovisual media have an ever-increasing impact on daily life in our societies. The settings in which these media are produced and used as well as the involved technologies and materials are becoming more and more diverse and complex. While the number of films is increasing every day, the period during which they are "new" is steadily decreasing. Every film that premieres today will be part of the film culture heritage of tomorrow. At the same time, every "old" film may be considered a "new" film as long as it hasn't been integrated in the canon or received enough attention.

In the future, there will be an increasing demand for specialists who review, archive, re-contextualize, and deal with the vast number of films that potentially belong to the global film heritage, who make them available to the public, and who ensure the transfer of knowledge about them.

Career opportunities for graduates are based on the following dimensions of film heritage:

• the constantly changing definition of film heritage and the process of canonization (e.g., science, journalism, politics, education)
• films as part of the cultural memory of humanity (e.g., UNESCO)
• the safeguarding, evaluation, restoration, and reconstruction of films (all types of public and private archives)
• cataloguing and contextualization (databases, metadata)
• institutionalization (management and public relations)
• media politics and media law
• programming and editing for different media (cinemas, festivals, museums and exhibitions, online platforms, DVDs and Blu-rays, TV)
• film education (didactic materials and strategies)
• the artistic, scientific, and commercial use of archive material

The L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation, established in 1996, is the longest-standing programme of its kind worldwide, and the first in the United States. L. Jeffrey Selznick (1911-1997), the son of film producer David O. Selznick, chose George Eastman Museum as the place where he could fulfill his vision of a specialized venue for the education and training in the art and science of preserving cinema as an art form and, more broadly, as a cultural phenomenon.

The L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation offers both a Certificate Program and a Masters of Arts Program:

a) the one-year Certificate Program runs from September to June of each year, and is held in the premises of George Eastman Museum and in selected archival and laboratory venues.

b) the MA strand, officially called The Selznick Graduate Program in Film and Media Preservation, is a two-year curriculum held in conjunction with the University of Rochester and offers a Masters of Arts in English.

Admission to the school is limited to a maximum of 15 students per academic year. Class size varies from time to time, but it typically consists of 10 to 14 students, with an ideal mix of certificate and MA students in equal parts. From the outset, the Selznick School was conceived as an international programme; over the years, it has recruited from 29 different countries of all continents, from Canada and Mexico to Zimbabwe, Serbia, France, the Netherlands, South Korea, Japan, and New Zealand.

For further information about the program visit http://eastman.org/selznickschool/. The school’s administrator, Jeffrey L. Stoiber, Assistant Curator of the Moving Image Department at George Eastman Museum, is happy to answer questions and can be reached jstoiber@geh.org, (585) 271-3361 ext.333.

The course in Conservation and Management of the Audiovisual Heritage is focused on the entire range of activities revolving around film preservation in terms of both its history (film stock) and recent developments (digital image).

The three-year course’s scope goes beyond the technical aspects of archiving work; in fact, its mission involves a wide range of skills relative to the knowledge, management, and opportunities of dissemination of audiovisual heritage. A distinctive feature of the curriculum is the attention for the administration, management, and intellectual control of archive holdings: besides chemistry and digital technology, classes include more crucial disciplines like object cataloguing; conservation of non-film items (posters, photographs, paper documents, period equipment); analogue and digital projection; holdings management (administration, budgeting, workflows, funding research and management, copyright law); historiographic research on audiovisual heritage; public presentations of restored works in collective contexts (festivals, retrospectives, and conferences) and via individual screenings (access in streaming); last, learning technical literature in English.

Second-year classes will delve into each technical, administrative, and curatorial aspects through the detailed analysis of case studies selected by the faculty and through exercises in disciplines like print inspection, identification, and mending; cataloguing; copyright law comparative analysis; climate-controlled warehouse design and management; in-depth study of all analogue, electronic, and digital supports; simulations of restoration budget, funding strategy, and fundraising; non-film objects conservation; construction of a structure for the conservation of photochemical and digital materials; projection on film and on digital supports; creation of a public exhibition programme of restored films and internet access to film collections.

In the third year, the students embark on a project on one of the activities of conservation of audiovisual heritage, designing all the phases from the beginning to the end: determining the goals; financial and managerial aspects of the work; analysis of the project’s legal implications (copyright laws); preparation of the materials to be restored; carrying out the actual restoration, using the equipment provided by the School; presentation of the work, both in the form of a public exhibition and of a written report (in Italian and English). These and other activities are conducted by each student – as an individual or as a team – with the aim of achieving full decision-making autonomy, monitored by the teaching staff to ensure the best quality of the final product. In this way, students acquire all the knowledge necessary to maximize their chances of employment in any public or private institution devoted to the conservation and dissemination of the audiovisual cultural heritage. The importance of an all-round preparation in this discipline should be emphasized in this sense: ideally, at the end of the three-year course, each student should be in a position to successfully compete for employment in any sector related to the preservation of films.

The faculty of recent years include Luca Bandirali (Film history), Massimo Benvegnú (Law), Paolo Caneppele (Cataloguing, Search for sources), Paolo Cherchi Usai, Simone Corelli (Conservation of acoustic materials), Alessandro Marotto (Photochemical restoration), Silvia Moras (Non-film materials), Gabriele Perrone (Print inspection and identification, Digital Restoration), Clément Lafite (Print inspection and identification), Alice Plutino (Colour restoration), Alessandro Rizzi (Conservation of supports), Mirco Santi (Small-gauge supports), Gianandrea Sasso (Videographic materials), Marcello Seregni (Programming and Access; Film archive sociology), Franco Bosco (Acoustic materials photochemical restoration).

This programme is organized in collaboration with Euskadiko Filmategia/Filmoteca Vasca, San Sebastian International Film Festival, and Tabakalera - International Centre for Contemporary Culture.

EQZE | THE SCHOOL OF THE THREE TENSES OF CINEMA

Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola is an international centre for thinking, research, experimental practice and pedagogical innovation based around the past, present and future of cinema.

Created and financed by Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa, Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola is opening in 2017 with a passionately regenerative spirit: its ultimate purpose is not to train technical staff by following traditional standardized training models, but to encourage the emergence of filmmakers with a comprehensive vision of cinema who are able to produce new (working, conceptual, creative, professional) realities on film.

EQZE is taking shape based on the fields of knowledge of the three agents that are taking part in its conceptualization: the Basque Film Archive, San Sebastián International Film Festival and the Tabakalera cultural project. It is based in Tabakalera International Centre for Contemporary Culture where these institutions are also located.

The institutions involved in the development of the School are not teaching institutions but film institutions. This is why the School that they are promoting is also basically a film project: an idea of cinema that is taking shape as an educational project. This is the reason why the EQZE does not have a range of training programmes, but a single educational project made up of three postgraduate programmes.

EQZE | FILM PRESERVATION STUDIES

The course poses the (theoretical, technical and ethical) dilemmas for students that cinema raises as a material and immaterial heritage. As well as tackling all those aspects related to identifying images and sounds on photochemical, magnetic and digital media, the speciality provides the tools for managing existing collections and creating new ones. The course also provides access to protocols and procedures for revising and restoring materials, using both mechanical and digital tools, which offers genuine practical experience in the laboratory.

Film Preservation studies are carried out in constant interaction with the work at the Basque Film Archive, which provides students with a real-life experience with a film archive officially certified by FIAF.

How can audiovisual cultural assets be preserved for the long term and made accessible to future generations? This question is at the heart of the Conservation and Restoration of New Media and Digital Information programme. It addresses the preservation of audiovisual cultural assets and tackles these tasks in a unique way by imparting sound theoretical knowledge in close conjunction with practical work.

Worldwide, thousands of kilometres of shelves are filled with magnetic tapes, film canisters, photographic collections, and video and audio media in a wide variety of forms and materials, all of which must be preserved, protected, and made digitally accessible. The preservation of media art and digitally generated data, as well as the safeguarding of tangible and intangible cultural heritage on audiovisual media, requires comprehensive knowledge of various recording methods, materials, and technologies, along with a high level of expertise in transferring this material into future-proof formats. Because media and their environments are products of their respective technological eras, they are frequently rendered obsolete by technological advancements. This necessitates complex conservation measures for both the media and their environments.

The degree programme is exceptionally well-connected both nationally and internationally, maintaining contacts with numerous institutions at home and abroad. Through the publication of projects, the development of an extensive collection of historical equipment, and a specialized library, it makes a significant contribution to this constantly evolving field.

The Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design offers a B.A. programme (standard period of study: 6 semesters) and an M.A. programme (standard period of study: 4 semesters) in Preservation and Restoration of New Media and Digital Information.

Film and photography preservation has been redefined by digital technologies. Responding to these dramatic changes, Toronto Metropolitan University’s F+PPCM programme provides a rigorous and intensive professional education of applied and theoretical courses in the history, technology and intellectual organization of image and audiovisual collections. The only programme of its kind in the world, F+PPCM offers a curriculum developed and delivered by a range of specialists, from historians and practitioners of photo- and film-based media to museum, library and archive professionals. The two-year course of study includes an internship and a second-year residency in a growing list of international partner museums and institutions.

Blending humanistic traditions and technological innovation through a balanced approach, the Università degli Studi di Udine’s MA programme provides an advanced training in the fields of preservation of film and audiovisual heritage, media education and teaching of audiovisual disciplines. The course combines training activities on film works, documents, materials and technologies on the one hand, and the development of creative skills and practical abilities on the other. It also involves a great deal of different disciplines and innovative teaching methods, based on the key principles of participation and cooperation (applied interdisciplinary projects, use of digital resources and tools, intensive seminars, practical exercises, lab teaching, specific training internships, experts and professionals within the film and media industry involved as teachers in classes and seminar activities).

The programme is articulated into four specific learning curricula:

• The Film and Media Heritage curriculum includes teaching activities and studies in the fields of historical research and archival practices, media archaeology, media sociology and creative media practices, art history, film philology and publishing, theories and methodologies of film and audiovisual restoration, relying on film and video digitization and restoration laboratories and facilities.
• The Media Education curriculum focuses on research areas such as media philosophy and sociology of cultural and communicative processes and includes classes devoted to the critical and expressive use of media in primary education by developing knowledge of teaching methods and technologies. It also includes the study of transmedia storytelling theories and practices, of the key principles of media legislation and design, and of creative and professional media practices.
• The Digital Storytelling curriculum includes teaching in design, graphics, history and sociology of media, copywriting and digital marketing devoted to the development of specific skills in digital storytelling and multimedia audiovisual communication. It also provides the knowledge to design events and digital environments to enhance historical-cultural, artistic, museum, tourist or corporate heritage (digital curatorship and management).
• The Cinéma/Archives curriculum offers the opportunity to attain an international double degree with the Université de Lille (FR). It has a specific focus on archival research and practices, theories and methodologies of film and audiovisual restoration. It also relies on film and video digitization and restoration laboratories and facilities.

The Master degree courses are closely connected with institutions in film heritage, culture and education as well as with private companies: coming in such a close contact with a wide range of areas of knowledge (academic, professional, educational, archival and exhibitional ones), students are encouraged to develop very specific sets of skills and know-how. The MA programme includes state-of-the-art laboratories with a complete production chain: screenwriting and production planning (Centro Ricerche Sceneggiature); digital archiving and filmmaking (Cinemantica); film and video preservation and restoration (La Camera Ottica) and Media Education and Digital Humanities (Digital Storytelling Lab). The training programme also includes the International Film Studies Conference and Magis International Film Studies Spring School (FilmForum).

Udine’s Master Degree course in Audiovisual Heritage and Media Education Studies is part of the I/MA/CS – (International Master in Cinema Studies) Network.