Workshops

FIAF Technical Commission workshop
Wednesday, June 8 - 09.00 am
Cankarjev dom, Kosovel Hall

What is Film ?
The FIAF Technical Commission workshop will span many of the issues in moving image archiving and presentation as they go digital. We gave the seminar the working title "What is film?" to help us keep our focus on the moving image content as the content becomes less and less attached to the physical carrier of motion picture film stock. The workshop is roughly divided into two parts, one looking at film as a theatrical experience, and one looking into how digital technology might work as a new means of individual access to the film archive collections. The Technical Commission is currently pointing to analogue 35mm film, stored correctly, as the best carrier for the long-term preservation of moving images. In both theatrical and individual access, however, digital carriers are gaining ground and offering new experiences to audiences. It is important to remain open to the use of new technologies to offer access to the FIAF collections. The Technical Commission feels it is imperative that the discussion as to what film archiving will be in the future is held in an open and positive spirit to avoid an identity crisis, as films become carrier independent. In other words: What makes a film a film, and thus a film archive a film archive? There is no doubt that films and cinema are currently in a transitional phase from analogue to digital. Whether this change will alter the content of the film collections on other levels than the physical storage media remains to be seen. The workshop is intended to bring out both the ethical and theoretical implications of the transition to digital. The workshop will also offer case studies on the maintenance of analogue film projection and archiving, as they become rare experiences.

Workshop TC

Session 1: The Cinema Now & Tomorrow
Peter Wilson, European Digital Cinema Forum: An overview of the work and medium term plans EDCF expects to be put into practice in Europe in particular and the World in general, in the changeover of film projection to digital projection.

Nicola Mazzanti, FIAF TC: Access going Digital – some technical issues.

Torkell Saetervadet, Filmenshus: Maintaining a film projection cinema in the future, when commercial cinema projection is entirely digital. Torkell Saetervadet is currently preparing the film projection manual for the FIAF Programming & Access Commission.

Thomas Christensen, FIAF TC, Danish Film Institute: On the legal deposit of preservation elements as film production goes digital. Presentation of the considerations and strategies regarding digital masters at the Danish Film Institute.


Session 2: Digital Access To Archival Film
Paul Read, FIAF TC: Scanning the film and making the access version – from restorations for the cinema, to affordable access to the content.

Kjell Billing, Antti Alanen, FIAF Programming & Access Commission: A view from the FIAF Programming and Access Commission on how the P&A Commission sees the future.

Mark-Paul Meyer, FIAF TC, Nederlands Filmmuseum: On the ethics and principles of retaining film projection, what we know and what we don't and need to know to decide.

Q & A Session: Film Archives in Motion

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