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64th International Federation
of Film Archives Congress
17 > 26 april 2008
At the Cinémathèque française
Screenings
Programming by Cinémathèque Française and CNC’s Archives Françaises du Film
The Cinematographic Adventures of Color
The screenings offered at the Cinémathèque Française during the Congress pay tribute to the cinematographic adventures of color.
The films, originating from collections of fiaf member archives around the world, demonstrate both different coloring processes, such as those in the works of Georges Méliès, or Svend Gade and Heinz Schall’s Hamlet (1920-1921) presented by the Deutsches Filminstitut,and the variety of color shooting techniques that punctuate cinema history.
Thus, the Technicolor of the 1920s with Victor Schertzinger’s Redskin (Library of Congress in Washington), the Spanish Cinefotocolor in Ladislao Vajda’s Doña Francisquita, 1953 (Filmoteca Española in Madrid), or the Gasparcolor with Ivo Caprino’s Karius og Baktus, 1954 (Norsk Filminstitut in Oslo) will once again beam brightly with their specificities. However, these techniques did not pass through the years without damage, and very particular restoration processes must be used in order to restore their original state. Satsuo Yamamoto’s The Scarlet Cloak, 1958 (National Film Center de Tokyo) and Jean-Pierre Melville’s Army in the Shadows, 1969 (French Film Archives-CNC), are exemplary works in this area. As for Jacques Feyder’s Carmen, it is emblematic for the Cinémathèque Française. Thanks to various elements of Albatros productions that were preserved, the original colors could be restored using the Desmetcolor process. This was carried out in the Haguefilm laboratory in Amsterdam. After nitrate processing, which mobilized everyone’s efforts in the 1980s and 1990s, preserving, fixing and restoring color films that have been shot since the 1950s is now becoming the daily routine for cinematographic archives.
Today, archivists, chemists, and computer specialists gather together to discuss these issues. This program also pays tribute to their teamwork to save this heritage which is under threat. The full program is available at cinematheque.fr.
The Cinematographic Adventures of Color
The screenings offered at the Cinémathèque Française during the Congress pay tribute to the cinematographic adventures of color. The films, originating from collections of fiaf member archives around the world, demonstrate both different coloring processes, such as those in the works of Georges Méliès, or Svend Gade and Heinz Schall’s Hamlet (1920-1921) presented by the Deutsches Filminstitut,and the variety of color shooting techniques that punctuate cinema history.
Thus, the Technicolor of the 1920s with Victor Schertzinger’s Redskin (Library of Congress in Washington), the Spanish Cinefotocolor in Ladislao Vajda’s Doña Francisquita, 1953 (Filmoteca Española in Madrid), or the Gasparcolor with Ivo Caprino’s Karius og Baktus, 1954 (Norsk Filminstitut in Oslo) will once again beam brightly with their specificities. However, these techniques did not pass through the years without damage, and very particular restoration processes must be used in order to restore their original state. Satsuo Yamamoto’s The Scarlet Cloak, 1958 (National Film Center de Tokyo) and Jean-Pierre Melville’s Army in the Shadows, 1969 (French Film Archives-CNC), are exemplary works in this area. As for Jacques Feyder’s Carmen, it is emblematic for the Cinémathèque Française. Thanks to various elements of Albatros productions that were preserved, the original colors could be restored using the Desmetcolor process. This was carried out in the Haguefilm laboratory in Amsterdam. After nitrate processing, which mobilized everyone’s efforts in the 1980s and 1990s, preserving, fixing and restoring color films that have been shot since the 1950s is now becoming the daily routine for cinematographic archives.
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Today, archivists, chemists, and computer specialists gather together to discuss these issues. This program also pays tribute to their teamwork to save this heritage which is under threat. The full program is available at cinematheque.fr.
