The digital restoration of film

Abstract

This article focuses on the issues of conservation and restoration of films through digital technologies. Films, as an expression of collective memory, become part of the common heritage of humankind, which deserves to be safeguarded and disseminated. As a consequence of this awareness, the issue of preserving cinematic materials becomes a pressing one, especially when the structural frailty and transience of the film stock is taken into account. The current condition of audiovisual media is one of transition: The analog and photochemical element is gradually replaced by the digital apparatus. Such condition radically influences the practices of production and distribution of the cinema, as well as the theoretical debates on the medium: The archiving criteria and restoring procedures are no exception to this logic.