A Visit to the Restoration Lab

On Wednesday, June 19th, we all visited the film restoration lab in Bologna.  We took a tour and learned the basic processes of restoring film.  We were first taken to the room where they physically repair the film with chemicals, and repair seams between each piece.  As soon as we walked in we were struck with all sorts of smelly chemicals, but for those repairing the film the smell is completely non-existant.  We got our first glimpses of original films from both the Lumiere brothers and Charlie Chaplin.

hard at work restoring film

Lumiere footage

                                                        

Charlie Chaplin's film Gold Rush

We also visited the sound booth and various computer labs where students and interns were hard at work restoring classic films such as Rome Open City.  The restoration lab is a private facility funded by various foundations and clients.  For example, the Martin Scorsese World Cinema Foundation.  Overall visiting the lab was a surreal and wonderful experience.