Protecting Cinema History One Indie Film at a Time

[Pictured: The Doom Generation]

By Stephanie Ornelas

Independent films have emerged as not only a unique art form, but as a significant means of chronicling our times. Preservation will ensure that this art form both endures and becomes an ongoing resource. - Robert Redford

The preservation risks posed to independent cinema are dire. Supporters of the craft might not be aware that many beloved indie films are at risk of being lost and forgotten. Motion pictures of all types are deteriorating faster than archivists can preserve them, partially due to film lab shut downs, and independent projects are in jeopardy the most. But programs and organizations like the UCLA Film & Television Archive and Sundance Institute have worked to change that.

Preservation Week - a time to mark the importance of preserving historically significant materials - is observed during the last week of April, so there's no better time to revisit how Sundance Institute and UCLA came together in 1997 to form the Sundance Institute Collection at UCLA in an effort to address the preservation risks facing the independent film industry. The collection works to track down films and reconnect with the artists, secure enough funding for the restoration projects, and coordinate with digitization/restoration vendors who then work on the actual film's preservation. A copy of each project's digital archive and a DCP (Digital Cinema Package) is then moved to UCLA's archive, where they live forever.

The collection has amassed 2,300 restored Sundance-supported titles and brought archival screenings back into focus for Sundance Film Festival audiences to rediscover. Gregg Araki's The Doom Generation and Marc Levin's SLAM joined that list when they screened in the 2023 Sundance Film Festival's From the Collection section.

One remarkable outcome of the Sundance Institute-UCLA partnership is that it has not only brought these films to new audiences, it's allowed viewers beyond the Festival to see this powerful work, since oftentimes projects that go through the collection are restored as part of a subsequent re-release. After its anniversary screening in Utah, The Doom Generation was re-released in select theaters in April and is still screening across the U.S.

Gregg Araki and John Nein attend the 2023 Sundance Film Festival The Doom Generation Special Screening at Egyptian Theatre (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images) These films have not been available legally for years, which is why it's so shocking that there's still an audience for them, because they've just sort of lived on YouTube or some weird website, says Araki during a Zoom interview. But there are so many films from the '90s that aren't retrievable because they are lost.

The Doom Generation meets a new audience

When the uncensored director's cut of The Doom Generation screened at the 2023 Festival in its remastered state, Araki was stunned that the majority of audience members were younger viewers who had never seen his film on the big screen - but that didn't mean they hadn't seen his film at all. Many of them had watched pirated versions of The Doom Generation, so Araki was thrilled to be able to show this restored version to 2023 audiences.

LINK:	https://www.sundance.org/blogs/protecting-cinema-history-one-indie-fil...
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