Cape Town initiative to restore old films

Movie lovers in the country can look forward to many of their old South African favourites and cinematic gems seeing the light of day again in the near future, as a project to restore these old flicks is gaining momentum in Cape Town.

Hundreds of old films in a variety of languages from days gone by are being repaired to their former charm and aged integrity.

One of the first South African films with an all-black cast, titled Joe Bullet, is one of almost 400 movies that have been selected to be digitally restored over the next three years.

Restoration work on the much talked about picture, banned in the Old South Africa, has just been completed.

Director Louis de Witts 1971 movie has already been invited to be screened at two upcoming international film festivals.

A spokesperson of the Gravel Road Entertainment Group, Ben Cowley says the movies, mainly from the 70s and 80s, are getting a digital make over for broadcasting, video on demand services and dvd releases over the next few years.

There is huge interest in retro content, at the same time there is a lack of local content, when we talk specifically Zulu content, that is readily available, nobody really knows about this historical fact of the booming industry, this counts in our favour to make those films available again.

A team of about 12 people is working on restoring the movies at a purpose-built facility at the Waterfront Film Studios.

Cowley says it is a very delicate and time consuming process to give the old flicks a second lease on life.

Part of the restoration process is also re-purposing it for other territories, where we have got content that is in a different language, we also have to go through the subtitling process, as well as making it available for other African territories, as well as worldwide territories and actually having to dub a lot of the movies as well for those markets. Once you start to look at all the elements involved, the cost tends to get quite high.

He says before rehabilitation work on the old movies can begin, they have to trace the producers and owners of the films to get permission and to acquire the rights.

The process can also be held back while attempting to get the master prints of these movies from the National Film Archives, which is the custodian of the films.

Cowley says after a physical inspection of the celluloid and a chemical clean, only then can the restoration process commence.

Depending on the condition of the film, it can take up to eight weeks to restore.

Cowley says neglect has also resulted in a number of the movies being damaged to such an extent that it cant be fully rehabilitated.

He says in those cases the films are still being scanned just to have a digital record of the pictures for academic and preservation purposes.

A typical one is water damage, the films that were kept in a garage by private individuals, where the conditions that they were stored in were not right, no humidity or temperature control, and then we get a film where the various emulsion layers, where the colours life begin to smudge, it is very sad.

Cowley says, with the African Film Legacy initiative will help in preserving the history of the countrys film industry, which dates back to the newsreels during the Anglo Boer War from 1899-1902.

by Sarel Meintjes - SABC News

LINK:	http://www.filmcontact.com/africa/south-africa/cape-town-initiative-re...
	See more stories from filmcontact

Most recent headlines