LOS ANGELES — The 38th edition of The Reel Thing (www.the-reel-thing.co), a three-day symposium addressing audio/visual restoration and archiving, will explore the constantly evolving ecosystem of film and digital restoration and preservation. This year’s program will examine legacy film restorations and showcase modern technologies being used to future-proof collections and keep them viable for future display and distribution formats. The event will take place August 18th through the 20th at the Academy's Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood.
In addition to discussions with industry leaders, screenings of several restored films are scheduled, including the original, uncensored version of John Huston’s Beat the Devil; Marlon Brando’s single directorial project One-Eyed Jacks; and Robert Altman’s McCabe and Mrs. Miller.
Created and co-founded by Grover Crisp, executive vice president of asset management for Sony Pictures, and Michael Friend, director of digital archives and asset management at Sony Pictures, the event supports the programs and services of the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA).
“At The Reel Thing, our presenters continue to demonstrate the recovery of the achievements of the first century of cinema even as we assess the challenges presented by the first decades of digital moving image culture,” says Friend. “Ever-more effective tools are being devised to address the mechanical and optical challenges of film restoration, and significant new technologies for the long-term preservation of digital data are rapidly evolving. At the center of this activity, technicians, archivists and the rest of the subjective human audience for cinema continue to examine, refine and redefine our understanding of the notion of preservation for both analog and digital moving image art.”
“It is an exciting time for the archival community as we address the changing technologies that help to preserve collections and our cultural heritage, whether it is film, audio, video or any flavor of digital you choose,” notes Crisp. “Our audience is interested in the problems and potential solutions surrounding how we can cope with the issues we encounter in this still hybrid analog/digital landscape we find ourselves in.”
Presentations at The Reel Thing will feature expert-guided discussions on such topics as UHD/HDR, scanning, color correction, frame rate adjustment, color space and gamut. Case studies on the approach to preserving legacy films in higher quality standards and the processes applied will highlight several panels. Audio restoration will also be explored, looking at the latest technologies in sound.
Speakers are expected to include: Michael Pogorzelski, Academy Film Archive; John Polito, Audio Mechanics; David Marriott, Lynette Duensing and Craig Rogers, Cinelicious; Lee Kline and Ryan Hullings, The Criterion Collection; Chris Reynolds, Deluxe Entertainment Services Group; Steve Kochak, Digital Preservation Laboratories, Inc; Wojtek Janio, Fixafilm; Andrew Oran, FotoKem; Gilles Barberis, L’Immagine Ritrovata; and Snowden Becker, UCLA, among others.