Luke Ainger on printing films at BFI’s laboratory

An interview with Luke Ainger, Senior Conservator at the British Film Institute and one of the few technicians running the film laboratory, one of the most active archival labs in the world, which is expanding the scope of the services it offers.

 

When was the BFI preservation laboratory established?

The lab was built in 1987. And it just so happened that part of Kodak’s major processing lab closed in 1985, which was local in Hemel Hempstead. So, some of the country’s leading film technicians came to the BFI to help establish to the printing and processing facilities here in Berkhamsted.

All those old technicians’ documentation was kept and preserved. So we have an amazing amount of processing research, chemical analysis and rare manuals all still on paper in our records. Which was all very insightful to read through and study when I first started.

My colleague Ian has been here since 1989.  He has helped preserve the valuable skills and practices taught to him by those Kodak technici...

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Two Projection Workshops Coming Soon

FIAF and the Association of European Cinematheques join forces again to offer two projection workshops at ACE member cinematheque...
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Ongoing 16mm Enchantment at The New-York Public Library

An interview with Elena Rossi-Snook, the film archivist who takes care of the 16mm collection at the New York Public L...
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filmprojection21.org a été lancé en 2016 parallèlement à la publication de la Charte de la projection cinématographique au XXIème siècle, qui a rapidement été signée par de nombreux festivals de cinéma, cinémathèques, salles de projection, cinéastes, programmateurs, etc., pour qui la projection de films photochimiques importait. En signant la charte, ces organisations et ces personnes s’engageait à privilégier la projection de films sur pellicule chaque fois qu’une copie était disponible et à dûment annoncer la nature de ce qu’elles projetaient dans leurs programmes.

En 2016, la conversion des salles de cinéma commerciales à la projection numérique était encore récente dans la plupart des régions du monde, et l’expérience de la projection de films, bien que clairement menacée, était encore relativement courante. Le temps a passé, et une dizaine d’années plus tard, la projection de films photochimiques se trouve dans une situation critique, tout en devenant plus appréciée, car sa rareté attire de nouveaux publics. LIRE L’ÉDITORIAL