Archival Restoration
We learned many processes of upgrade and restoration work pulling from our depth in film post production, then digital and a couple of decades in CGI and work, merging our love and knowledge and Cinema history in film, with the latest in new technology, including AI and AI animation .
That we would tangent part of our efforts into archival and restoration of films and television came naturally. All of us grew up knowing post production -we had to, we were making our own films, many of the sci-fi pushing inventive envelopes way back when… But it wasn’t just the knowledge of the art and high tech of film production. Restoration and Archival means one has to track the rights as well as the truest original pieces of what you’re restoring. A show, even a restored one must have a legal exploitable existence as well as celluloid and digital files churning in AI. Our experience as producers of -often complexly financed films and shows enabled us to handle both equally sides of restoration and archival processes.
Our very first experiences in restoration was 0n our own works, about 30 films and scripted TV drama going as far back as to the late 1970s in super-16…
In 1978 intermittently funded low, low production started on Music of the Spheres, finishing in 1981. Restored in 2019 released to stream on Tubi and others in 2019.
In 2017 Phil ran into writer John Frizzel and became re-acquainted with the 1983 classic and world shaking film he’d c0-written Winter Tan (staring the inestimable Jackie Burroughs).
Casual talk about a now shot event re-introducing the film (a film that had broken the Ontario Censor Board, for a start- and burned a path of outrage or celebration through world film festivals long before the internet, turned into a discussion of – where can we find a print? Eventually two old super-16mm theatrical prints, faded by several decades of chemical decay, and no trace of the original negatives showed up. This led us to our first shot a restoring a third party classic. Working closely with our friends at Eggplant Pictures and Sound we had the challenge and honour of restoring -from old and damaged prints two new digital masters, one for theatrical projection and two for streaming services. The carefully restored soundtrack, from origins of optical print damaged mono release prints is amazing (hat’s off to Bruce Fleming at Eggplant Sound).
The restored Premiered was held by TIFF in a special event at the Bell Lightbox in Toronto.
In Europe the restored film was projected at the Edinburg Fringe and has since gone into North American Streaming. We have been invited to contract to the distribution of the picture in Europe, and have now met all restorations costs without subsidy or 3rd party financial support. It was an encouraging start.
This effort was followed by a (happily) and equally successful restoration and relaunch of Clay Boris’s 1982 Cannes Director’s Fortnight raucous festival hit Alligator Shoes . In both films, we had to research, hunt archive and estates to recreate Chain of title and right to exploit for the owner/producers.
We are doing some cultural institutional creative recovery work we hope to be able to report on soon. Great cinema, great shows, deserve to be there for future generations. We’re proud as heck to be part of that.
For more on our film and series restoration capacities and services, call us at 647-783-2799 or email info@starfieldcreatorco.com
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