Abstract
The NFA is about to finish its large and complex project Digital Restoration of Czech Film Heritage. Within this project, 14 feature films and programs were digitally restored and returned to cinemas.
NFA's representatives will present and discuss their experience with digitization, related public tendering, supervision, collaboration, and outreach. Matěj Strnad will provide an introduction into the complex project of Digital Restoration of Czech Film Heritage and share the experiences related to the project management.
Tereza Frodlova will not only introduce methods and procedures employed during digital restoration, but also questions and dilemmas related to digitizing. Using real life examples from recently digitized films, she will focus on the role of reference print(s) in the process of digital restoration and understanding film material.
Jeanne Pommeau will focus on the restoration of the first films made in the Czech lands, directed by Jan Kříženecký. These are preserved in various materials: original colour prints with Lumière perforations, original negatives, safety prints of the second half of the 20th century.
The characteristics of those materials led us to develop a specific approach for their digitization. Jonáš Svatoš will present the technical approach regarding the data-management workflow, the codecs and the formats used, and the role of open technical standards employed in the digitization and digital restoration pipeline used in Národní filmový archiv.
He will also briefly discuss the LTP strategy for both digitized and born-digital material with respect to the planned state-of-the-art digitization facility, which is being built as part of the new film vaults near Prague