In the Digital Age, an era dominated by rapidly evolving information technology, it is hard to imagine how pieces of our cinematic legacy could disappear forever. After all, audiovisual materials can be digitized and saved using a cloud-based online video storage provider or for those of us who prefer tangible, local data storage to servers in off-site locations — on DVDs, external hard drives or flash drives. And once you have a digital copy, it will last forever, right? Well, not exactly. Digital archiving is not the answer to this ongoing problem of deteriorating film stock and lost titles. Digital storage media, none of them last a fraction as long as celluloid negatives and prints kept in cool, dry, cared-for archives. The “cloud” isn’t the answer and the pie-in-the-sky possibilities suggest that the process of migrating preserved digital copies of historically significant material will be ongoing as technology evolves in ever faster cycles. Much of our filmed history and cinema has already been lost forever. Estimates on the number of lost films vary, most of the films made roughly 100 years ago are lost. The number of films currently in need of preservation is overwhelming, particularly when considering the complexity and cost of professional restoration. If moving images survive, live on and remain accessible in our days it is due to the efforts of dedicated individuals who have worked against time, trying to rescue films regardless of their commercial value. Film degrades. If it’s not provided continuous maintenance and stored at a target temperature, the celluloid will degrade and become unwatchable.
Besides preserving decaying film before it disintegrates and tracking down lost movies, archivists have broadened the perception and the scope of the accepted film canon through the discovery of lost treasures. For restorers, preservation too often involves the difficult decision of what can be saved. In the Philippines, the humidity and the lack of funding pose formidable challenges, making restoration of existing work a luxury. Loss is the foundation of archiving. If you’ve experienced the loss of a cinematic gem, the fervent goal is to prevent such casualties. With every lost film, there’s more lost history. And what’s been found and restored opens our eyes. All restoration projects start with research like finding the best elements that still exist whether the original camera negative or the best generation available. The copies are compared, frame by frame and the restorer takes the best essence to make a hybrid. Physical repairs are made frame by frame using digital technology. The original filmmakers, if still available, are always consulted. The film may be restored digitally but it will be preserved on analog. The goal is to restore, not to perfection but to what the film probably looked like when it first came out. Film must be preserved, saved, and above all, shown. The influence of old films on new filmmakers is incalculable. If we’re ever to learn from the past — a big if, but perhaps it’s still too early to surrender to despair then their work matters and in the purest sense, its preservation is of the deepest political consequence. Through films we bear witness to atrocities and wonders, crimes against humanity and everyday joys. We learn where we came from and see what we dream of.
