In a bid to preserve the cinematic legacy of the country, the city will host the annual Film Preservation and Restoration workshop organised by the Film Heritage Foundation and Viacom 18 in October.
“While the country has produced over 1,700 silent films, hardly 15 of them remain intact. Of the 124-odd Tamil silent films and documentaries, none survive, which shows us how much of film legacy and heritage we have lost as we have been neglecting preservation. The attitude of the film industry needs to change,” said Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, founder, Film Heritage Foundation.
“The participants will be trained on film handling and repair, disaster recovery, paper and photography conservation, sound restoration and colour correction,” he said.
Launching the workshop, actor Kamal Haasan said that while he had always stood for the digital revolution in cinema, it did not mean that the past should be neglected. “Preservation is not just for historic reference but something much more than that, and the industry should come forward and take interest in this,” he said.
Director Mani Ratnam pointed out that there weren’t copies available of films made even in 2000.
The workshop has been organised previously in Mumbai and Pune. Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO, Viacom 18, said it had attracted a range of participants.
The workshop will take place from October 7 to 14. Applications are open on www.filmheritagefoundation. co.in or on www.fiafnet.org .
