The Jocelyne Saab Association has, by necessity, developed an expertise in the field of film restoration. As delegated manager of the Jocelyne Saab film and art collection, it was necessary to set up a project to make accessible films that had been out of circulation for too long and, for the most part, were difficult to show. It was also necessary to find a way to work on these images with people who felt concerned by the history they carry within them, and to bring them back to Lebanon.
Most of Jocelyne Saab’s 16mm films are preserved in the excellent conditions of the Archives françaises du film, and have been the subject of various training workshops with professionals: the Institut national de l’audiovisuel, the Fédération Internationale des Archives Film (FIAF) and the Cinémathèque suisse sent their experts to the bedside of the films and technicians to teach the techniques and rules established by the FIAF ethical charter.
These courses were aimed at technicians living and working in Lebanon, and at technicians from our host structures in Ghent (KASK & Conservatoriuum) and Marseille (Polygone étoilé). Their aim was to train technicians in digitization, digital image restoration and digital sound restoration, in order to develop their autonomy in the face of the laboratories dominating the market.
Duration: 3 days Format: 8mm; Super8; 16mm; optical sound Speaker: Adrien Von Nagel
This course is aimed at film technicians interested in preserving film archives, or artists from Arab countries wishing to work with an archive collection to which they have free access.
Location: Polygone étoilé, Marseille
The training takes place over 3 days, on an MWA scanner capable of handling 8mm, Super8 and 16mm. The first day is devoted to a general presentation of what exists, and will provide an overview of the practical and ethical issues involved in restoring heritage films. The following days will feature 16mm and 35mm manipulation, and an introduction to digitization.
Today, the JSA has 3 associate technicians and numerous freelance partners. For major restoration projects, the JSA always works closely with ThePostOffice, a Beirut-based postproduction company that has hosted and attended several digital film restoration training courses organized by the JSA on its premises.
We offer our film restoration services for projects that are part of our alternative approach to safeguarding archives, for images that are in line with the JSA’s editorial line. Once the restoration work has been completed, the films will be exported in various formats (conservation formats; broadcast formats), subtitled in French/English/Arabic and preserved on LTO tapes (magnetic tape for conservation: currently the most secure medium after film for data preservation). Several tapes can be created and deposited in different partner archives in Arab countries. It is indeed necessary to multiply the number of storage locations, to ensure the security of the material. The JSA reserves the right to program the restored films.
