The symposium includes panel discussions and technical presentations on a wide range of issues facing film archivists, technicians, asset managers and curators of image and sound in the new media/digital landscape.
“The Reel Thing is a unique gathering of people who care deeply about film and go above and beyond the call of duty to preserve it,” said film historian and critic Leonard Maltin. “Archivists, scholars, lab technicians, and devotees share their knowledge and screen some recent examples of cutting-edge film preservation. It’s a wonderful event.”
Topics include large format scanning and recording, preservation of film as data on film, the impact of color spaces on workflows and archiving, restoration of Satyajit Ray‘s APU Trilogy, restoration of Bing Crosby‘s personal Dictabelt recordings, audio restoration presentations and a special presentation on projecting silent cinema in the age of digital projection by visual effects artist Jonathan Erland.
The event will also feature case study presentations and screenings of recently restored films including The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The Exile (both with live music accompaniment) and a special 4K presentation of Steven Spielberg‘s Duel.
The Reel Thing opens on Thursday evening with a reception, a special presentation to recently retired preservationist Bob O’Neil and a premiere screening of the new 4K restoration of The Day the Earth Stood Still.
The Reel Thing was first held in 1994 at the Association of Moving Image Archivists Conference in Boston, and has grown in scope each year since. The event has been held sometimes twice a year and in Brazil, Italy and the Netherlands, as well as in cities across the United States and Canada.
“The Reel Thing is a unique event and attracts technologists, archivists, programmers and asset managers, as well as people who simply love movies, television and all things related to moving image and sound preservation,” said Grover Crisp, executive vice president for asset management, film restoration and digital mastering at Sony Pictures Entertainment, and co-organizer of The Reel Thing with Michael Friend, director of digital archives at SPE.
