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The work of film conservation preserves and restores precious film relics from damage, and contributes to their rescreening, further studies and the protection of cultural heritage. The "Saving Film: Road to Film Conservation" exhibition, organised by the Hong Kong Film Archive (HKFA) of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, will be held from today (August 21) to November 22 at the HKFA's Exhibition Hall, featuring the restoration work of the HKFA and the development of today's restoration technology. Admission is free.
The exhibition showcases the efforts of the HKFA in film conservation over the years from different perspectives, including film acquisition, basic conservation, technology development, film research and digital advancement. Photos and footage of films before and after restoration as well as videos of interviews with conservators and film researchers are being shown. The exhibition also displays various tools and equipment used by film conservators, among which the HKFA's colour grading machine is being displayed to the public for the first time. Visitors can gain a better understanding of film conservation and related procedures by viewing the exhibits at the venue.
The HKFA has been actively participating in film acquisition and conservation since 1995 and has restored more than 50 titles within the past two decades. The early conservation work mainly involved repairing damaged negatives and regrading faded colour before reprinting new copies. Examples include the restored versions of "Blood Will Tell" (1955), "The Orphan" (1960) and "Hiroshima 28" (1974). As restoration and preservation technologies became more advanced, researchers and conservators of the HKFA compared different versions of cinematic treasures. For instance, footage from various copies could be compared frame by frame and extracted to replace incomplete frames, or those with inferior quality, in "A Page of History" (1941), "The Kid" (1950) and "The Great Devotion" (1960).
Conservators also apply digital technology to restore cinematic gems to conditions closest to their original premiere versions. The recent digital restoration projects of the HKFA include "Follow Your Dream" (1941), "The Story of Wong Fei-hung, Part One" (1949), "The Story of Wong Fei-hung, Part Two" (1949) and "Nobody's Child" (1960). Digital technologies were used to stabilise the frames and minimise scratches, noise and other problems. Among these films, "Nobody's Child" is the first HKFA title with both a screening copy in Digital Cinema Package and a preservation copy in 35mm.
In addition to technical knowledge, a comprehensive understanding of film history also helps in restoring motion pictures to their truest forms. The HKFA received a donation of the nitrate negative of director Fei Mu's "Confucius" (1940) in 2001, and with it was found 11 minutes of unidentified loose footage. Conservators compared the film fragments with the splices in the negatives and checked markings on the perforations to determine the year in which the reels were made and which splices matched the loose footage, whereas the researchers studied various forms of documents to supply information for the restoration. With appropriate restoration of image and sound, nine minutes of loose footage was then inserted to supplement the original film to create the current restored version. Another restored film, "Colourful Youth" (1966), starring Connie Chan and Josephine Siao, is the only film of its genre featuring the two idols. However, the film was found to be marred with severe colour fading that required restoration. Apart from reviewing old newspapers, movie stills and film brochure text, researchers also interviewed the participating actors for detailed information. Also, conservators conducted colour grading by making reference to other films in the same period. The combined effort successfully restored the modern look of this colour classic.
For enquiries, please call 2739 2139 or browse the website of the HKFA at www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/CulturalService/HKFA/en_US/web/hkfa/programmesandexhibitions/highlights/highlights26.html.
Ends/Friday, August 21, 2015
Issued at HKT 16:53
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