7th Edition Of ‘Film Preservation & Restoration’ Workshop To Be Held In Mumbai

Since its inception in 2015, this highly commendable flagship training programme has travelled successfully to cities such as Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata and attracted unconditional endorsements from film luminaries such as Amitabh Bachchan, Shyam Benegal, Naseeruddin Shah, Kamal Haasan, Mani Ratnam, S.S. Rajamouli, Nagarjuna, Chiranjeevi, Prosenjit Chatterjee and Goutam Ghose.

The seven-day workshop designed by David Walsh, Training and Outreach Coordinator, FIAF, will include theory and practical group sessions in the best practices of the preservation and restoration of celluloid and digital films and film-related material like paper, photographs, and 3D objects. It will be held from December 4 to December 10.

Aside from this, there will be daily screenings of restored classics from around the world screened at Regal Cinema, Mumbai including a rare Indian silent film that will played on the big screen for the very first time, 'Behula' (1921) starring Patience Cooper, one of the earliest superstars of silent cinema in India. Others include 'A Hard Day's Night' (1964), 'Raging Bull' (1980), 'In The Mood For Love' (2000), 'Il Conformista' (1970) and 'Thamp' (1978).

With representation from some of the top-of-the-line international faculty from premier institutions such as the British Film Institute, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, the workshop will present an advanced curriculum for the very first time this year.

The workshop will witness participation not just from alumni from the earlier editions, archival experts and stakeholders from the film preservation community in India but also from Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and the Middle East.

Speaking on the launch, Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, Director, Film Heritage Foundation said: "It's an amazing feeling to be back after a gap of almost three years due to the pandemic with the seventh edition of our film preservation and restoration workshop - in-person, hands-on and at an advanced level."

"It's been a monumental task to put the workshop together this year with very limited resources and climbing costs. But we knew we had to make up for the lost time and the lost momentum that we built up over six years travelling around the country and training over 300 people in India and the neighbouring countries."

Amitabh Bachchan, who is a staunch supporter of FHF elaborates: "I am delighted to share that Film Heritage Foundation in collaboration with the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) will conduct the seventh edition of the Film Preservation & Restoration Workshop India 2022 at the CSMVS Museum in Mumbai this December."

"We are very proud of our flagship training programme that has sparked a movement for film preservation not just in India but our neighbouring countries. We would like to thank FIAF and Martin Scorsese and The Film Foundation's World Cinema Project for their unfailing support since our first workshop."