Analog film isn鈥檛 going anywhere.
In fact, a bunch of it has found a new home in 色色啦.
TIFF announced earlier this year that they are the beneficiary of a substantial collection of 16mm and 35mm film prints.
Donated by NBC Universal, Mongrel Media, eOne/Les Films S茅ville and Canadian filmmaker , the 1,460 prints significantly bolster the cultural institutions鈥 celluloid film collection, something director and CEO Piers Handling says TIFF is 鈥渙bviously interested in keeping alive.鈥
Eleven Alfred Hitchcock films, including Rear Window (1954), are part of this donation. Other notable titles include The Big Lebowski (1998), Dracula (1931) and John Carpenter鈥檚 The Thing (1982).
While archiving is not one of the festival鈥檚 key functions, Handling said to actually own a collection of these artifacts is 鈥渃rucial鈥 for TIFF鈥檚 future and the future of the medium.
鈥淲e want to give audiences the experience of looking at these works as they were originally shot,鈥 he said. 鈥淥riginal artwork is really important . . . (and) become increasingly valuable in the same way original paintings become valuable.鈥
It鈥檚 so important because 鈥渄igital is a replica,鈥 Handling said. 鈥淵ou can probably make a digital reproduction of the Mona Lisa, and it might be very accurate but it鈥檚 not the Mona Lisa.鈥
The luminosity, tone and richness of moving analog images alters the entire viewing experience, he argued.
With the world moving dramatically into the digital sphere, preserving the legacy of film is being left to institutions like TIFF, he added. They plan to take 鈥済reat care in projecting and preserving them.鈥
The 鈥渃raft鈥 of celluloid cinema 鈥 using, printing and projecting 鈥 is an increasingly specialized trade, where both the technology and know-how are limited.
Archivists and projectors are the 鈥渦nsung heroes鈥 of this medium, argued the panelists of a panel that took place at the TIFF Bell Lightbox last month.
鈥淚 embrace the digital future but respect our analog past,鈥 said panelist Katie Trainor, the film collections manager at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 see them as opposing figures but a marriage that has yet to flourish.鈥
She didn鈥檛 think that analog film was on an endangered species list either, citing blockbuster celluloid films like Hateful Eight and Star Wars as mainstream approaches to the medium.
鈥淭he interest is there but there鈥檚 a lot of business on the back end,鈥 said James King, senior booth manager at TIFF Bell Lightbox.
Having access to physical film, experts who know how to produce it and working parts for old-school projectors will be the only thing keeping it back, he thinks.
King added that engaging a new generation of specialists in the analog world will ensure the tradition of 鈥渟eeing a film in the way it was intended to be screened鈥 doesn鈥檛 die out in the digital age.
And preservation of past work is essential: original analog prints are irreplaceable once they are cleared out, junked or destroyed.
So when TIFF heard that their studio partners were starting to 鈥渄ivest themselves鈥 from their collections, they struck up a conversation about conservation.
But saving film costs money. To store and take care of one film print for four years will run TIFF an estimated $350.
To raise awareness about their new material and archival project, they have launched , a campaign running until Dec. 31.
Canadian actor Keanu Reeves even to the cause.
The first $15,000 raised will be matched by an anonymous, analog-film-loving donor.
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