News
DIASTOR Presents Scanner Tests at FIAF Congress in Skopje
DIASTOR will present their scanner tests at the workshop of the FIAF Technical Commission in Skopje, May 7, 2014. This workshop is part of the 70th Congress of the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) to be held in Skopje, Macedonia, from May 4 to 10, 2014.
Interview von Uni News, Universität Zürich (in German)
Die Kommunikationsabteilung der Universität Zürich hat ein Interview zu DIASTOR und zur Caligari-Restaurierung geführt:
http://www.uzh.ch/news/articles/2014/wir-verlieren-unser-filmhistorisches-erbe.html

Fotografie einer historischen Nitratkopie von «Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari». Copyright: Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, Wiesbaden. Quelle: Archivo Nacional de la Imagen – Sodre, Montevideo/ Cineteca di Bologna. Fotografie: Barbara Flückiger, Timeline of Historical Film Colors / DIASTOR (Bild: zVG)
DIASTOR Conference Program Online
Please have a look at the program which is available on our conference website now.
Registration will be open on April 7, please check back!
Thanks for sharing this information on Facebook, Twitter, in mailing lists or with other interested groups.
Join our event on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/events/587146458044626/ and get always the latest news!
Swiss Radio and Television SRF Joins DIASTOR as New Partner
We are very excited to announce that DIASTOR has a new partner! At the beginning of this week, Swiss Radio and Television SRF has joined the project as an implementation partner.
SRF is the public broadcaster in the German part of Switzerland. With its huge archive of 16 mm films and a major library of Swiss movie classics on 35 mm, stored in the vaults of the Cinémathèque suisse, SRF is a perfect extension to DIASTOR. Not only does SRF provide their own in-house expertise in the fields of archiving and restoration, but also do they offer an additional institutional framework with different requirements. This allows the DIASTOR team to enlarge the scope of their research by including case studies with other exigencies both with regard to access and long-term storage.
Since the start of DIASTOR we collaborate closely with SRF. One of DIASTOR’s case studies is the restoration of faded chromogenic stock of the famous HEIDI series from 1978. Furthermore SRF works with DIASTOR on the restoration of the Technicolor feature film HEIDI UND PETER from 1955, directed by Franz Schnyder. This Technicolor film will be part of DIASTOR’s project “Switzerland in Technicolor”.

HEIDI UND PETER (CH 1955, Franz Schnyder), one of the DIASTOR case studies in collaboration with Swiss Radio and Television SRF, see further information on the SRF website: http://www.srf.ch/kultur/im-fokus/franz-schnyder/filmografie/heidi-und-peter-1955 (in German). © SRF
Scanning of special soundtracks at project partner sondor
Several soundtracks were scanned at project partner sondor on the Resonances system that scans positive and negative optical soundtracks in real-time. An area of interest is determined (see red lines) and the track is cleaned up during transfer with a dedicated dust-busting plug-in. Particularly challenging in this instance was the Dufaycolor soundtrack, an additive colour filmstock with a red, green and blue reseau (for more information click here), which produces its own high pitch. The output files in these cases will form the basis for sound negatives for preservation purposes and future DCPs.
Scanning of some of the DIASTOR case studies in full swing
We’re in the middle of testing and scanning some exciting film titles: Dufaycolor title PARURES (Switzerland, 1939) in collaboration with project partner Cinémathèque suisse; Technicolor title SWITZERLAND SPORTLAND (USA, 1952) in collaboration with Harvard Film Archive (both scanned at project partner Cinegrell Postproduction) and various early colour systems with Deutsche Kinemathek (scanned at project partner AV Preservation by reto.ch).
Please note that these scans are the raw images before any correction has taken place. Come see the results at our conference in June and in the meantime watch this space for regular updates.
DIASTOR-Tagung am 5. Juni 2014
Filme digitalisieren, sichern und bewirtschaften
Kurzbeschreibung:
Filmproduzenten, Filmemacher und Verleiher stehen vor der grossen Herausforderung, ihre analog gedrehten Filme zu digitalisieren und die digitalen Elemente nachhaltig zu sichern und zu bewirtschaften. Die Anforderungen an die Archive sind nicht weniger gross, denn auch sie müssen neue Strategien entwickeln, wie sie den Zugang zu ihrem Bestand optimieren und die Filme dauerhaft archivieren.
Ziel der Tagung ist es, einem Publikum aus Branchenvertretern (Produzenten, Regisseuren, Verleihern), politischen Entscheidungsträgern und Archivaren einen Überblick über das komplexe Gebiet zu geben. Dazu gehören alle Aspekte von der Auswahl des Filme, den technischen Verfahren, Standards und Work-flows, den kuratorischen und archivarischen Fragestellungen, ökonomische und kommerzielle Gesichtspunkte und Chancen, kulturpolitische Perspektiven, langfristige Prognosen und Anforderungen an nachhaltige Lösungen.
Das anwendungsorientierte Forschungsprojekt DIASTOR Bridging the Gap Between Film History and Digital Technology entwickelt seit Mai 2013 Standards und Workflows für die Digitalisierung und Langzeitsicherung von Filmen im Austausch mit internationalen Experten. Diese Experten werden an der Tagung Einblick in ihre Erfahrungen und Praktiken geben.
In der gegenwärtigen öffentlichen Debatte ist das Bewusstsein für den Wandel und die Kenntnis der möglichen Lösungsansätze noch nicht vorhanden. Dabei ist die Thematik von grösster Bedeutung, wenn die Schweiz ihr Filmerbe bewahren und sichtbar machen will.
Datum und Ort:
5. Juni 2014 im Filmpodium Zürich
Adressaten:
Rund 150 Teilnehmer, davon ungefähr 50 Vertreter aus der Film- und Fernsehbranche (Produzenten, Regisseure, Verleiher), 20 politische Entscheidungsträger auf Bundes- und Kantonsebene, 30 Archivare und Kuratoren von nationalen und regionalen sowie privaten Archiven, 20 Filmjournalisten und Medienschaffende, 30 Wissenschaftler (Film- und Medienwissenschaftler, Informatiker, Historiker), evtl. 20 weitere Teilnehmer (interessierte Öffentlichkeit).
Partner:
Die Tagung wird in Zusammenarbeit mit der Stiftung FOCAL http://www.focal.ch/D/ durchgeführt und vom Kulturfonds von Suissimage, von Memoriav http://de.memoriav.ch/ und dem Schweizerischen Nationalfonds http://www.snf.ch/de/Seiten/default.aspx unterstützt.
Kontaktperson DIASTOR: Franziska Heller
Six videos of new CALIGARI restoration now online
Six videos of the 2014 restoration of “Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari” are now available online. DIASTOR is proud to have provided the color analysis, see various postings here. (Update January 28: We added a seventh video and replaced all the videos with HD versions).
Restoration (2014) by Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, Wiesbaden
Copyright: Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, Wiesbaden (Murnau-Stiftung)
Digital restoration: L’Immagine Ritrovata – Film Conservation & Restoration, Bologna
Compare the videos with images of the historical tinted and toned nitrate prints on the corresponding pages of Timeline of Historical Film Colors, created and curated by DIASTOR project manager Barbara Flueckiger:
Tinted frames from “Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari” (lower part of image gallery)
Toned frames from “Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari” (lower part of image gallery)
Here are the links to the videos:
Comparison restoration from 1984 with 2014 (HD)
Split-screen garden VFX (HD): Lacunae in the camera negative were replaced by clips from the exhibition prints. Since these clips are different in contrast and resolution, visual effects helped to reduce the difference. The video consists of three parts: Raw scan from the negative with two lacunae; raw scan from the negative and raw scan of the nitrate print; final version.

Comparison photochemical restoration (1984, left) to digital restoration (2014). Restoration (2014): Copyright: Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, Wiesbaden. Digital restoration: L`Immagine Ritrovata — Film Conservation & Restoration, Bologna.
Save the date: June 5, 2014 DIASTOR conference in Zurich
On June 5th, DIASTOR organizes the one day conference Film im digitalen Zeitalter. Digitalisierung, Bewirtschaftung und Sicherung von Filmen (Film in the Digital Age. Digitization, Access, and Storage of Films) in Zurich. The conference aims at providing information to a broad audience of film professionals (directors, producers, distributors), archivists, politicians, journalists, film scholars and historians. International experts in the field will give insights into their practices, solutions, standards and work-flows. The talks will be in German, English, or French with simultaneous translation for participants.
Every filmmaker and producer faces the challenge of keeping their films accessible for future audiences, either by digitizing analog films or by constantly migrating their digital assets in accordance with the dynamic evolution of technical requirements. At the same time, many new questions arise on how to preserve digital film elements for the future. The topics covered at this conference include international best practices, technical solutions and standards, curatorial aspects, costs and economical benefits, memo-politics, long-term perspectives, and requirements for sustainable approaches. The day will be concluded by a screening of the new restoration of Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari with an introduction by Anke Wilkening, Head Restorer of the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation.
The DIASTOR team organizes the conference in collaboration with FOCAL Foundation for professional training in cinema and audiovisual media. It is supported by Swiss National Science Foundation and Memoriav.
We will provide regular updates on the progress with our conference organization. Please subscribe to this page to receive all the information. Please send further inquiries to DIASTOR team member Franziska Heller.
See you in Zurich!
First video of 2014 restoration of “Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari”
After the end of the press embargo, the video is online again with five additional videos.
Please find the links to the videos in the new posting here.





