(Inés Toharia Terán, Canada/Spain 2021, 119 min., DCP)
As we move ever further into the digital age, our audiovisual heritage seems to be taken increasingly for granted. However, much of our filmed history and cinema has already been lost forever. Film archivists, curators, technicians, and filmmakers from around the world explain what film preservation is and why it is needed. The protagonists are custodians of film whose work behind the scenes safeguards the survival of motion pictures. It is a task they undertake based on their closely held belief in the artistic and cultural value of the moving image, in tune with a shared mantra that a film might one day transform someone’s life.
Directed by 2007 graduate of the L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation (here at the George Eastman Museum) Inés Toharia Terán, the film features several current and former museum staff members, including Peter Bagrov, Jared Case, Paolo Cherchi Usai, Todd Gustavson, Jan-Christopher Horak, Anthony L’Abbate, Patrick Loughney, Deborah Stoiber, Jeff Stoiber, Ed Stratmann, and Caroline Yeager, and Selznick graduates Rachel del Gaudio, Brian Meacham, Celine Ruivo, Mark Toscano, Katie Trainor, Ben Tucker, and Ishumael Zinyengere.
Followed by a panel discussion with Senior Curator Peter Bagrov, Preservation Manager Anthony L’Abbate, and Associate Curator Caroline Yeager, moderated by Curator of Film Exhibitions Jared Case.