Supporting artistic and scientific research by continuing early cinema photo-chemical experiments, in order to create unique film material and approach new pictorial possibilities for artists through the making of their own emulsion.
Today, more than a hundred years after its invention, the potential for innovation in the medium of motion picture film is immeasurable. Through practical experiments and research on early photographic techniques, film artists are beginning to produce their own film stock and make considerable progress in the field.
The massive shift to digital technology in the film industry has created an unprecedented situation, leaving the future of celluloid in the hands of artists. With the disappearance of certain materials used in analogue cinema, artists are challenged to take control of all stages of film production, including chemical aspects, or even by producing the photosensitive emulsion that covers film strips. Taken as a historical challenge, it is a very stimulating situation, generating gaps and possibilities to reinvent the medium of film.
In Re-Exploring Unexplored Paths we focus on the scientific and artistic research of the forgotten, abandoned and unexplored areas of photochemical processes used to create colour film material. By researching early publications and documentation on the subject, contemporary filmmakers are able to discover a wide range of techniques, which were perhaps abandoned in their early stages of development, waiting for further exploration. Through practical experimentation, artists can discover new textures, colours and a wide variety of images.
The Handmade Emulsion Primitive Colour programme is composed of several meetings between artists, technicians, scientists and audience during the duration of RE MI: Several actions will take place, including a symposium with talks by experts and filmmakers open to the public, a week long seminar between artists to exchange and conduct practical experiments and a touring workshop to share acquired knowledge and give some tips to beginners about how to start making their own emulsion.
