International symposium on current developments in analog film culture.

Film In The Present Tense was organised by LaborBerlin on the 20, 21 and 22 of October 2017 in Berlin at Arsenal, UDK and Circular Economy House.

Informations about the event can be found on LaborBerlin website.

by Anja Dornieden

It's my great pleasure to welcome you all, to Film in the Present Tense…

by Mark Toscano

In English […] a souvenir is basically an object connected to a memory. But in its original French, a souvenir can refer not only to this object, but also to the memory itself. Film is possibly the ultimate souvenir, in the French sense, representing a memory, a memory-object, and the complex interaction between the two, spanning past, future and present.

This illustrated talk will seek to explore these dual, yet intertwined natures of the medium, as well as the question whether film itself may provide compelling evidence that there's no such thing as a present tense.

Panelists : Dr. Anna Bohn (Filmbibliothek Berlin, DE), Tiago Ganhão (Cinemateca Portuguesa, PT), Juana Suàres (New York University, US). Moderation : Mark Toscano (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, US)

The lock and the key, I thought, yeah it's true, film archives are thought as these locked away places. But every lock, at least in principle should have a key. And one of the big question is of course who gets that key…

Anna Bohn : Moving images in living memory. Analog films turned into digital films or not accessible. Film heritage under threat.

Tiago Ganhão : Thoughts about archives workflow and technological strategies in film conservation. about saving analogue films in digital in order not to lose any information. Passage from analogue to digital : reasons / orders. Comparison between silver grains and pixels.

Scheme "Testes FIAF"

Juana Suáres : film archive in Latin America: a study on different organisations archiving cinema today in Latin America from bureaucracy to underground or private initiatives. Currently forwarding a digital humanities collaborative project, entitled Kamani: Audiovisual Archives, Cultural History and the Digital Turn in Latin America.

Panelists : Philip Hoffman (Film Farm, CA), Nicolas Rey (L'Abominable, FR), Nick Brandreth (George Eastman Museum, US). Moderation : Stefanie Schulte Strathaus (Arsenal - Institut für Film und Videokunst)

Part 0

Nick Brandreth was finally not present. But he sent a slide with audio comments about early emulsion making techniques and tools saved at the Gearge Eastmann Museum.

Nick Brandreth's presentation on youtube

Part 1

Stefanie Schulte Strathaus : Introduction. showed and analogue version of a digital version of an analogue film. 4 versions of film: 1st print, various copies, memories of a film, the moment of the projection. All of them have to be taken into account when you speak of the film in the present tense. Role of the institution: collect/produce/protect.

Philip Hoffman - Vulture : “This is going to be a talk that traces the development of what I am now calling Vulture Aesthetics, developed through my interactions with artists who are a part of, or connected in someway to Film Farm. […] There are a lot of metaphorical connections between the Vulture and the filmmaker…”

Visuals screened during Philip Hoffman's talk

Part 2

Nicolas Rey : Short history about the artist-run film labs phenomenon

Panelists : Nicola Baldini (FILM Ferrania, IT), Esther Urlus (Filmwerkplaats, NL), Emmanuel Lefrant (Light Cone, FR). Moderation : Martin Reinhart (Filmmaker, AT)

Nicola Baldini : the FILM Ferrania project / a new medium

Esther Urlus : kneading the material, by trial, error and (re) inventing the film. Research in emulsion and development.

Emmanuel Lefrant : film as a physical medium - about degradation & recording the invisible

Visual material screened during presentations

Panelists : Dr. Erika Balsom (King's College, UK), Katia Rossini (Kino Climates, BE), Christopher Mondt (Filmprojecktion Mondt, DE). Moderation : Shai Heredia (Experimenta Inida / Srishti Institute of Art Design & Technology, IN)

Erika Balsom - Revisiting “The Artist's Dilemna” : Film, from industrial to artisanal
Pictures presented by Erika Balsom

Katia Rossini : the status of the film theater today

Christopher Mondt : There is this strange discrepancy of the analog original and the digital copy.

Presented by Lindsay McIntyre, Dr. Izabella Pruska-Oldenhof and Amanda Thomson

Panelists : Prof. Dr. Christa Blümlinger (Université Paris 8, FR), Guy Edmonds (University of Plymouth, UK), Olga Moskatova (Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, DE). Moderation : Dr. Kim Knowles (Aberystwyth University, UK)

Christa Blümlinger, an intervention based on the publication « Théories-manifestes des cinéastes et artistes face au numérique » ( Recherches sémiotiques / Semiotic Inquiry, Volume 31, numéro 1-2-3, 2011 [publié en 2015], p. 95-111).

Guy Edmonds : the experience of the film over the last century till now

Olga Moskatova : What is the battle about ? emotionally, aesthetically, economically, politically, technically. the ontology of the film.

Old Battles, New Treaties - Listen and see visual material

• What is film ? – report by Scott Fitzpatrick
• How can we strengthen our community ? – report by Ieva Balode (Baltic Analog Lab)
• Engaging with the global self – report by Richard Tuohy (Nanolab)
• RE MI project – report by Aurélie Percevault (Mire)
• Accessibility of analogue film community – report by Simon Liu (Negativland Lab)
• Filmlabs touring programs - distribution – report by Douglas Urbank (AgX)
• Saving, sharing, developping – report by Bernardo Zanotta and Esther Urlus (Filmwerkplaats)
• How to share technical informations – report by Maxime Fuhrer
• Projection issues – report by Nicolas Rey and Leah Millar