In this symposium we will discuss and show the state-of-the-art on handmade emulsion and primitive colour and the current situation of motion picture film as a tool for artist-filmmakers. Experts on early colour systems and processes will refer to what filmmakers could learn, and take benefit of, from the pioneers in this field.

Its focus centres on the scientific and artistic research of the forgotten, abandoned and unexplored areas of the photochemical processes used in early colour films. By researching into early cinema publications and documents, contemporary filmmakers are able to discover a wide range of processes that have been abandoned in their primitive stages of development, perhaps waiting to be further explored. Techniques such as tinting and toning, colour separation, double coated (duplex) film, and a wide range of projection methods will be approached by researchers and specialists.

Guest speakers:

Giovanna Fossati, professor of Film Heritage and Digital Film Culture, Head Curator Eye Film Institute Amsterdam.

Brian Pritchard, Early Cinema techniques and colour film specialist. Restorer of the first colour film made in 1902, British National Media Museum.

Rossela Catanese, tutor of the academic Master in Digital Audiovisual Restoration at the Sapienza University of Rome.

and artist-filmmakers, participants of the Handmade Emulsion Primitive Colour Seminar:

Anja Dornieden and Juan David Gonzalez (LaborBerlin, DE), Robert Schaller (Handmade Film Institute, USA) , Josh Lewis (Negativland, USA), Kevin Rice (Process Reversal, USA), Alex MacKenzie (Iris Film Collective, CAN), Lindsay McIntyre (CAN) and Esther Urlus (WORM.Filmwerkplaats, NL)

FULL SCHEDULE

11.15 | intro – Esther Urlus
11.30-12.05 | Giovanna Fossati – Early Color Films in the Film Archive
12.20-12.55 | Brian Pritchard – Early Colour Systems
13.10-13.45 | Rossella Catanese – Hand Applied Colour Techniques: a case study of restoration

14.00-15.00 | lunch break

15.00-15.30 | Esther Urlus – Do It Yourself
15.30-16.00 | Robert Schaller – Historical Non-Silver Colour Processes
16.00-16.30 | Lindsay McIntyre – Coating and Slitting of Raw Base Materials
16.30-17.00 | Kevin Rice – Mad Box 2.0 Coating Device
17.00-17.30 | Josh Lewis – Washing Technique
17.30-18.00 | Open Discussion

18.15 – 20.00 | dinner break

20.00 – SCREENING