Film Restoration Summer School

The Film Restoration School Arrives in Bologna

From photochemistry to digital technology, the Summer School offers a training platform for all the practical skills relating to the trade of film restoration. Part of the tradition of summer schools offered by FIAF (Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film) since the 1970s, the Film Restoration Summer School/FIAF Summer School arrived in Italy for the first time in 2007. The lessons found their ideal classroom within the Bologna Cineteca and its L'Immagina Ritrovata workshop, and brought together film-restoration professionals from all over the world. The hospitality was also made possible thanks to the support of ACE (Association des Cinémathèques Européennes) and the European Union's MEDIA programme. Success in 2007 led to plans to repeat the course over the next two years (2008 and 2009).

One Course, Three Phases

The Film Restoration Summer School/FIAF Summer School course is divided into three phases. The first involves distance learning: each week from May to the end of June the selected participants download texts chosen by the school's instructors covering the technical and theoretical aspects of film restoration. During the second phase the students come to Bologna for the Festival del Cinema Ritrovato, allowing them to learn more about the conservation of film heritage through participation in screenings, lessons and special meetings. Finally the last phase takes place in the Immagine Ritrovata workshop space, offering a genuinely hands-on apprenticeship in the different steps of photochemical, sound and digital restoration.