Hidden film treasures brought to life in British vault

In a refrigerated vault outside London filled with old film reels, a team of curators is bringing to life forgotten masterpieces of early cinema history. A chemical smell hangs in the air at the British Film Institute’s National Archive, where some 250,000 wheels of old film are stacked floor-to-ceiling. “As we’re restoring them we’re pulling back the veils of history, and we can see much more clearly than we used to,” curator Bryony Dixon said on a visit to the archive in the town of Berkhamsted this week.

A selection plucked from the shelves is being showcased at the BFI’s London Film Festival, including a tale about the heartbreaking Indian love story of the Taj Mahal mausoleum.

‘Shiraz: A Romance of India’ is being screened at a gala for the first time since its release in 1928, following months of restoration.

“It’s beautiful, it’s dramatic, it’s got exciting locations, and great acting. And it’s unique, there are almost no surviving Indian films from that era, so it’s very special,” Dixon said.

A score by composer Anoushka Shankar, daughter of late Indian sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, has also been added to accompany the silent film.

BFI curators have restored a wealth of films, including Alfred Hitchcock’s nine surviving silent films and footage of a legendary Everest expedition in 1924 in which two of the climbers died.

Despite technological leaps, preparing the film begins with it being checked by hand.

“There will be a lot of hand, manual repair on the original film copies, using tape to make sure the films can pass through cleaning machines,” said Kieron Webb, the archive’s film Conservation Manager.

The team used the original camera negative of ‘Shiraz’, along with a copy made decades later, which were combined digitally to obtain the best images and restore tens of thousands of frames.

Digital techniques, which have replaced much of the old photochemical processes, have enabled restorers to become more precise in their work and upgrade every single shot in a film such as ‘Shiraz’.

The Indian film is nearly 90 years old but BFI also holds films going as far back as the 1890s.

Restoration is a costly endeavour and the archive relies on public funds and private donors, as well as ticket sales from screenings.