Race to rescue the film industry’s memories

The rise of the digital format in film-making has happened so quickly it’s taken even the industry by surprise. With celluloid film processing labs closing worldwide, New Zealand is fast-tracking plans to save thousands of precious films. reports.

darkrooms stand empty, the smell of chemicals lingering on the air. A light trap – a kind of round, revolving door that looks more like a portal to another dimension – lies forlorn on the floor.

As recently as two years ago, the lab was regularly printing 55 release copies of every New Zealand feature film. These copies would be distributed for projection at theatres nationwide.

Now, very few large theatres have the capability to show film – in Wellington, it’s only the Paramount and the Film Archive. Movies are now released as a DCP, or digital cinema package, for digital-only projection.

Each DCP is encrypted with a code, which is pre-programmed to allow the film to be shown only between certain times, and for a certain length of time. After that, the file self-destructs.

New Zealand International Film Festival director Bill Gosden says two years ago, only six films in the festival were on DCP. This year, it’s almost the complete opposite. Only three films from the dozens showing are in 35mm film.

‘‘It’s quickly become the artisanal format, like music on vinyl,’’ he says. ‘‘We knew it was coming, but it came in an almighty rush and we had to scramble to make sure our venues were equipped.’’

The other associated problem is that no-one really knows how stable the digital format is, he says. In the 1980s, everyone thought U-matic tape was going to be the key to longevity – which turned out not to be the case at all.

Mr Scadden, who has been working in the lab since 1976, thinks the shift has happened so suddenly because the quality of digital has improved vastly in a short space of time.

While he loves the aesthetics of film, ‘‘the economics absolutely stack up’’ against using it now, he says.

Although Park Road will no longer print film – its ‘‘rushes’’ room is among those set for a refit – it is retaining the equipment needed to remaster and digitise celluloid films, and will continue to work in this area.