Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Persian Movies

This is topic Persian Movies in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Andrew Peter Chobaniuk (Member # 3886) on 09-12-2006, 07:06 AM:

My theatre has been host to theatre rentals which involve the playing of persian prints. now these prints arrive in a half destroyed box, and the reels are not on cores or actual reels, the arrrive in those ghetto reel canisters. and the persian film that i built last night didnt have any tails or heads, and it has to be the most scratched film i have ever seen.

i have one question

do they have film reels in Iran to use, cuz it would do flippin wonders for presentation (not to mention ease of build)

Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 09-12-2006, 09:56 AM:

Welcome to working outside the the box of normal distribution. When I used to work in theatres that rented out for Indian movies, or Chinese movies, or even Russian movies, I would get films exactly in the condidtion you describe. Odds are there is one print, a private owner and it is sent from theatre to theatre until it wears out.

Have fun

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 09-12-2006, 10:26 AM:

What Martin said. I once got a print from Italy in a box that would have been nothing but shredded cardboard if it weren't for what had to be a few entire rolls of shipping tape holding it together; the film rolls had no hubs -- nothing in the center -- and they were wrapped in -- I swear -- used butcher paper stained with blood and some kind of oil, probably cooking or olive oil. Oh yah....and no heads and tails is par for the course. The first and last reels are easy, then you just mount them in the order they came in the box and wait to see if anyone in the audience says they think something is wrong. On one particular Chinese film that I ran, it took three screenings to get the reel order correct.

Best thing you can do....get a bottle of Film Guard and clean as best you can. The thing that amazes me all the time is how film actually holds up under these bizarre conditions.

Posted by Demetris Thoupis (Member # 833) on 09-12-2006, 11:35 AM:

I am aware that in Greece, Libanon, Cyprus, Egypt and some other countries, the films do not arrive on actual reel spools, but they arive in boxes with centre cores on each reel and sometimes nothing! It is a "custom" to chop down the head and tails leaders from the films (although most times these do not exist since the subtitling company usually removes them and places a white numbered labeled sticker at each reel) and just keep chopping off frames from cinema to cinema (I know you will say FILM DONE WRONG) and therefore the next projectionist rely on the labels placed on each reel. Considering that in free Cyprus we only have 4 major cities with 1 cineplex (5 to 6 screens) and 1 double screen theater in each city, and each city usually gets it own new print, not much damage happens to them. I have to appreciate the fact that our projectionists here are quite thoughtfull when it comes to film handling and they almost never damage prints. We also don't have problems with DTS discs (unlike most of you!), and we have some villages who run single screens and struggling to survive (although all village owners used to be from the middleages! so they do it for their own pleasure and not for the money).
D

Posted by Andrew Peter Chobaniuk (Member # 3886) on 09-13-2006, 03:32 AM:

played it tonight, no probems, just massive scratches tho, and the cleaning rollers were FILTHY, do they use cleaning rollers in iran?

the print i recieved wasnt theatre to theatre
it came straight from Iran to my hands

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 09-13-2006, 04:26 AM:

quote: Andrew Peter Chobaniuk
do they use cleaning rollers in iran?

Dunno, but I hear that this Ahmedinejad chap does quite a nice line in gas centrifuges! [Big Grin]

Sorry, couldn't resist.

This thread brings back memories ... back when Bollywood stuff only got shown at private hires in the middle of the night, the prints would typically arrive in Safeways carrier bags, with no cores, cans or anything like that. Plus the head spacing and leaders were all in Hindi or Bengali, so it was anyone's guess what order you were supposed to show them in!

Posted by Christos Mitsakis (Member # 143) on 09-13-2006, 05:46 AM:

Demetris is right, and Andrew's situation is not surprising. The "norm" here is that ONLY first run prints come on cores "pizza like" in boxes (like those carrying in the picture) having in each reel the appropriate leader and tail. Those prints come directly from the subtitling company washed and fresh. After first run all leaders (except the end tail) and cores remain in the cinema or are thrown away. Now, in each consecutive theatre the projectionist in order to splice the reels (in either plater or reel to reel feed) chops one or more frames (more depends on the damage done by bad handling).
I remember runing twice the same print of Saving Pvt Ryan. The second presentation was after a 7 week period and in each reel were missing 5 - 8 frames at the begining and end, showing more or less the number of theaters the print was run after it left me.
Back then however there were fewer prints of each movie. Now that each major movie opens with 80 - 200 prints nationwide this choping is minimised. Considering also that the comercial life of a print is only a four month period (six at best) no distributor cares about the acumulating print damage. This translates also in saving money, having few or none print inspectors in their payroll.
There is also the splicing of the movie by the distributors in larger reels for the easier shipment. An 8 reel US release it will became 6 reels of around 25min each (polyester helps in this). No leaders except the end tail on these prints.
Except local production, the majority of foreign films are licenced for a period of 5 years and after that the print is withdrawn (meaning buchered so that becomes unplayable, and trashed). Now the majority of prints reaches this stage before that time, with the distributors keeping in store a few prints in mint condition in case someone wants to run a certain movie during the 5 year period.
Film done right applies almost to first run theaters and everyone seems to sympathise the subsequent slight tear and wear of the prints (sometimes not so slight). In 25 years I had only one complain of why the film is "jumping" after a certain amount time.

C.

Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 09-14-2006, 10:41 AM:

I have run 2 Iranian films. Both came from the U.S. distributor in unopened boxes. Both were like new and had cores in every spool, there was a note in English that the films had been inspected in Iran before shipment. We also run around a dozen Indian films every year, sponsored by a local Indian merchant. The prints we get fresh in the country are pristine, the prints that have been shown previously in the U.S. and Canada are usually missing some of the cores and abused in some way.

If you're going to be running imported films you will need to get a couple split reels and a dozen or so extra cores so that you will not be contributing to the problem.

[ 09-15-2006, 12:31 PM: Message edited by: Bill Enos ]