Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: The Unlikely Story of How Nitrate Film Endures

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Posted by Harold Hallikainen (Member # 5405) on 12-10-2016, 02:51 PM:

http://hyperallergic.com/343828/the-unlikely-story-of-how-nitrate-film-endures/

Many of the most iconic films in cinematic history — Casablanca, Gone With the Wind, Citizen Kane — were recorded on nitrate, the earliest form of motion picture film, yet the material has a terrible reputation. Used from the late 1800s through the 1940s, nitrate film was incredibly flammable and caused some major fires in movies theaters. These tragic chapters in cinematic history have been revisited in films such as Cinema Paradiso, Inglourious Basterds, and The Artist. Later, once nitrate film was phased out, many archives were intentionally burned, simply to destroy the hazardous material.

But film archivists see nitrate in a different, less fiery, light. Aside from being an important ancestor of all the forms of film that came after it, nitrate is lauded for its luminous, high-contrast images, resulting from an emulsion that was rich in silver and the film’s excellent transparency. And if it’s handled properly, the film is perfectly safe. For all these reasons, the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York is gearing up for the third Nitrate Picture Show, which will take place from May 5–7, 2017. Passes for the weekend go on sale at midnight on Monday, December 12.

Continues at http://hyperallergic.com/343828/the-unlikely-story-of-how-nitrate-film-endures/

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 12-10-2016, 07:01 PM:

Anyone who has the chance to attend this event at the Eastman House museum should. I attended the first one (and missed the second one due to a schedule conflict) and had a great time. I had seen nitrate screenings before, but never so many at one event. I would expect that the 2017 passes will sell out quickly.