Restoration and preservation: forever young

More than simply making sure we can always wawtch old films, to preserve a classic piece of Australian cinema or television is to preserve a piece of the country’s history. Paul Hayes writes.

An audiovisual work is a portrait of a certain time and place, not only of those who produced it, but also of those for whom it  was intended.
The National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) is at the forefront of preserving our audiovisual legacy, and the decision as to what will or won’t be preserved is predicated largely on the idea of safeguarding history.

“Decisions are made on the basis cultural significance, historical significance and a sense of capturing not only creative work, but works which represent a snapshot of Australian society,” NFSA senior curator of documents and artefactsGraham Shirley told Encore. “Obviously certain films do that much better than others, but every feature film produced in the country is a reflection of both perceived audience tastes, as well as the sensibilities of the people who have made these films.”

Film restoration and preservation become a particularly timely topic with the successful and high-profile re-release of what had for decades been the country’s lost film classic, Wake in Fright. Originally released in 1971 to critical raves and a box office whimper, the original print was thought to be lost until the film’s original editor, Tony Buckley, tracked it to Pittsburgh in the USA, in a vault marked for destruction.