BHUBANESWAR : The Film Heritage Foundation (FHF) will host the 10th film preservation workshop in the capital city from November 12 to 19 in collaboration with the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) and the state government.
The workshop, to be held at Kalabhoomi, will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi. The foundation will honour film scholars Sanjoy Patnaik and Surya Deo with the Champions of Film Heritage Award in presence of Majhi and legendary actor Waheeda Rehman.
Founder of FHF Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, who restored Nirad Mohapatra’s ‘Maya Miriga’, said it was during the very challenging restoration of the film that he discovered that Odisha’s film heritage is in dire straits.
“Very little remains of the early films and we don’t know what is the condition of the films that can be found. I was also shocked to discover that it is almost impossible to find originals or even hi-resolution copies of promotional material like posters and photographs,” he said.
“In light of this, I felt it was imperative that we bring our flagship training initiative - the film preservation & restoration workshop - to Bhubaneswar to create awareness that the preservation of Odisha’s film history is a cultural emergency and also to share the knowledge and practical steps that need to be taken to begin this mission,” he informed mediapersons on Monday.
Apart from sessions in the best practices of the preservation and restoration of celluloid and digital films and film-related material as well as cataloguing and documentation, there will be daily screenings of restored classics from around the world, he said.
