Film Restored, 23 Oct–27 Oct 24

Press release

Under the title of “Community”, this year's edition of Film Restored will explore filmmaking, film preservation and watching films as a collaborative experience. The festival will also shed light on the many stories that cinema tells about communities, the family, social movements and political groups. From 23 to 27 October 2024, the festival’s 9th edition will offer screenings of digital restorations, workshops, talks and discussions for joint viewing and an exchange of views.

Only rarely is a film the work of a single person. Filmmaking usually involves several, if not many parties, who are directly and indirectly participating in the process. While many film crews in the history of cinema have been hierarchically structured, collaborative approaches have always existed too – sometimes in organized, sometimes in informal ways, sometimes as unique experiments and sometimes as lifelong artistic synergies.

An archive only functions under the principle of a collective task: filmmakers, archives, collectors and researchers share knowledge, experience and material with each other and the public. Global networks and local initiatives permit archives to learn from each other and open up spaces to reflect on their purpose and approaches. The restoration of many films that are widely fragmented can only succeed thanks to transnational communication and cooperation.

The cinema auditorium is a shared space. Watching films together has decisively shaped film culture and how we perceive what is projected on-screen. The settings in which people have gathered to watch films – from premieres in picture palaces to discussions in film clubs, to event-style cult film screenings – are part of the history of these films. Based on this heritage, the festival invites people to (re-)watch, reflect and discuss films together.

For almost 130 years, films themselves have told stories of human interaction: of families and other collective living models, of neighbourhoods and peer groups, of social and political movements — of cohesion and friction whenever people come together. Thus, films always say something about the society in which they were produced and about people as social beings.

Using this multi-faceted topic as a focal point, the festival brings together films, film professionals from diverse sectors and everyone who loves film.