The morning of July 26th , at il Cinema Ritrovato, was dedicated to the presentation of the new film laboratories from two ACE members: Cinémathèque Suisse and Museo del Cinema di Torino. For Cinémathèque Suisse, Nicolas Ricordel had recorded a video presenting the structure and a small video-tour.
Cinémathèque suisse is recognized by the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) as one of the ten most important film libraries in the world for the scope, diversity, and quality of its collections. In Switzerland it represents the only insistution that collects and preserves the Swiss film heritage. Cinémathèque Suisse was funded in 1948 and it currently has a team of nearly 100 people in three separate sites: Penthaz (Research and Archive Centre), Zurich (Dokumentationsstelle), and Lausanne (administration and screenings). The Cinémathèque’s mission is to preserve and restore its collections and showcasing the rich film heritage.
Opened in September 2019, the Research and Archive Centre has a laboratory for the digitization of its film heritage, that was created with the help of L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory. Cinémathèque Suisse decided to internalize the restoration and digitization work to cut the costs, to protect the work and to improve the digital skill set.
The Non-Film Department of the Archive includes the following sectors: the Library/Media-library, Images and Antique Equipment, Conservation and Restoration, the Private collections and institutional archives. At the moment Cinémathèque suisse, in collaboration with the Confederation, is working on the digitization of its film collection to facilitate access and distribution. The institution is now equipped with all of the tools and infrastructure — image and sound scanners, sound studio, control room — for very high quality digitization of films.
Even though, in the interest of preservation, Cinémathèque Suisse prefers film stock for works originally on film, since 2012 it has been equipped with two LTO (Linear Tape-Open) storage libraries. These libraries mirror each other and are installed in secure locations in the Penthaz Research and Archive Centre. Cinémathèque is currently thinking about increasing the storage capacity in order to be able to host more data.