in residence
“FILM INSPECTION AND PRESERVATION”
by Lina Wu
CFMDC’s film collection is a sort of living archive. While we do work hard to preserve films, our priority is getting eyes on the work and renting films out to programmers, researchers, and educators. Doing inspections and sending work to screenings technically degrades the film, making it less and less watchable with each use. But what would the benefit be of having such a vast collection of films if nobody (or just people in the “know”) can watch anything? The advent of digital distribution and filmmaking methods challenges these barriers to access. We can’t be too precious with good things if we want other people to experience them too.
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Recent Scholar
Deidre Simmons
Deidre is a master’s candidate in Ryerson University’s Film & Photography Preservation & Collections Management Program, class of 2019. She completed her Bachelor of Arts in English with a minor in Film Studies at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. During her time in Toronto, she has had the opportunity to work with both film and video here at CFMDC and at Vtape. While completing her 6-month residency for her masters program, Deidre looked at the HIV/AIDS films in the collection, focusing on how films in an artist-run collection can be continually accessed. Currently she is working with FADO Performance Art Centre to catalogue and archive their collection in the new Research Centre at The Commons in the 401 Richmond arts-and-culture hub in downtown Toronto.
Email director@cfmdc.org to express your interest in becoming an Artist-In-Residence.
Click here to read about our previous scholars in residence.
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