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Pomeranz needs help sharing burden of Proof restoration

Thursday, 19 May 2016 13:07:10 | Damien Peck

Margaret Pomeranz says the campaign to restore the film allows the public to get directly involved. (ABC News Breakfast)

Film ambassador Margaret Pomeranz is campaigning to gather movie buffs to help restore the 1991 Australian film Proof.

A $25,000 target to fundraise has been set by the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) in order to digitally preserve the 25-year-old cult hit.

The film's analogue reel has become fragile to the point that restoration is necessary to convert it to a digital format.

Pomeranz said it was important that films were kept intact even a quarter of a century after they were made.

"Film deteriorates and the problem is also that you look at cinemas now and they're all digital," she told Red Symons on 774 ABC Melbourne.

"So if you want to see any of our store of films on the big screen, it is necessary to restore them to pristine original condition and digitise them.

"The format in which they were filmed in 35mm it does deteriorate, it loses colour."

Film maintenance an expensive process

Pomeranz said restoring an entire film to its original condition was crucial but expensive in some cases.

Sometimes the digital formats of film also need to be adjusted every five years in an ongoing process.

Some films can cost between $50,000 and $100,000 to repair and digitise the movie. Photo: The time-consuming nature of film restoration means it can be expensive. (ABC Riverland: Catherine Heuzenroeder)

"Once the restoration has taken place they are really well looked after with this digital transformation," she said.

"It varies but it can be extremely expensive from $50,000 to $100,000 because it's really time consuming."

Proof was directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse and produced by Lynda House.

The domestic total gross of the movie was more than $500,000.

Movie launched careers

Pomeranz recalled re-watching the film recently having not seen it since it was first released.

"I hadn't seen it since '91 [when] it was in Cannes, the first year I went to the Cannes Film Festival," she said.

"I saw it again recently and it is so good, it's so imaginative ... it's really a very interesting, suspenseful sort of film."

External Link: Proof film trailer from 1991

Pomeranz also took note of how the movie helped launch the acting careers of Hugo Weaving and Russel Crowe and others.

"They're [Weaving and Crowe] both splendid, really. It's so interesting seeing Russell look so young and so good in this film," she said.

"And we shouldn't forget Geneviève Picot — we shouldn't forget the woman in it.

"It was very much a Melbourne film."

We thought it would be a good idea for Australians to participate in contributing to maintaining our film heritage.

Margaret Pomeranz

Pomeranz said the Pozible crowdfunding campaign to restore the film allowed the public to get directly involved.

"We thought it would be a good idea for Australians to participate in contributing to maintaining our film heritage," she said.

"It would be great if people contributed because there's a sense of ownership as well and I like that idea."

AustraliaPlus


 

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