Kol sets stage for country’s first celluloid film fest
Times of India | 8 December 2024
Kolkata: The city is poised to host the first-ever Indian celluloid film festival.
The extraordinary response to the screening of a documentary by Satyajit Ray's art director, Bansi Chandragupta, and Utpalendu Chakraborty's feature film on celluloid, using a 35 mm arc-carbon film projector at the 30th Kolkata International Film Festival on Dec 6, inspired KIFF chairperson Goutam Ghose to propose the initiative. Once KIFF is over, another festival will be held at Radha Studio. "It will be a celebration of celluloid prints. Nowhere in India is there such a great collection of celluloid prints. We have at least 50 prints at West Bengal Film Archive that can be screened," Ghose added.
Among the five film projectors at Radha Studio, three are for analogue. They include two 35 mm carbon arc lamp film projectors with mono and stereo sound systems and a 16 mm film projector (analogue) with a mono sound system. Chakraborty's ‘Chokh' was screened using a 35 mm carbon arc lamp film projector, while Chandragupta's ‘Ganga Sagar Mela' was screened using a 2K DCP digital projector. ‘Ganga Sagar Mela' was restored from a positive print, rather than original camera negatives and was preserved in the West Bengal Film Archive. "The film comprises two reels. After conversion from the analogue to the digital format, the content duration spans merely 10 minutes. It recently underwent 4k resolution digitisation and subsequent 4k restoration through NFDC-NFAI, in collaboration with the state archive," said Rabindranath Dash, maintenance engineer-cum-chief manager (lab) at West Bengal Film Archive (Radha Studio) and West Bengal Film Development Corporation Ltd.
Pointing out that 170 viewers turned up at the auditorium with a seating capacity of 152, Ghose said the audience response was "overwhelming" with the new generation getting a celluloid-viewing experience. Cinematographer Gaur Karmakar, who worked on ‘Chokh', was also invited for the screening. "I got the old projectors from Rupayan Film Lab to Radha Studio. They are in excellent running condition now," Ghose said.
Projectionists Gopal Chandra Dutta and Debabrata Bhanja had queries about how the machines operate now. "The arc lamp generates high-intensity illumination by establishing an electrical arc between two electrodes. In cinema projection, arc lamps were used during cinema's nascent period to illuminate motion picture celluloid film frames. Carbon arc lamps were prevalent in projectors for showcasing positive print films across 16mm, 35mm and 70mm formats," Dash said.
Earlier, positive prints underwent printing and processing in specialised labs. Since the early 20th century, the 35mm film format has remained the cinema projection benchmark. "It encompasses a 35mm-wide film strip with sprocket perforations, spooled onto reels and projected onto screens via film projectors. These projection systems were predominantly used in cinemas during Hollywood's golden age," Dash added.
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