So, I found 300 lost films...

[Erikht]

...or not lost per se, put unavailable on any format, mostly one copy only (this being the original), and in need of restauration A.S.A.P., as the climatic conditions where they are stored are horrible, and the country they are stored in is a fascist regime, which might take exception to some of the films (they are mostly documentaries). That's also the reason why I don't want to be more specific in an open post.

Who should I contact to ask for advice and assistance?

[Oedipax]

Try contacting Janet Bergstrom, maybe

[MichaelB]

Your description is too vague for me to be much help, but an archive with a proven interest in this kind of material would be your best bet.

[Erikht]

Well, their existence is not a secret for the government, so the secrecy is not necessarily a must(also, they have a home page), but our experience with the regime (and we have some) says that they have a tendency to be difficult when foreigners starts to show interest in the material. We have been asked for help by the rightholder, the filmmakers daughter, and her German contact.

This is the homepage, with some descriptions of the material.

Okay, I admit to being theatrical and overly paranoid.

[puxzkkx]

This sounds like a truly valuable find. Are you looking to get these out of the country, or to have them restored or archived there?

[MichaelB]

Given the filmmaker's connection to the Colonial Film Unit, it might be worth approaching Patrick Russell at the BFI - he's the Senior Non-Fiction Curator, and was one of the people behind this website.

Since these films aren't British, it's probably unlikely that he'd be interested in formally acquiring them (at a time of financial austerity, a strong British link is pretty much essential), but he might be able to point you in the right direction.

[Erikht]

Thank you, I will follow these leads. I am going to Khartoum next month, and will take a look myself and try do determin exactly what material there is. I might be able to get some funding for saving the material, but not for restauration, unfortunately.

[mfunk9786]

Any of them The Day the Clown Cried, by any chance?

[Erikht]

Given the filmmaker's connection to the Colonial Film Unit, it might be worth approaching Patrick Russell at the BFI - he's the Senior Non-Fiction Curator, and was one of the people behind this website.

Since these films aren't British, it's probably unlikely that he'd be interested in formally acquiring them (at a time of financial austerity, a strong British link is pretty much essential), but he might be able to point you in the right direction.

Could you please help me with contact information?

This sounds like a truly valuable find. Are you looking to get these out of the country, or to have them restored or archived there?

They can not be restored there, so for that they would have to be taken out of the country. But the first order would be to preserve them somehow to avoid further deterioration.

[puxzkkx]

Write to Martin Scorsese.

[knives]

The Danish film Institute might be interested (given where you're at I'm assuming that's the most relevant place).

[Gregory]

^^^ The two countries have pretty lousy relations, right? Perhaps the institutional situation is a bit different.

[knives]

Politics ruin everything. I would think though film institutes wouldn't be that petty.

[MichaelB]

The biggest headache is that most film institutes will have a specific cultural remit, often a national or geographical one, and they'll also have very limited funds.

Clearly, this collection is important: the mere fact that it includes half the entire feature-film output of a single country is testament to that. But while it's easy enough to construct a cultural case for its preservation, constructing a rock-solid argument for funding it from non-Sudanese sources is considerably tougher.

[Erikht]

The biggest headache is that most film institutes will have a specific cultural remit, often a national or geographical one, and they'll also have very limited funds.

Clearly, this collection is important: the mere fact that it includes half the entire feature-film output of a single country is testament to that. But while it's easy enough to construct a cultural case for its preservation, constructing a rock-solid argument for funding it from non-Sudanese sources is considerably tougher.

And that is more or less the problem in a nutshell.

Well, Janet Bergstrom can not help me.

[knives]

If there's anything us anonymous poor people can do to help please say so. I don't have much in the way of resources, but if there's letters to be written or something along those lines I'd gladly assist.

[Matt]

Try contacting FIAF?

[whaleallright]

You might try contacting the Centre Cinématographique Marocaine in Morocco, a country whose government has better relations with Sudan than most (which is not saying all that much). They may at least have some advice.

CINEMATHEQUE MAROCAINE / CCM
B.P. 421 , Quartier Industriel, Av. Al Majd , Rabat , MOROCCO
T: 212-37 28 92 00 / 79 1890
F: 212-37 79 8105 / 8108
ccm@iam.net.ma
http://www.ccm.ma" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Correspondance:
M. Nour-Eddine Sail Directeur Général du CCM T: 212-37 28 92 00 / 79 1890
Mr. Abdellatif Laassadi Assistant du Directeur Général - Responsable de la Cinémathèque Marocaine T: 212-37 28 92 58 / 52
Language: *Français
Joined FIAF in 1996. Current status: Member


Good luck!

[Erikht]

I see that the National Film Archive in Egypt is amember in FIAF. That might be a possible connection too.

Knives: I don't know, I have very limitied experience with this. But all help is appreciated.

Well, I am going down to Khartoum with three other guys. One is a professor of history, so I think we can disregard him as any help in this, but the other two guys are the chief engeneer in charge of the technical side of the television production study at the Uni of Bergen, and a photographer working with preservation of old film stock (we have a collection dating back to the days of glass plates and silver plates, as well as old film stock). I think I can get a reasonable good idea of what is needed in order to at least stop further deteriation of the film stock.


Then, money. But I will contackt the Norwegian National Library, also a FIAF member, and see if they have any advices. Also, the Embassy in Khartoum is supporting our tekevision priject in Sudan, they might be persuaded that this project is as important as the TV project.

[RobertB]

Can Documentary Educational Resources be interested in buying and restoring any of this for the collection they have? I have no idea myself. Maybe worth contacting them. They do have a lot of documentary films from around the world.

[Erikht]

The Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau-S has agreed to fund the initial digitazion of the films. A good start.

[jamie_atp]

Good news! Best of luck.

[Erikht]

The digitazion process has started. The work is done in Berlin.

[htshell]

Excellent to hear.

[Minkin]

Two years have gone by... has there been any update or news with this project?