EYE Focus
Orphan Rights In March 2014, EYE will host the 9th Orphan Symposium assessing the status of films whose ownership is unknown or disputed. EYE chief curator Professor Giovanna Fossati puts explains all to Nick Cunningham.
Giovanna Fossati Photo: UvA, Jeroen Oerlemans
Within a cinematic context ‘orphan’ can mean one of two things. The strict definition is copyright-related, when it is impossible to determine who is the film’s rights holder. When you do not know who this is, then you cannot pay anybody a copyright fee. Which on the face of it sounds pretty favorable - but it isn’t. Nobody is going to show such a film for fear of being sued by the as-yet unknown rights holder. “It is a hostage situation,” laments EYE’s Giovanna Fossati. “You have a film but nobody wants to do anything with it. It can happen with features but it is actually very often the case with commissioned films or advertising films, all those kinds of ephemeral productions that never had a clear copyright structure. For film heritage institutions and for scholars this is a very sensitive question as there are films that give a clear historical context to film and audiovisual history.” A broader definition of ‘orphan’ film is one that “just doesn’t fit
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in”, according to Fossati, even if there is no copyright issue attached. “Nobody wants to care for them, such as short films or films that don’t fit into a 90-min screening slot, but which are becoming more and more interesting now with all the online possibilities such as YouTube, as there is much more interest for unexpected formats and films and content.”
present his upcoming IBM 1401, A User’s Manual.” This is a hymn to the antiquated IBM computer model, made in collaboration with Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson. The University of Amsterdam’s own Thomas Elsaesser, guru to thousands of film students for many decades, will address the main theme of the 2014 symposium, that of obsolescence. “The whole idea of obsolescence is very much related to film heritage in general because of the film formats, such as the natural obsolescence of celluloid as we move to digital,” Fossati adds. “But it is also inherent within the digitation process as digital formats become obsolete much quicker than analogue formats. You must remember that the 35mm film print was a standard for over 120 years whereas digital formats change every two or three years. That is why we chose this as a theme.”
The 9th Orphan Symposium, the first held outside the US, will address the questions and concerns of filmmakers, funders and archivists alike, about this grey area of silver screen activity. But with 300 attendees and a raft of industry experts and panelists, it promises to be more than an exercise in navel gazing and contemplation. Rather, the symposium will explore themes such as the use of found footage and heritage fragments by filmmakers and installation artists, using numerous and various examples plundered from international archives.
‘Nobody is going to show an orphan film’
Nevertheless, given the sym posium’s brief, attendees will attempt to (in part) reconcile the issues of orphan status during a panel about FORWARD, a European project dedicated to creating a European database to facilitate the use of orphan films, following up the EU Directive for an Audiovisual Orphan Works Registry.
Since 2003, EYE (or the Filmmuseum as it was then) has partnered with the University of Amsterdam on an International Masters programme entitled Preservation and Presentation of the Moving Image. In late 2013 a Chair on Film Heritage was established – and filled by Professor Fossati.
One of the highly lauded participants at the event will be Bill Morrison, who made Decasia (2002). “This film was made very much with film fragments especially from the silent era that betrayed the signs of chemical decay within them,” Fossati points out. “In Amsterdam he will present a new project made up of home movies, and will also
“It is quite exceptional to have a curator who can bridge the activities of the university and the museum, and the whole idea of bridging theory and practice is very much behind my work as a
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scholar,” she comments. “I truly believe in this - it is a time of new possibilities given by digital to get more and more students passionate about re-discovering film heritage, so this is for me the big challenge. But of course there are a lot of the other academic activities that we already do, such as the Orphan Symposium, that are becoming more structural parts of our activities at EYE, rather than an exception as in the past.” An alumnus of Bologna University who was determined to immerse herself within the hands-on process of film restoration, how does Professor Fossati assess the Netherlands as a hub for film archive practice and theory? “I think that the Netherlands, and now I am talking as an Italian who can see both the advantages and disadvantages, has such a dynamic and proactive attitude towards archival practice and working with heritage that makes it an ideal place to have this discussion,” she underlines. “There is a very Dutch, very proactive approach towards the use of archives, and to changing legislation making it possible to make archives live and breathe. The Dutch are very innovative in their approach to archives, making them dynamic and alive in so many ways.”