A panel discussion titled “Film Restoration: A New Vision” was held on the seventh day of the 7th edition of the El Gouna Film Festival, moderated by Ahmed Nabil and attended by industry experts.
The session addressed various aspects of film restoration, including costs and copyrights, as exp speakers shared the interventions and programs supported by their institutions.
Marianne Khoury opened the session by welcoming the attendees and speakers, stressing that restoration is a multi-dimensional issue requiring financial and legal consideration.
For his part, Ahmed Nabil began his talk with a funny situation when he fell asleep while watching the movie “Mami” due to its poor quality, which made him think about the importance of restoration.
Nuria Sanz Gallego presented on UNESCO's Memory of the World program, which aims to preserve documentary heritage. Patrice, head of the French Film Archives Department at the National Cinema Centre (CNC), explained that the center focuses on keeping up with the times by making restored films available on digital platforms so that new generations can learn about cinematic heritage.
Mathilde Rouxel added that she has restored 25 films, including those by director Jocelyne Saab.
Journalist Tawfiq Hakim referred to his experience when watching the restored version of “Bab Al Shams” by director Yousry Nasrallah, where he felt that he was seeing the film for the first time.
He stressed that the biggest challenges in restoration relate to property rights, referring to his experience with Marianne Khoury in trying to restore “Jamila Bou Hreid” by Youssef Chahine.
Tamer El-Saeed stressed that archiving serves the present more than the future, explaining that restoration is not to change the image, but to clarify it according to its original vision. He also reviewed the stages of restoring the film “Closed Doors” and the challenges he faced during its restoration.
The session concluded with director Khairy Beshara being moved, saying, “I cried when I learned that eight of my films were being restored,” referring to the screening of the restored version of “Nutshell” at the festival. Marianne explained that most of the tickets were sold out, which prompted Beshara to joke, “If you pay me money, I can let you in.”