BARI – The first audiovisual and archival documentary materials have already been sent to Rome, dating from the early 1900s to 2003, which will be part of the broader project of recovery, restoration and valorisation of the historical cinema archive ABC of Bari. The project will be implemented through a total intervention of 154 thousand euros co-financed by the Ministry of Culture (which recognized the historic ABC Film Library), Puglia Region and Center of Cinematographic Culture ABC.
In the ABC film library, which is located in the ancient Filmeria, there are preserved – as highlighted in a note – around 200 film reels, over 8,000 posters (for a total of 11 quintals, also the result of donations made over the years by the Apulian cinemas), a specialized collection of around 750 volumes on the sector, original screenplays of famous films, 157 scripts of theatrical performances, a newspaper library and a film archive with 2,260 cards, a collection of 504 newsreels from 1975 to 1983 and three albums photographic.
Also part of the archive are historical equipment, the cinema projector used for the projection of 35mm films with the attached Dolby sound system, the film winder, the splicer and all the technical accessories for projection. The first intervention on archive materials concerns «the safety and cataloging of the preserved assets, providing for their suitable location for the conservation and recovery of some more urgent elements to be treated at the time of the intervention and which will then be digitized for use». The latter operations “which are designed and carried out by professional restorers of cultural heritage”.
Next Thursday, at 7.30 pm, in the historic arthouse cinema of Bari and as part of the recovery project, the screening of the first film shown in the ABC cinema is scheduled, ‘Quant’è bello lu murire acciso’ by Ennio Lorenzini, of 1975. 10 restored minutes of the film Joan of Arc (1948), directed by Victor Fleming and starring Ingrid Bergman, will also be screened on film.
