Priceless old NZ films on the move

CRAIG SIMCOX/ The Dominion Post

GOING TO A NEW HOME REEL SOON: Film conservator Louise McCrone looks out across hundreds of films that will soon have a new home.

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Thousands of priceless films are being prepared for a move from Wellington to a new home on the Kapiti Coast.

The footage ranges from historic film of Kiwi soldiers leaving for the Boer War in 1900, to the Holmes Show's controversial debut 89 years later.

The Film Archive plans to move about 150,000 ageing tapes and films from its Wellington base to a new Plimmerton home. A team is busy at work in the upstairs vault, where thousands of films line the shelves, checking the old film canisters, cassettes, and videotapes for signs of damage before the big move. "The collection is quite delicate, you don't just throw it on the back of a truck," chief executive Frank Stark said.

Where there were signs of damage, for example rust on old metal film canisters, they were being dumped and replaced. "Recanning, relabelling and reordering would be a good catchphrase," film conservator Louise McCrone said.

Old black-and-white film and modern video cassettes have similar storage requirements.

They will be kept in the new storeroom at a steady 15 degrees celsius. Colour film needs to be stored at lower temperatures, so will stay in Wellington.

Copied footage from the master tapes would still be available for the public to view at the Film Archive in Taranaki St, in Wellington, Mr Stark said.

Work on the new $750,000 storeroom would start in February and should be finished by April, he said. "It's a fairly simple structure."

The Film Archive is relying on fundraising to cover the project cost. Yesterday, it got a boost, with a donation of $100,000 from Pub Charity.

Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Chris Finlayson praised the move. "This is an example of the kind of cultural philanthropy I am committed to fostering in New Zealand."

- © Fairfax NZ News