Reel to Reel Institute

With the long history of moving image collection and preservation, materials await handling are still vast, though much-needed resources for these efforts are limited. In Hong Kong we still face great obstacles in collecting these materials and presenting film heritage to the public, and little light is shed on the collection and preservation of moving images besides feature films. Reel to Reel Institute is a non-profit organisation that aims at promoting film preservation, and wider access of audio-visual heritage in Hong Kong by delivering public screenings, education programmes and digitisation/restoration projects.

Our Missions

To cover and promote activities for the preservation of cinematic and audio-visual heritage around the world.

To advocate the materiality of cinema and the importance of conserving and restoring the original source material of any moving image works.

To partner with different organisations ensuring that overlooked but important historical audio-visual works receive the proper treatment they deserve.

To support research on, and preservation, restoration and collection of local and regional moving image works, in particular shorts, experimental films, documentaries, music videos, home videos, commercials and television programmes.

To diffuse film culture and expand the audience base, with a historical, educational and artistic approach, by presenting programmes including screenings and exhibitions as well as film distribution, publications, seminars, workshops or other activities related to audio-visual heritage preservation.

To facilitate skill development for local film practitioners in moving image collection, exhibition and preservation.

Services

School Outreach Talks

School Outreach Talks

Conducted by the founding members of RTRI, with the help of pictures, objects, films and celluloid film screening, to explain the origins of cinema and early film technologies.

Duration: around 1.5 hour

Support for Film Programme

Support for Film Programme

Subtitling:
• Transcription, translation, editing and proofreading
• Adjustment or synchronisation
• Video/projection subtitling

Others:
• Technical support
• Film checking
(16mm, 35mm and digital)
• Submission for film classification

Film Projector Rental

Film Projector Rental

16mm:
• 20 frames per second
(suited for silent films)
• 24 frames per second
(suited for sound films)

8mm/Super 8:
• Speed adjustable

Media Coverage

Sing Tao Daily2021/12/16
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曾肇弘專欄|何藩 藝術與情色的一生 (in Chinese only)
D1002021/11/03
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不老影痴打邊爐:何藩大師數碼修復版《迷》重返大螢幕! (in Cantonese only)
p-articles2021/11/03
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從攝影走進情色世界 看何藩電影中的「文藝」與「艷色」(in Chinese only)
Film is D_ad2021/10/26
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何藩的文藝艷色 (in Cantonese only)
The Culturist 2021/10/20
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而你不知道何藩是「色情片大導」?(in Chinese only)
City Magazine2021/10
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文藝電影的色慾佐料——何藩的艷色世界 (in Chinese only)
HK012021/10/01
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何藩電影作重現香港 放映罕有孤本無刪原版 再探大師電影路 (in Chinese only)
JET2021/10/23
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REEL TO REEL專訪:何藩.由街頭攝影走入情色世界的靈慾擺蕩 (in Chinese only)
UMagazine2021/10/08
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何藩,作為電影導演 (in Chinese only)
Ming Pao2021/09/26
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ways of seeing:放下鏡頭執導筒 何藩走進情色世界 (in Chinese only)
Film Appreciation Journal2021/09
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Archiving 的異質與動態性,抵抗僵化狀態的「南方」精神 (in Chinese only)
Eye Filmmuseum2021/09/29
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'75th Anniversary Meet the Archive'
D1002020/06/03
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不老影痴打邊爐:訪問 REEL TO REEL INSTITUTE (in Cantonese only)
D1002020/03/24
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不老影痴打邊爐:訪問 REEL TO REEL INSTITUTE (in Cantonese only)
City Magazine2020/03
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重覓散落的流動影像 (in Chinese only)
Hong Kong Headline Daily2020/02/19
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Art PaPa's Choice:影像溯源 (in Chinese only)
Sing Tao Daily2020/02/06
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尋根溯源 修復菲林片 (in Chinese only)
Zolima CityMag2020/02/01
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'Reel to Reel 2020: Showcasing Films Once Lost'
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Reel to Reel Institute’s logo is a model of carbon arc lamp, light source of the earliest film projectors, which had been used until the late 1960s. In a carbon arc lamp, the electrodes are carbon rods in free air. To ignite the lamp, the rods are touched together, thus allowing a relatively low voltage to strike the arc. The rods are then slowly drawn apart, and electric current heats and maintains an arc across the gap. The tips of the carbon rods are heated and the carbon vaporises. The carbon vapour in the arc is highly luminous, which is what produces the bright light. The rods are slowly burnt away in use, and the distance between them needs to be regularly adjusted in order to maintain the arc. The length of those carbons was about 20 minutes which also dictated the length of the reel. Prior to the 1960s, projectionists used a ‘change over system’. The carbons and film reels in one machine would be refreshed while the other machine was running. It is also the meaning behind ‘Reel to Reel’, in the notion of impetus, preservation and inheritance.

If you support our mission, donations are welcome to offset our operating expenses.
Should you have any questions, please contact us at info@reeltoreel.org.