Éclair today announced the signing of a framework agreement with Gaumont for the restoration of more than 100 feature films. The contract will cover a three-year period and calls 25 to 40 films to be restored annually.
“This is the largest contract to date for our restoration services,” said Christophe Lacroix, Éclair senior vice president. “Gaumont is a major stakeholder in the international film and audiovisual landscape with a large catalogue of rights. Gaumont’s strategy for the management of their heritage films and classic movies is key to their current and future success. We would like to extend our sincere thanks to them for the trust they have shown from the very beginning of our collaboration in 2009, the year their restoration plan was first implemented."
In 2016, Éclair participated in the restoration of 25 films from the Gaumont catalogue, including Louis Malle’s My Dinner with André (1981), Samson (1936) by Maurice Tourneur and André Barsacq’s Le rideau rouge (1952). New titles scheduled for 2017 include Untel père et fils (1945) and L’homme du jour (1937) directed by Julien Duvivier, Jacques Doillon’s La femme qui pleure (1979) and Lancelot du lac (1974) by Robert Bresson.
Éclair’s digital restoration division was launched in 2000. Over 750 films have since been successfully restored by the company, some of which date back to the dawn of cinema, such as Thomas Edison’s A Bar Room Scene (1895). With a staff of nearly 70 spread between the Paris-Vanves and Auxerre sites, Éclair’s restoration and preservation divisions are headed by Yves Gringuillard. The two divisions cover film and digital restoration, archival digitization, physical and digital storage, and archive management and protection.
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