Event description and participants

On May 21, 2024, the Central State Audiovisual and Electronic Archive hosted a presentation of the 1917 film "The Ukrainian Movement" restored by the kilok.art project. The event brought together representatives of various fields related to the preservation of historical visual materials. The event was opened by the director of the archive Tetiana Emelianova.

The material was presented by Halyna Kryvorchuk, a producer at the VIATEL film company, who helped scan the film for restoration.

The audience included archive staff, whose professionalism ensured that the films are kept in perfect condition, and from which we can now make digital restorations of unique footage that allow modern viewers to plunge into the atmosphere of the early 20th century. The presentation was also attended by historians from the Central State Archive of Public Associations of Ukraine, who shared their expert opinions on the importance of film restoration and its significance for research.

The event was also attended by student interns from Grinchenko University. They had the opportunity to evaluate the achievements of modern restoration technologies and understand the importance of preserving and restoring Ukraine's cultural heritage.

The author of the restoration, film director Ivan Kanivets, joined the event remotely.

The participants of the event actively discussed the process of restoring the film, its historical value and role in understanding the events of 1917. The restored film "The Ukrainian Movement" of 1917 has become a vivid example of how modern technology and professional knowledge can help to use newsreels as a historical source.

The importance of restoring visual film and photo archives

During the presentation of the restored film "The Ukrainian Movement" from 1917, the participants emphasized the exceptional need to restore visual film and photo archives and documents stored in the archive. Such events are important not only for scholars but also for the general public. Restoring such materials ensures the preservation of historical memory and provides an opportunity to explore the past with the help of authentic sources.

The restoration methods discussed at the event cover a wide range of technical aspects, from manual digital processing to the use of artificial intelligence algorithms. It is important to note that such processes require not only highly qualified specialists but also significant resources. Thanks to modern technology, the restoration of visual archives is becoming more accessible and efficient, allowing unique historical materials to be preserved for future generations.

The practical importance of such projects is hard to overestimate. Restored visual archives are essential for educational, cultural, and scientific purposes. They serve as a powerful tool for teaching history and contribute to the development of scientific research. Thanks to such projects, a "silent" newsreel turns into an eloquent document that deepens the understanding of historical events and processes.

During the discussion of the project, the users of archival materials, namely documentary filmmakers, expressed a wish to the archive staff that they should jointly seek resources for the restoration of such film and photo documents in order to use them in films. After all, the viewer deserves a higher quality image that would convey both the content and the image of the past in contemporary documentaries.

The presentation participants also emphasized the need to involve young people in the process of preserving cultural heritage. The integration of students and future researchers into these projects contributes to the formation of a new generation of professionals who will be able to continue the important work of restoring and preserving historical visual materials. Thus, the restoration of film and photo archives is not only a matter of preserving the past, but also an investment in the future.

Specifics of the restoration of the film "Ukrainian Movement" of 1917

"The Ukrainian Movement" (1917) is the only film that captures the leadership of the Central Rada before the Russian invasion. The film features Mykhajlo Hrushevsky, Volodymyr Vynnychenko, the future ambassador of the Ukrainian People's Republic to Germany, Mykola Porsh, and a number of figures who made it possible to create and defend Ukrainian statehood during the revolution.

The film tape stored in the Central State Audiovisual and Electronic Archive was copied for the Ukrainian archive more than half a century ago, and before that the material had undergone dozens of copies, some of them using the method of reshooting from the screen, which is the most destructive to the image. The presence of at least 4 perforations in the frame showed how many times the film was damaged in this way.

For the restoration, the film was scanned in 4K format for the first time in Ukraine.

Classical technologies for restoring old images of the Ukrainian Movement film showed poor results. Firstly, they did not allow us to eliminate all the existing defects, and secondly, the processing of each frame took an incredible amount of time.

To work with this film, we had to develop special algorithms aimed at eliminating defects specific to this particular material.

From 2016 to 2019, the "Generation of Freedom" project carried out a manual restoration of the film The Ukrainian Movement.

In 2023, the material was re-restored using artificial intelligence. Since 2016, the film restoration has been divided into separate processes. This made it possible to involve artificial intelligence algorithms at the stages where they had the greatest effect.

We hope that soon a wider audience will be able to see the restored film The Ukrainian Movement. Further presentations will be announced separately.