Wow Lindsay that is such a great story. Thanks for sharing it. Still no word 
about the reels and the archive here.

x
On 16 Dec 2018, at 08:54, lindsay mcintyre <email.li...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Mary, 
> 
> Here's a nitrate film story for you (maybe of what not to do with it). I had 
> about 3 lbs of some nitrate film in my studio for several years in much the 
> same fashion - commercials and short ends mostly. Last year, I was moving 
> from Edmonton to Vancouver so I thought I should dispose of it as my studio 
> tend to heat and cool wildly and without warning. I made sure that the film I 
> was holding was not negative originals (you can tell if its a print of 
> nitrate negative on safety stock or a nitrate print) and with a little 
> research, I also made sure that there were other copies of the various 
> items/titles in existence. I was busy with moving and packing, so on my last 
> day in town, I left the film in a small bowl at my mom's house in her porch 
> and told her I would figure it out soon. Then I hit the road. I called my 
> local archive and their advice was to burn it. I didn't think that was very 
> safe so I called my local eco station and they never got back to me. I 
> figured that if it needed to be burned, it should be burned with some decent 
> safety and supervision so I called my local fire department. The only easily 
> accessible phone number (besides 9-1-1) was the fire investigation number. I 
> left a message and they called me back within seconds and told me in no 
> uncertain terms that the bomb squad would be calling me to handle this. This 
> mostly sounded like a joke to me, but apparently, the bomb squad doesn't 
> usually have much to do in Edmonton. Within another minute or two, the head 
> of the bomb squad did indeed call me and wanted to know very many details 
> about nitrate film and its decomposition. We talked at length and I explained 
> the different stages of decomposition it could go through and how this film 
> was quite stable - probably stage 1 - and that it would likely last a good 
> long time without combusting, longer if it was kept cool. After all, it was 
> only a little faded and discoloured - it wasn't sticky, smelly, soft, oily, 
> powdery or warped. He said, 'lady, I'm not moving my ice cream so your film 
> cam blow up in my freezer." I told him the best thing to do was probably to 
> burn it in a controlled environment and since it doesn't need air to burn, it 
> would be good to have some firemen on hand when they did it. I wasn't trying 
> to insult them, but apparently the bomb squad never asks for help from the 
> fire department. So then had to call my mom and tell her that the bomb squad 
> was coming over to her house. They showed up in full gear with sirens and 
> lights, something that looked like a swat truck, and 5 or 6 other unmarked 
> trucks. They made her leave the house and take her dogs. Soon after that, 
> about 10 fully-outfitted officers stood in my mom's front porch staring at a 
> bowl full of film for over an hour. I had her take a picture. After two 
> hours, they told her she could come back. They left with the film in a box 
> and we never heard what happened next.
> 
> Best, 
> 
> Lindsay McIntyre
> 
> 
> On Sat, Dec 15, 2018 at 2:04 PM mstark...@gmail.com <mstark...@gmail.com> 
> wrote:
> Hi all
> 
> Thanks for all the responses. Very encouraging. I’m waiting to here back from 
> the archive who currently have the films and will update you when I know more!
> 
> All best,
> 
> Mary
> On 15 Dec 2018, at 20:19, Larry Urbanski <lar...@urbanskifilm.com> wrote:
> 
>> I'm quite curious as to the title or content of this nitrate film. Although 
>> one archive may not want it, another might. I've sent nitrate to the LOC 
>> several times, and I know  other archives had footage (it was a Chaplin 
>> film, Those Love Pangs), but the LOC still wanted it for their collection.
>> Larry
>> Urbanski Film
>> 
>> On 12/12/2018 6:31 AM, Mandar Gotad wrote:
>>> 
>>> You can do film scanning 
>>> 
>>> On Wed, Dec 12, 2018, 16:18 mstark...@gmail.com <mstark...@gmail.com wrote:
>>> Hi all,
>>> 
>>> I have three reels of 35mm suspected as nitrate and confirmed by my local 
>>> film archive recently. They want to dispose safely of the film via a third 
>>> party… And don’t recommend that it is taken back into a domestic 
>>> environment as they told me it will invalidate my house insurance.  I’m 
>>> torn between recklessly wanting it back to set fire to myself (!) and 
>>> document as an artwork. I have very little idea what is on it apart from 
>>> it’s 1920s (and presumably not thought to be significant if the archive 
>>> want to destroy it). It’s not in bad condition and has just been sitting in 
>>> my studio for the last three years. I suddenly panicked about it 
>>> spontaneously combusting after watching Bill Morrison’s Dawson City: Frozen 
>>> Time, which includes lots of footage of film setting on fire! 
>>> 
>>> Any recommendations, thoughts, warnings, advice from an artist filmmaker 
>>> perspective, rather than an archival perspective, are welcomed.
>>> 
>>> Mary 
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> FrameWorks mailing list
>>> FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com
>>> https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> FrameWorks mailing list
>>> FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com
>>> https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
>>>   
>> 
>> -- 
>> We will be closed Thursday, December 20th until Wednesday, January 2nd.
>> Re-open Thursday, January 3rd. Please note this on your calendar.
>> ****************************************************
>> Visit Urbanski Film's Websites for film, equipment, supplies:
>> http://www.urbanskifilm.com
>> http://www.presstapes.com
>> Visit Moviecraft Home Video's online catalog at:
>> http://www.moviecraft.com
>> Larry Urbanski
>> 708-460-9082
>> ****************************************************
>> _______________________________________________
>> FrameWorks mailing list
>> FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com
>> https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
> 
> _______________________________________________
> FrameWorks mailing list
> FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com
> https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
> _______________________________________________
> FrameWorks mailing list
> FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com
> https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks

_______________________________________________
FrameWorks mailing list
FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com
https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks

Reply via email to