Shivendra Singh, the famous film activist and restoration expert, has decided to collaborate with Kamal Hasan to spread the word on film restoration. The Film restoration Workshop to be held at Chennai from October 7 to 14 will have Kamal Hasan as the Chief Guest and speaker as well. “Film Restoration is not a simple thing and we need to concentrate on many things before you take up the task. Many filmmakers don’t realise the necessity of this and they tend to see the art form as just another employment opportunity. For me this is an art form and we need to preserve as many films as possible in their original format,” says Shivendra Singh.
The man wanted to be a filmmaker and met Gulzar to assist him but with the poet, lyricist and director’s advice he chose to complete the direction course from FTII, Pune and slowly, he started understanding how big a art form film is. After completing the post graduation program he became a commercial ad filmmaker and directed more than 600 commercials. Now, he is busy directing feature length documentaries and his latest, CzechMate- In search of Jiri Menzel is in production. The movie is about Jiri Menzel and his New wave cinema revolution in Czechoslovakian film. Earlier he made two documentaries The Immortals for Busan Film Festival and Celluloid Man, on the film activist P.K. Nair’s life.
Well, it is while he travelled with P.K. Nair that he understood the importance of restoration of Film in it’s original format. Even the famous Hollywood director Martin Scorsese’s foundation that restored 750 Hollywood films and 36 other great World Cinema, helped him in understanding the importance and he started promoting the idea of archiving films with his Workshops. He conducted two in Pune and during the last one, he met Kamal Hasan for closing ceremony and the actor liked the idea so much that he asked him to conduct a workshop in Chennai. Well, the actor has also offered to give scholarships to those who are passionate to learn the art of restoration and archiving through courses as well.
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