Effort Underway to Save Milan Film
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowOrganizers of a Kickstarter campaign are hoping to restore and preserve game films from Milan High School historic 1954 basketball season. The effort aims to raise $7,500 to save the films, including Milan’s legendary state championship game against Muncie Central.
Film preservationist Eric Grayson says the original game films are deteriorating rapidly and likely will not survive much longer. They were shot in 16mm and saved on VHS. He hopes to restore them on newer 16mm film, which he says should last for up to 400 years, and store them at Indiana University’s Moving Images archive.
Grayson says the project depends on a grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation. Without that funding, he says the project cannot move forward, and any donated money will be returned.He says other risks include the film being too brittle to scan or the process revealing too much damage to be fixed within the budget.
As of Tuesday morning, the effort had raised more than $1,600 from 38 backers, with 47 days to go. You can see or support the campaign by clicking here.