Participation of the Belarusian State Film, Photo, and Sound Documentation Archive in the 5th Moscow International Archival Film Festival

From September 26, 2025, to October 5, 2025, the 5th Moscow International Archival Film Festival was held in Moscow, Russian Federation. This year, the Festival expanded its audience and invited international colleagues to Moscow. Alexander Stepanovich Tyukhai, Head of the Document Digitization Department at the Belarusian State Film, Photo, and Sound Documentation Archive, represented the Republic of Belarus and participated in a roundtable discussion on «Digital Restoration». The event’s curators implemented the «Cultural Exchange» program, featuring landmark films and restorations provided to the Russian State Film Fund by international partner film archives. Film screenings and analysis were held at the Illusion Cinema. The roundtable discussed the following topics:

1. Key aspects and significance of digital restoration in contemporary cinema.

2. The challenges of selecting films for restoration. 3. Key digital restoration technologies.

4. The relevance of digital restoration in the modern context for the purposes of preserving cultural heritage, accessibility, and popularization of classic cinema for a wider audience.

5. The most common problems encountered in modern digital film restoration.

6. The changing perception of film under the influence of digital technologies.

7. Challenges in the development of digital restoration. Archival experience.

8. Accessibility and distribution of restored films.

9. Ethical and aesthetic issues in digital restoration.

10. Choosing between manual and automated restoration. Prospects for using neural networks and AI in digital restoration, archival experience. Prospects for the development of digital restoration.

11. Availability/absence of support – the experience of public and private funding, based on the archives of the participating countries.

The keynote speakers were employees of the Russian State Film Fund. Using examples from the State Film Fund’s work, the restoration of old films, its challenges, and development prospects were discussed. Presentations were heard from representatives of other countries (Armenia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, the Republic of Cuba, Mongolia, the Republic of Belarus, etc.), as well as from a representative of the private Indian company Prasad, which specializes in the digitization of film documents at a high professional level using expensive, professional equipment. Prasad is the largest restoration center in the world (over 1,100 employees, with over 15 years of experience in film restoration).

Alexander Stepanovich Tyukhai visited Gosfilmofond (Belye Stolby) to study its experience in digitizing film documents, familiarize himself with archival storage methods, and learn about the implementation and use of modern equipment.

1. During a roundtable discussion at the 5th Moscow International Archive Film Festival, October 1, 2025, Moscow

2. During a roundtable discussion at the 5th Moscow International Archive Film Festival, October 1, 2025, Moscow

3. During a roundtable discussion at the 5th Moscow International Archive Film Festival, October 1, 2025, Moscow

4. Head of the Digitization Department of the Belarusian State Archive of Film, Photo, and Sound Documents A.S.Tyukhai at the 5th Moscow International Archive Film Festival, October 1, 2025, Moscow

5. Director of the National Film Fund of the Republic of Uzbekistan E.Kh.Rakhmanov during a speech at a roundtable discussion at the 5th Moscow International Archive Film Festival, October 1, 2025, Moscow

6. Representative of the Indian company «Prasad» in the Russian Federation P.Ryzhenkov during a roundtable discussion at the 5th Moscow International Archive Film Festival Archival Films, October 1, 2025, Moscow

7. During a roundtable discussion at the 5th Moscow International Archival Film Festival, October 1, 2025, Moscow

8. Participants in a roundtable discussion at the 5th Moscow International Archival Film Festival, October 1, 2025, Moscow