Hyperkino – Digital Revival of Early Classics / Interactive Presentation

In 2008, Russia will be celebrating the centenary of its national film production. Since the invention of cinema more than a century ago, it has suffered a great loss – over 80% of the early silent films have perished. Nikolai Izvolov considers the restoration of the cultural heritage as a task of paramount importance and urgency. Digital technology helps to achieve this goal: digital versions of early films become universally accessible and serve both educational and cultural purposes. Izvolov (Institute of Cinema Art, Moscow) has developed a method with Natasha Drubek-Meyer (FAMU, Prague). The name of the proposed method, Hyperkino, is based on the analogy with the Hypertext and Metatext concepts, which are generally used by linguists and applied to literary texts. In Hyperkino, the traditional pattern of a linguistic commentary is applied to a moving image. The introduction of Hyperkino should have a universal impact. Today, any good quality book shop offers its customers the complete annotated works of Homer, Shakespeare or Tolstoy. In the future, it should be possible to have Hyperkino annotated films by Eisenstein, Griffith, Murnau and Renoir in any film collection, museum archive, film school library or DVD store. Hyperkino commentary can also be applied to any of the popular classic hits – from Chaplin to Hitchcock. (LC)