Photos courtesy of Vinegar Syndrome
Join us for a virtual conversation about film preservation and archiving the taboo with Lindsay Miller, Digital Assets Manager and Oscar Becher, Archivist at Vinegar Syndrome. When thinking about film preservation, who is thinking about the taboo? In this case, underground genres, like exploitation, stag, and beyond. Named after the chemical reaction that deteriorates motion pictures over time, Vinegar Syndrome is a film restoration and distribution company in Bridgeport, Connecticut with a catalogue of hundreds of feature films, produced primarily between the 1960s and 1990s. Vinegar Syndrome views film preservation as a race against time, especially with long-neglected genres. Their presentation will largely focus on film preservation, collection development, and the importance of archiving the taboo (stag, exploitation).
This is a free, virtual webinar hosted via Zoom.
Advance registration is required. Upon registering for the webinar, you will receive a confirmation via email with a link to join the webinar. The webinar will be video-recorded.
ABOUT
Vinegar Syndrome is a film restoration and distribution company with a catalogue of hundreds of feature films, produced primarily between the 1960s and 1990s. Our namesake is a constant reminder of what we’re fighting against. Simply put, the term ‘vinegar syndrome’ describes a chemical reaction that deteriorates motion picture film over time. Film preservation is a race against time, especially with long-neglected genres and underground films.
%20Medium.jpeg "Oscar Becher standing in front of stacks of film cans")
Oscar Becher is a 2020 graduate of the L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation and (hopefully) a 2023 graduate of New York University Tisch’s Moving Image Archiving and Preservation Program. He currently holds the position of Archivist and Vault Manager for Vinegar Syndrome - a restoration company with the mission of preserving and restoring forgotten works of genre film and releasing them to DVD and Blu-Ray. With a constantly growing catalog of archival weirdness, Oscar oversees a temperature and rH-controlled functional film archive with over 20,000 reels that have been fully cataloged and conserved. Oscar currently does not have a cat but does enjoy trying to make friends with the calico stray-cat that roams his neighborhood.
Lindsay Miller (they/she) is a media archivist and writer residing in Queens, NY. They currently work as the Digital Asset Manager at Vinegar Syndrome and the personal archivist for video artist Davidson Gigliotti. Lindsay holds a BA in Mass Communications from UNC Asheville and a MA in Moving Image Archiving and Preservation from NYU. Their masters thesis “FUCKING WITH THE CANON” explores archiving porn in the digital age. In their spare time Lindsay enjoys collecting zines, watching professional wrestling, and hanging out with their cat PJ.
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