Information technology and history: The news chronicle of the Cuban Institute of Cinematography digitized

The second life of the Latin news chronicle of the Cuban Institute of Art and Cinematography was given by specialists of the National Institute of Audiovisual Materials in France. They restored and digitized copies of the first edition of the popular news program on Cuban television, captured after the 1959 revolution. At the time, the creation of this documentary was a cultural event on Liberty Island and entered the "golden" fund of prestigious in Latin America Cuban Institute.

It is talked of a cycle of 54 newsreels that cover the period between 1960 and 1963, said the deputy director of the French Institute Michel Raynal. "The greatest difficulty is the restoration of a sound that was in terrible condition - he shared the results of the work. - But restorers managed to preserve the original aesthetics of tapes".

Under a bilateral treaty with the Cuban Institute of Art and Cinematography French colleagues deal with the restoration and digitization in high definition of 35mm film recordings of chronicle evidence, prepared under the guidance of renowned Cuban documentarian Santiago Alvarez. In 2009, UNESCO put Latin American news chronicle of Cuba in the register "Memory of the World".

The cooperation with the French side involves sharing digital content. At the same time, Cuba reserves the right to ownership of the originals.

The news Chronicle of the Cuban Institute of Art and Cinematography, which had 1490 weekly issues from 1960 to 1990, has witnessed large national and international events of the second half of the 20th century. Individual frames of documentary depicted historical figures, cultural and political developments in Europe, Asia, and Africa, the struggle of the peoples of the African continent against colonialism.

The chronicle became a "manual" of Cuban and Latin American filmmakers, cultural phenomenon, able to arouse interest of the audience to the history and socio-political processes of "Burning continent".

Specialists of the National Institute of Audiovisual Materials acquaint viewers with the French Cuban newsreel and historical figures of a distant country.

Currently, the French Institute, the recognized world leader in digital archiving, is cooperating with Russia in the digitization of radio and TV materials of the former Soviet Union.