Archival & Preservation

Archival and preservation work in China sits within a heritage shaped by the China Film Archive (中国电影资料馆) in Beijing, founded in 1958, and the parallel collections at Beijing Film Academy Archive, Shanghai Film Archive, and Hong Kong Film Archive. Pingyao IFF's restoration programme, led by Jia Zhangke, has further raised the bar for what contemporary Chinese productions expect from their long-term media strategy.

Here is how this works in practice. Our team coordinates preservation-master creation at finishing partners including Base FX Beijing, Beijing Film Group Post, and Shanghai Film Studio Post, producing camera-original archival masters, deliverable-as-archived ProRes 4444 XQ or DPX image sequences for the graded picture master, BWAV audio stems at original sample rate and bit depth, and structured metadata packages that travel with the asset so future re-issues never have to start from a blank slate.

The physical archive itself runs on LTO-9 tape with LTFS file-system mounting for retrieval simplicity, two-copy redundancy stored at geographically separated facilities — typically one Beijing-based and one Shanghai or Hong Kong-based — and checksum verification at every ingest and migration step. Format-obsolescence is monitored on a rolling schedule so content can be migrated from LTO-7 or LTO-8 to current generations before silent bit-rot becomes a concern, and digital asset management runs through MAM systems with searchable metadata covering project title, talent, music cues, location, and rights window.

The picture on the ground is more specific. Paperwork is kept in line with Cybersecurity Law, Data Security Law, and PIPL 2021 cross-border requirements, with cataloguing structured against China Film Archive descriptive standards so productions destined for eventual deposit in the national collection. Or for re-release through anniversary screening programmes via Wanda, CGV China, or Pingyao IFF — can be transferred without rework.