Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University has developed a meticulous restoration pipeline to protect Turkey’s largest film archive. Combining painstaking physical work with advanced scanning technology, the team has been safeguarding a century of cinematic history for future generations.
Founded in 1962 by Professor Sami Şekeroğlu as Club Cinema 7 (Kulüp Sinema 7), and renamed the Turkish Film Archive (Türk Film Arşivi) in 1967, the audiovisual collection housed at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University is the largest in Turkey. The archive has preserved a century of national cinema history, with more than 8,000 titles including feature films, documentaries, early nitrate reels, animations, posters and sound recordings.
Since 2020, the digitisation and restoration of more than 125,000 film reels has been led by project head Dr Öğr. Üyesi Başak Ürkmez. “As with many historical archives, film deteriorates over time,” he says. “Transferring it to digital is no longer optional, it is a responsibility we have to our cultural heritage and to future generations.”
documentaries, early nitrate reels, animations, posters and sound recordings.
To that end, the university has developed a restoration and archive workflow built around the Cintel Scanner G3 HDR+, DaVinci Resolve Studio and a Blackmagic Cloud Store 20TB system for storage and networked collaboration.
“Each film goes through a meticulous physical restoration process,” Ürkmez explains. “The reels are manually cleaned, repairing damaged perforations and removing any dust, mould or residue using dedicated solutions. The more fragile negatives are also softened before scanning.”
Once ready, the reels are mounted for real-time 4K scanning. “The Cintel’s sprocketless design and capstan drive let us handle even fragile or damaged reels without risking further breakage.”
Scanning at the highest quality
For more compromised footage, including overexposed or chemically degraded reels, HDR scanning has been used. “Doing so helps us recover shadow and highlight detail that would otherwise be lost. It requires up to four times more storage than standard scanning, so we reserve it for the most sensitive materials, like nitrate stock,” Ürkmez elaborates.
Among the restored nitrate films are Aysel Bataklı Damın Kızı, one of Turkey’s first sound films, and Aşık Veysel (Karanlık Dünya), directed by acclaimed filmmaker Metin Erksan. “Scanning at one frame per second allows us to handle deteriorated or irregularly exposed materials with care. For better-preserved reels, working at 30fps accelerates the process without sacrificing quality.”
Restoring the soundtrack
A crucial part of the process involves restoring optical sound, often separated from the image. “For reels with separate 17.5mm optical soundtracks, a rather rare format almost unique to Turkey, we use a dedicated reader. But for standard 35mm or dual format 16/35mm prints with combined optical audio, we rely on the optional sound head that comes with the Cintel,” explains Ürkmez.
The archive has used the Cintel Audio and KeyKode Reader to digitise audio in sync with the scanned image. “It is a practical and reliable way of capturing optical audio. Audio is saved directly to the corresponding folder in Resolve and the KeyKode makes it easy to match frames during post, especially when syncing elements from different sources.”
Post-production in a single platform
The captured files are imported directly into DaVinci Resolve Studio via a DeckLink PCIe capture and playback card. “During scanning, Resolve’s AI tools analyse the scan in real time and suggest corrections for any horizontal or vertical instability. We use it throughout the restoration process, from stabilisation, colour correction and density balancing to editing and final mastering. Having everything in one platform keeps the workflow clean and simple,” Ürkmez explains.
Storage and collaboration rely on Blackmagic Cloud Store 20TB network storage. “When writing scan to a standard drive, we top out at around 15fps. Adding the Cloud Store gives us the bandwidth to reach 24fps, which makes a real difference when we are working with well-preserved reels. It also means the scanned material can be accessed immediately across departments without having to duplicate or move data around.”
The Cintel’s sprocketless design and capstan drive have helped the team handle even fragile or damaged reels without risking further breakage.
The work is supported by long-term institutional investment. Following a recent evacuation due to seismic risk, the archive has been temporarily relocated to a climate-controlled facility. A permanent site is now in development and will feature purpose-built restoration labs, screening rooms, a media library and earthquake-proof vaults. According to Ürkmez, it will be “the largest industrial cinema museum in Europe”.