Dr Paolo Cherchi Usai
Director, National Film and Sound Archive
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Dr Paolo Cherchi Usai
Hailing from Italy, where his career began as a film critic and writer on film and arts, Paolo Cherchi Usai rapidly took a curatorial path that has included Preservation Officer for the Royal Film Archive in Belgium, a founder and director of the Silent Film Festival of Pordenone in Italy, and Adjunct Professor of Film at the University of Rochester. He was Senior Curator of the Motion Picture Department at George Eastman House in Rochester, New York, 1994 - 2004.
Paolo is currently Vice President of the International Federation of Film Archives among his many honorary roles, as well as director of the L Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation. He was knighted by the French Government as Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres for his contribution to film culture.
He has conducted extensive academic research and has been published widely in books and papers on subjects ranging from the history of silent cinema, to film preservation and, most recently, issues associated with audiovisual archiving in the digital age. Among his most acclaimed books are Burning Passions: An Introduction to the Study of Silent Cinema (1994) and The Death of Cinema: History, Cultural Memory, and the Digital Dark Age (2001).
Paolo was attracted to the Directorship of Australia's National Film and Sound Archive because of the significance of the collection and the Archive's international standing and reputation.
This interview was conducted in 2004, when Dr Cherchi Usai had just joined the NFSA.
What's been your experience of Australian film, television and sound?
My main exposure to Australian cinema has been through my work with the Australian Screen and Sound Archive on the first 30 years of Australian film during the silent cinema project. My specialised interest and work with silent films has included the Australian collection and, in particular, a close association with the Archive on the reconstruction of The Sentimental Bloke from an excellent print we held at George Eastman House. I was thrilled to be able to help host the world premiere of this film recently at the Sydney Film Festival.
I've also become interested in contemporary Australian film through my personal passion for Rolf de Heer's work. I think this man is one of the most daring filmmakers of our time and I have had the benefit of working with him for some time now to construct a collection of his complete works for George Eastman House. Sadly I will need to leave this project unfinished when I take up the position in Australia, but I will be passing it on to my successor to continue.
In terms of sound, Australia has a state of the art sound preservation facility and we at George Eastman House have utilised this facility to restore and preserve our entire oral history collection.
