Storm Boy: Before and after restoration

The NFSA restoration of Storm Boy premiered at the 2015 Adelaide International Film Festival.

A 10-year-old boy (Greg Rowe), living with his father (Peter Cummins) in the wild Coorong wetlands of South Australia, rescues a baby pelican orphaned by hunters. 

With the help of Fingerbone Bill (David Gulpilil), the boy and the bird become inseparable, until the outside world encroaches.

The NFSA’s experts had their work cut out for them when they discovered the oxide was lifting off two reels of the final sound mix. This required ‘baking’ them in a low-humidity rejuvenation chamber for seven days before they could be safely digitised. 

Restoration partners Frame, Set and Match had to spend considerable time digitally cleaning and grading the picture. Producer Matt Carroll contributed to the process and the South Australian Film Corporation were very happy to see the film digitally restored.