Reliance MediaWorks ties up with Russian firm for film restoration

A memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed by the Indian company with the private film company RWS and the Obyedinennaya Gosudarstvennaya Kinokollektsia (OGK) during the India visit of Russian President Dmitri Medvedev.

"By combining RWS's leadership, know-how and expertise in Russian market with our experience and versatile technology, we are geared to provide next generation services to RWS and OGK's vast film archives," Anil Arjun, CEO, Reliance MediaWorks, said in a press statement.

"Russian Cinema has been a true embodiment of their rich history and by offering restoration services in Russia we are honoured to have the opportunity to revive some of these classic movies," he added.

The services will be outsourced from Russia to Reliance MediaWorks facilities in Mumbai and Burbank in California.

“Russian film and television industry is moving towards digitisation and the United States Film Collection houses thousands of legacy film titles which need to be restored, digitised and uprezed to HD (high definition). We are pleased to have found a partner in Reliance MediaWorks who shares our commitment for excellence and has time-proven hardware, software and custom R&D and can help us restore the Russian film legacy,” said Yuri Saprono, CEO, Russian World Studios.

As part of the tie-up, Reliance MediaWorks and RWS may explore the possibility of jointly setting up a dedicated restoration and digitisation facility within RWS Studio complex at St. Petersburg for image processing and touch-ups, depending upon the requirement.

The restoration and digitisation services would be provided by Reliance MediaWorks to RWS and OGK through its Media BPO, a dedicated film and video restoration facility located in Navi Mumbai.