David Cortés has worked within film and TV for the last 12 years, but he continued to still yearn to learn more about the craft and the technicalities that can arise. This thirst for knowledge took David to Colombia to Berlin, where he studied in the Upgrade colorist programme at the DFFB and learnt to use Nucoda on his final project.
It was his teachers there who introduced him to DVO Clarity…”it was mind blowing, it just did such an amazing job. I started to get really fixated on it and use it a lot because the student film had lots of problems”.
Now, at Colombia’s office for Labo, where they work on some of the biggest global blockbusters such as Totem (2023) and South American hits like Uno Para Morir (2023) and El Robo Del Siglo (2020). David has been using DVO tools to grade and restore new favourites and old classics.
HIGHWAY 40 WEST (1980/81)
Highway 40 West is a documentary by German filmmaker Hartmut Bitomsky that intricately weaves together American history, culture, and the realities of everyday life. Spanning nearly three hours, the film documents Bitomsky’s extensive journey along U.S. Route 40, a highway steeped in historical significance, stretching from the East Coast to the West. The road, once a crucial artery for early travellers, now serves as a backdrop for Bitomsky’s exploration of the American experience, capturing both the remnants of the country’s ambitious past and the stark realities of its present.
As Bitomsky drives through big cities and small towns, he encounters a wide array of people – each with their own stories of resilience, joy, and struggle. He interviews locals, capturing their lives with a candidness that reveals the complexity of American society. The film delves into the everyday experiences of those living along the highway, showcasing motels, diners, music, and the shifting seasons, all of which paint a vivid picture of life on the road.
The documentary is not just a road movie but a critical examination of the American dream and its discontents, capturing a nation in flux. Bitomsky’s camera lingers on the “go-ahead-ativeness” that drives the nation forward, as well as the debris left in its wake—both literal and metaphorical.
The physical copy faced many familiar challenges to a restoration artist: scratches, dust, blemishes, which David (alongside his colleague from Berlin, Eric Giese) began learning to tackle whilst at Upgrade. What worried the Director of Photography most, who David was able to work alongside during the process of reviving this film, was the grain: “the main concern was that we kept consistency of the grain throughout the whole film so DVO Clarity gave us the most flexibility to attack all these issues”.
He added that there was a chemical tint on the edges of the gate which spread out throughout the whole film, but with DVO Grain GT alongside Clarity, a homogenous and smooth grain was mastered. “We kept asking ourselves would it be possible within the limits, but it would always work”.
“I didn’t know anything about cleaning scratches, but the DVO tool made it so easy and so flexible. It wasn’t just automation; it was more like fine detail to attack really bad problems that the print had.”
As with any restoration, David emphasised that the most important objective is “to respect the footage, not alter the look or vibe of the time but to just be aware that we are enhancing this look from the past. We didn’t want it to look like it was brand new, but just to bring it back again”.
What was most exciting was the ability to “bring out details that was clearly not there but with these tools that are really, really flexible, we get to salvage most of the hard parts”.
PRÉSTAME A TU MARIDO (1973)
Préstame a tu Marido (Lend Me Your Husband) is a 1973 Colombian drama film directed by Julio Luzardo, a significant figure in Colombian cinema. The screenplay, co-written by Luzardo and Jaime Santos, reflects the societal expectations and pressures faced by women in mid-20th century Colombia and includes some of Colombia’s most respected actors of the time, such as Julio César Luna, Lyda Zamora, Frankie Linero, Consuelo Luzardo, and Roberto Reyes, who deliver compelling performances that highlight the film’s themes of societal pressure and personal identity.
The film follows a woman living alone in Bogotá who has been deceiving her parents, who live in another city, by telling them she is happily married to a successful businessman. When her parents announce a visit, she scrambles to create an elaborate ruse to maintain the illusion of a perfect life. The film is notable for its portrayal of the protagonist’s increasingly desperate and humorous attempts to fabricate a loving family environment. Préstame a tu Marido is a key example of Colombian cinema during this era, blending drama with elements of farce to explore themes of deception, family expectations, and the lengths to which one might go to preserve appearances.
This feature film was commissioned by the Fundacion Patrimonio Filmico Colombiano for the Labo to restore after the footage was scanned in Mexico. Stored on Ektachrome 16mm film, the main challenge was an overwhelming number of spliced negatives thanks to poor storage conditions. Because of this, there was a delay between the audio and visual, whereby the frame was slightly behind the dialogue.
Fortunately, due to his training in Berlin, David was able to show the power of DVOs to his colleague: “they were pretty amazed by the results’ despite having to work through inconsistent grains on various scenes”. David ended up using DVO Clarity and Pixel to match up those missing frames with the words.
WORKING TOWARDS COLUMBIA’S FILM HERITAGE
David laments that the restoration scene is ‘pretty overlooked’ in Colombia as there’s not a lot of widespread knowledge about film. “We have some good film historians here but not technicalities that the restoration process requires, but film restoration can happen here thanks to institutions such as Patrimonio Filmico” David remains hopeful that people may change their mind when more people understand the impact that these tools can have. He shares that most restoration jobs from Colombia are outsourced, with the main headquarters of Labo in Mexico, but once they’re scanned, they’ll use the DVO tools to clean up any inbound material.
However, Labo has demonstrated their commitment to improving the restoration of their film heritage and the importance of preservation last year at a closed-door event at the Norwegian embassy, where a significant discussion unfolded around the preservation of cultural heritage and information for future generations. Ambassador Ragnhild Imerslund, alongside Charles A. Barthe Lemeur, CEO of Labo, and Bendik Bryde of Piql, emphasised the crucial role of innovative technologies in safeguarding historical records.
A highlight of the event was the introduction of the Arctic World Archive (AWA), an ultra-secure underground vault located within the Norwegian permafrost, designed to protect data for thousands of years. Labo’s commitment to advancing film restoration aligns with this mission, underscoring the importance of preserving cinematic and cultural legacies. Through their efforts, Labo not only restores classic films but also ensures that the knowledge and artistry contained within them remain accessible to future generations.
TIMELESS DVOS FOR ANY DECADE
It’s not just South American classics that David will use the DVOs on: the second season of The Marked Heart that came out last year went through DVO Clarity. With many scenes that were low exposure – “for example, I worked on a scene of this harsh sea with houses burning down and there was loads of ash everywhere” – that created a lot of noise, the answer was simple: Clarity is David’s “go-to tool for this kind of trouble”.
“When you put any other noise reduction software, the main concern when you’re working with modern shows on HDR is you always want to avoid that plastic look. We have to keep the integrity of the show and the detail, and Clarity gave us a lot of flexibility within how much we could salvage from the noise without losing the quality of the image”.
David adds: “That’s why I find these tools really good for me because they always go into what I really need in a specific way, not just an automated based thing.”
The secret to a flawless grade is to make it look so seamless as if nothings been touched… “If you look at it, and you don’t know how they did it, that’s how you know it’s a really good grade. It’s the work of a lot of people coming together, costume, art department, but we often get people asking how we managed to get that look.”