FIlmgus

Most of the twentieth century's history and culture is preserved on film, but in half a century, it could be lost to hungry microbes that eat the celluloid.

Microbiologists and the British Film Archive have been studying a problem that archivists had noticed in their storage facilities over the past decade: fungi was spreading from reel to reel and were destroying their films. The culprits? Common fungi Aspergillus and Penicillium, and in some instances the spore count were high enough to pose health risks to archivists.

The reason film is so delicious to fungi is because of the layer of gelatin on its surface. The same emulsion layer is where the image is formed also provides ideal food, and once mold settles in, it produces enzymes which cause irreversible damage. All film is potentially at risk, though film stored in damp conditions is most likely to become infected.

Perhaps the simplest solution is digitizing all the films, though archivists can try segregating moldy films from non-moldy ones in the interim. And there are ways to clean the film, but the problem is that things which can kill the fungus can also damage the color dyes, or kill you. But most important are better storage facilities. The BFA said, "We go for cold and dry. At the moment, we're building a new film store in Warwickshire that will hold our master film at sub zero temperatures and at around 35% relative humidity . . . In those conditions some spores may survive in a dormant state but if they're dormant they're not eating the film.... It's certainly a big enough threat for us to be building a sub zero and low humidity vault which will cost several million pounds."

Looks like the national dentistry budget is going to take another hit, but that's not a terrible price to pay in order to preserve those movies and newsreels.