A portal worthy of the works it contains

We had recovered an extraordinary heritage. But we were only at the beginning, and it remained lifeless, confined to an archive. These works deserved light and an audience. They deserved to be seen, to be chosen, collected and, above all, exhibited. No longer for a few days in cinemas, in the streets and in the squares, as had happened at the time of the film's release, but permanently.

And so we created the Movie.it website: a high-level portal that allows anyone to easily navigate through tens of thousands of images, using multiple search keys and many suggestions.

Mission accomplished? Not yet. Our goal is to make ourselves known and appreciated among the many offers that populate the web. Every work purchased on movie.it revives the talent of the person who created it and is a step towards fulfilling our mission.

It is a project that combines tradition and innovation: it restores value to the works of the past and gives them new life in the present.

From paper to light: how Movie.it was born

Cataloguing, research, photography, digital restoration, printing.

We had recovered an extraordinary heritage. But we were only at the beginning, and it remained lifeless, confined to an archive. These works deserved light and an audience. They deserved to be seen, to be chosen, collected and, above all, exhibited. No longer for a few days in cinemas, in the streets and in the squares, as had happened at the time of the film's release, but permanently.

Step 1: Cataloguing and research: giving a name to each work

Before any photographs were taken, each piece in the physical archive was inventoried and recorded in the internal database. For each film: the format (two-sheet poster, four-sheet poster, playbill, photobusta), the title, the year, and, when present, the attribution to the poster artist. Tracing the signatures, distinguishing the styles, attributing the works: a philological task that required expertise, time and a deep knowledge of this artistic tradition.

The SAC archive covered almost all the films distributed in Italy from the early 1970s onwards. For the previous decades, from the 1920s to the 1960s, the work expanded to include the major Italian private collectors. Everyone contributed the material that we lacked and that they had researched and preserved with passion for many decades.

Step 2: Photography: capturing every nuance

Each poster is professionally photographed in high resolution, with equipment and lighting calibrated to faithfully reproduce the original colour scheme. The goal is not a simple scan: it is archival documentation capable of capturing the grain of the paper, the texture of the colour, even the brush mark beneath the surface.

But even before photographing, many pieces require complex and delicate preparation. Decades of creases, tears and deterioration make it impossible to lay out a poster simply by placing it on a flat surface.

Step 3: From restoration to fine art printing

The life of each poster, from when it enters the digital archive to when it is printed for a customer, follows a two-step process.

• Basic restoration and online publication

After photography, each work undergoes a light restoration: the signs of ageing, tears, stains and major colour changes are removed. At this point the poster is published on Movie.it, accessible to everyone for viewing and purchase.

• Final restoration out of order

When a poster is purchased, the complete restoration begins: a patient task, often taking many hours, which addresses every imperfection with surgical precision. Colours that return to their original intensity, details that re-emerge, backgrounds that are restored. The final file surpasses the vintage letterpress print in sharpness and vividness.

• Customised fine art print

The print is made specifically for the person who ordered it, in high definition on fine paper or artistic canvas, in the chosen format. Not a print run, not a stock product, but a work printed only for those who ordered it. The result enhances contrasts, shades and colours in a way that was not possible with the kind of paper and printing presses of the time, a true masterpiece that can enhance any space.

The open archive: a heritage accessible to all

Museums and cultural spaces can find here the material they need to organise themed exhibitions. Festivals and film libraries can enhance retrospectives with posters from the time. Individuals and companies choose the work they prefer and order it in the desired format. Each work is a window into a time and a style. Each print is a testament to the taste, creativity and talent of the Italian Master Poster Painters, returned to the world in the best possible form.

Cinema, here in Italy, has been depicted in an extraordinary way. It's time for the world to take advantage of it.