The case studies discussed in this chapter are relevant for a number of reasons. As historical cases, they reflect on the restoration practice as it was carried out at the turn of the millennium when digital tools were being introduced. Alongside the traditional photochemical workflows, restorers could also resort to digital or hybrid workflows to restore these projects. Ten years on, it is interesting to note that these three workflows are still regularly adopted by film archives and laboratories. Indeed, although archives apply digital tools more frequently today than they would have ten years ago, film restoration is still very much a hybrid practice. Therefore, the cases analyzed here are still useful examples for bridging theory and practice through the frameworks and concepts introduced in this book.

Of course, in the last ten years, the number of restorations that have been carried out using digital tools far exceeds those included here. While these numbers would certainly show the significant progress digital archival practice has made in the last years – digital tools have increased the workflow efficiency and reduced collateral damages such as DIGITAL ARTIFACTS – they would also show that photochemical workflows are still adopted when possible, especially in case of experimental and silent films and films in which the original negative has remained in fairly good condition. A case in point is the recent restoration of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey under the auspices of Christopher Nolan, presented at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.

In Chapter Two, I discussed some of the benefits of adopting a new “film as performance” framework. Here, I would like to examine how this new framework bears on current archival practice by discussing one case study in particular. I have decided to include the restoration of Nicholas Ray's last long-feature film, We Can’t Go Home Again (1973), since it exemplifies how this new framework can productively accommodate the “performative” aspects of the film as a dynamic object in relation to the concept of remediation. Furthermore, as a number of photochemical and digital tests were made before proceeding, the restoration project of We Can't Go Home Again illustrates very effectively how the restoration could have led to different results depending on one's interpretation of what film, and specifically this film, essentially is.