The Kinemathek Lichtspiel, which originates from one of Europe’s most extensive private cinema collections, the film collection of cinema technician Walter Ritschard, was founded in the year 2000 in a former Chocolat Tobler factory near the freight station. Over the years, the Lichtspiel has developed into a huge collection of cinema technology and films, over 50 000 items in all. Here, archive and revival programs are regularly screened for a wide audience; amateur and professional filmmakers gain knowledge and inspiration and network with each other; various courses are offered, ranging from school events to projectionist courses; international conferences are organized and held; cinema equipment is repaired and maintained and films are restored and digitized in the workshops and studios.
Registration for the Meeting is open until October 10 at the following link: https://forms.gle/z9qExG3PwTRx1uuAA
2025 Inédits Meeting: The Ingenious Amateur
25.11. 2025 Day 1
from 14:00 Arrival of participants
According to arrival time of participants tours of the Lichtspiel (every 30
Minutes)
17:30 – 20:00 Welcome by David Landolf;
Apero and Dinner at the Lichtspiel
20:00 – 22:00 Film program: films by members
26.11.2025 Day 2
09:00 – 09:30 Reconstruction, Replication, Re-enactment: On the Heuristic
Potential of Technical Equipment in Researching Amateur Media Histories.
Keynote by Tim van der Heijden (Media historian and theorist, Open
University of the Netherlands)
09:30 – 10:30 Presentation of historical technical equipment adapted by
amateurs, Session 1
– The experimental research of Ivan Bolle (1932-1947); technological
creativity in Pathé Baby format. Mirco Santi (Fondazione Home
Movies)
– Make Your Own Gauge: The Half-16 films of D. H. Jones. Guy
Edmonds (National Library of Wales / University of Plymouth)
– “Precision machines” – a projector adapted by Álvaro Dias. Inês Viana
and Franco Bosco (Cinemateca Portuguesa – Museu do Cinema, IP)
10:30 – 11:00 Coffee break
11:00 – 12:30 Roundtable 1: In their own words: collectors of technical
equipment and films.
Isabel Krek (moderator) with Peter Beck, Peter Fasnacht, Rolf
Leuenberger
12:30 – 14:00 Lunch at Dampfzentrale
14:00 – 14:30 The preservation of amateur films in Switzerland. The work of
Memoriav. Felix Rauh
14:30 – 15:15 Research with and on analog film equipment from private Swiss
collections.
Florian Krautkrämer, Isabel Krek, Julius Lange (Lucerne School of
Design, Film and Art)
15:15 – 16:00 Presentation of projects by members
16:00 – 16:30 Coffee break
16:30 – 17:00 Presentation of sponsors
17:00 – 18:00 Presentation of newly adapted equipment by amateurs and
archives. Session 2
– Looper8. David Pfluger (Lichtspiel/Kinemathek Bern)
– Various projects from the Lichtspiel. Vladimir Malogajskii
(Lichtspiel/Kinemathek Bern)
– SEIKI: From Digital Optical Printer to 4K wet-gate 35/16mm film
scanner. Franco Bosco (Cinemateca Portuguesa – Museu do Cinema,
IP)
Dinner on ones own
20:00 – 21:30 Filmprogramm at the Lichtspiel: Amateurs filming the Liberation
1944/1945. With two programmes from Italy and France.
27.11.2025 Day 3
09:00 – 12:00 General Assembly and elections
12.00 – 12:30 Group picture
12:30 – 14:00 Lunch at Dampfzentrale
14:00 – 15:00 Round table 2: The End of WWII as seen by film amateurs.
Moderation: Alain Esmery (moderator) with Claire Feniger (historian, tbc) and
Elena Pirazzoli (historian).
15:00 – 16:00 Presentation of historical equipment adapted by amateurs.
Session 3.
– Elfriede Schwab ́s rice pouch and other Reel Adventures. Stefanie
Zingl (Austrian Filmmuseum)
– Magnetic Sound Track in the Hands of Czechoslovak Amateur
Filmmakers. Peter Zakutansky (National Centre of Culture and Further
Education Bratislava) and Jiří Horníček (Národní filmový archiv)
16:00 – 16:30 Coffee break
16:30 – 17:30 Roundtable 3: On the Re-use and Re-presentation of Technical
collections of amateur and cinema film equipment in an institutional context.
David Landolf (moderator) with Guy Edmonds (National Library of Wales /
University of Plymouth), Nicolas Nogues (Cinémathèque de Bretagne), Estelle
Macé (Institut audiovisuell de Monaco, tbc)
17:30 – 17:40 Presentation of next year’s meeting by representatives from the
Cinémathèque de Bretagne
17:30 – 18:30 Wrap up of the event / Closing remarks by David Landolf and
the newly elected President of Inédits
