Support Project 2026
By purchasing a support ticket, you’re not only enjoying an authentic cinema experience, but also helping to preserve our shared cultural heritage. Each year, the support ticket supports a different project within CINEMATEK. This year, the proceeds will fund a project from the Documentation Centre.
Poster Restoration
CINEMATEK is more than a cinema. As the Royal Belgian Film Archive, it preserves not only films, but also books, periodicals, photographs, and rare film posters that document the history of cinema. Among this collection are a number of pre-1950 posters of significant historical and artistic value. Some are among the earliest ever produced for the Belgian market, while others were created by famous artists such as René Magritte. Paper is inherently fragile and exposure to time, light, and handling leads to deterioration, including tearing and fading. For this reason, these posters require urgent conservation in order to ensure their long-term preservation.
The posters will be linen-backed, a technique that is very common to restore and preserve aged cinema posters. The poster is attached to acid-free paper and linen, helping it lie flat while reinforcing weak fold lines and damaged areas. It is carefully cleaned, mounted with archival glue, smoothed flat, dried, and then professionally restored, including repair of colour loss, stains, pinholes, or small tears.
With your support, we will be able to restore, among others:
- The poster for the ‘Brussels World Film and Fine Arts Festival’ (1947), designed by René Magritte.
- The poster for the ‘Second World Film and Fine Arts Festival of Belgium’ (1949) in Knokke-Le Zoute, both in Dutch and French, designed by René Magritte.
- Brennan of the Moor (Edward Warren, 1913)
- Ladri di Bicicletti (Vittorio De Sica, 1948)
- En avant la musique, two versions of Si tu vois mon oncle and Cadavre n° 5 by Gaston Schoukens.