The Artist-Run Film Labs

In 1978 in France, the discussion to start an artist-run film lab threatened to tear up the filmmaking community. Today, nine such labs are up and running in France, and two dozen more across Europe, Canada, South America, Australia and Korea. What happened?In a day and age when one would expect film labs to be disappearing, the opposite appears to be true: the creation of new labs is accelerating across the globe. The difference between those that are closing and the new ones opening is simple: the new ones are not for profit; they are run by artists. They are not out to make money with their labs; they are out to make films. Not only their own films; their goal is to open the doors to anyone who wants to work on film material, whether they are beginners or expert filmmakers, whether they make experimental films, contemporary art or performance pieces. No services are offered at these labs: the filmmakers must come get their hands wet and do the work themselves, the more experienced members helping the neophytes.Here is a short history of the movement. September 30, 1960, the New American Cinema Group manifesto proclaimed: are not joining together to make money. We are joining together to make films... We don't want rosy films, we want them the color of blood. [Mekas et al, 1971] This proclamation led to the founding of the New York Filmmakers' Co-op in January 1962, which to be a member of one only had to deposit a film; the films were rented out and the greater share went to the filmmaker, the rest to help the co-op survive. This eliminated the Hollywood distributors and empowered the filmmakers. In October 1966, the London filmmakers' co-op started, inspired by the New York group (New York filmmaker Steve Dwoskin was a founding member). Malcolm Le Grice and others in London had been developing and printing their own films in Malcolm's garage on equipment he built himself out of drainpipe and lumber. From the beginning, the London Co-op was also a community lab and darkroom.In 1969 the London Filmmakers Co-op got its first physical space where distribution, screenings and production all took place. Many filmmakers made work on this primitive equipment, which allowed them certain kinds of free, hands-on experimentation. Though they moved several times during the first decade, from 1978 to 1995 they had a permanent home in Camden Town. A huge body of experimental film work was made there, from structural films to expanded cinema. Many people came through London to learn about DIY filmmaking. One of these people was the Dutch filmmaker, Karel Doing.In the mid-1980s, Karel and two other students were able to acquire a lot of super-8 equipment from their school that wanted to throw the equipment out and buy video. At that time, the only lab in Holland that made super-8 prints was closing, and they managed to buy that printing equipment as well. They set up their workshop, Studio Een, in a squatted monastery in Arnhem and opened it up to anyone who wanted to make films or strike prints. In the beginning, Karel didn't know much about developing or printing. He invited the German alchemist filmmaker Jurgen Reble to come do a workshop, and he did some research in the UK. Soon Studio Een became the most active lab for super-8 printing in Europe. At one point in the 1990s, he was developing more films from France than from Holland.One of the first visitors to a Studio Een workshop was the French group Metamkine. Originally a loose performance group making their own slides, super-8 and live music, Metamkine became in late 1989 a core group of three people: Christophe Auger, Xavier Querel and Jerome Noetinger. Getting more involved in hand-developing super-8 and later 16mm for their performances, they were able to set up their own darkroom in the artists' squat, le 102, which is still active in Grenoble. In order to learn more about the techniques they wanted to do, they traveled to Arnhem to see Karel and his machines. …

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