Par
Romain Dameron
Published on
Bringing memories that are sometimes centuries old back to life… At 60 years old, Christophe Trinquet saves images of the past.
Reels and VHS
What a native of Saint-Leu-la-Forêt, installed in L’Isle-Adam (Val-d’Oise), restores and digitizesold film reelsvideo cassettes and slides for around twenty years.
In his workshop, antique projectors sit alongside state-of-the-art restoration and assembly equipment.
For the Trinquets, cinema has been a family affair for almost a century. His grandfather, Ladislas Tellier, started in the profession in 1929.
After the war, in 1945, he founded the cinema club in Saint-Leu. “My grandfather filmed local news and developed his films. He then broadcast them in the Croix-Blanche room in Saint-Leu. Today, there must be around twenty of us in France doing this job. I meet lots of people and I have fun doing what I do,” confides this cinema enthusiast, from a true 7 dynasty.e art.
“Crazy movie”
Even if he never knew his grandfather, who died before he was born, Christophe Trinquet inherited his passion and his impressive collection of films: “With my brother and my sister, we were immersed in this atmosphere. My whole family is crazy about cinema. I directed my first film at 10 years old. »
At just 14 years old, he bought his first real projector and organized sessions at home.
However, as an adult, his professional career took him elsewhere: tennis teacher, then manager of grooming salons… But cinema is never very far away.
Numérisation de films
At the beginning of the 2000s, he took a step forward by launching into the digitization of old films and created his company in 2006. My life, a film.
In his workshop today all types of media are displayed: 8 mm, super 8, 9.5 mm, 35 mm as well as videos (VHS, Hi8…) entrusted by individuals, but also cinema libraries and production companies.
Each reel that passes through Christophe’s hands follows a meticulous process.
First cleaned by hand, it is then digitized in real time using a powerful scanner purchased in Germany.
“The goal is to make the film more modern. Then, each shot is calibrated and we can rework the color,” explains Christophe Trinquet.
Single film
The result can reach image quality in 4K or even 6K (a resolution of up to 6,144 x 3,240 pixels).
Precision work where artificial intelligence is also beginning to find its place.
“It will allow me to save time on the calibration part,” confides the Adames entrepreneur. Currently, for a 25-minute film, it takes at least two hours of work to digitize it. It’s very detailed work.”
Each film is unique. Archive of a production company or family memory, it remains a slice of life and the marker of an era.
Some are more touching than others. Among those digitized by Christophe is a film shot in 1911, during a village festival in Saint-Leu-la-Forêt. “There was a 14-year-old girl on a tank. It was my grandmother and I recognized her,” he smiles.
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