As a service provider in the field of professional restoration of film we cover the entire spectrum:

From the examination, preparation and cleaning of the film material, to the determination of light and color, to digitization and re-exposure, or archiving on a variety of substrates.

Since 1999 we have digitally restored numerous films, classics of the silent movie era such as "Metropolis" or "The Loves of the Pharaoh" as well as films from the 1940s-1980s.

Our experience - especially with nitrocellulose film, worn and torn elements, materials attacked by mold or vinegar syndrome, as well as with special formats from the early days of the film (ca. 1895) - enable us to face any restorative challenge with good skills.

To regain and preserve the original quality of cinematographic works for future generations - we live up to this task with full dedication.

 

The ALPHA-OMEGA Team

 

Thomas Bakels: head of restoration

Expertise: film scanning, colorgrading, audio engineering, software development
Prior to founding of ALPHA-OMEGA digital GmbH (Munich), Thomas Bakels worked in several fields of film and television production. ALPHA-OMEGA digital was founded to be the one film restoration house to achieve the best quality film transfers from original source materials. at first, in the later 1990s in SD only, later in HD und 2K, to be able to invest the vast amount of work into a work that can be reprinted to film and last for next generations.

The first restoration works, the DEFA-Fairytales were carried out in 1998 for the Federal Film Archive. Since then Thomas Bakels has restored many high profile films of the last hundred years, some of them in international colaborations. Most famous is Thomas' work on Fritz Lang's METROPOLIS (in 2001/2010) or the fragile nitrate of John Ford's BUCKING BROADWAY and the digitisation of the original 1896 negatives of the Skladanowsky Brothers.

Thomas has been the initiator of many programs to preserve cinematic heritage, especially in the South East Asian region. Between 2000 and 2007 he took on important advisory functions for the Vietnamese Film Institute in Hanoi. So he led the acquisition of a 2K scanner and a color correction workstation and trained the local staff on-site.

 

Marie Eugenie Bendl: film restorer, digital operator

Expertise: digital restoration, film scanning, colorgrading, sound transfers, Editing, Mastering of digital deliveries
Work experience:
01/08 – 07/11: Teaching and Research as a scholarship holder within the framework of the interdisciplinary graduate college "Medial Historiographies: History of Media / Media of History" at the Bauhaus University Weimar and the Friedrich Schiller University Jena
07/02 – 06/03: PR and festival co-ordination for Amour Fou Filmproduction (Vienna), Cannes 2003 and the Institut Culturel de France (Festival du Film Francophone de Vienne 2003
08/05 - 12/07: Film Curator, Eutopia (Vienna)

Education:
MA in Film and Media Studies (Université Paris X), Film Restoration Summer School Il Cinema Ritrovato as a guest student (Bologna), trainee at the Austrian Film Museum (Laxenburg and Krems) - focus on digital restoration, filmscanning, filtering and retouching (Diamant & DustBuster), Color correction (scratch, daVinci Resolve), digital calibration, transfer to film (ARRi Laser)