Gabrielle Claes

Gabrielle Claes was the conservator of the Cinémathèque royale de Belgique, also known as Cinematek, from 1988 to 2011.{{Cite web|last=Danvers|first=Louis|date=2005-04-15|title=Gabrielle Claes ou la transmission|url=https://www.levif.be/actualite/magazine/gabrielle-claes-ou-la-transmission/article-normal-921911.html|access-date=2022-01-17|website=Site-LeVif-FR|language=fr}}{{Cite web|title=International Federation of Film Archives|url=https://www.fiafnet.org/pages/History/FIAF-Personalities.html|access-date=2022-01-17|website=www.fiafnet.org}} She is known for her work in the preservation of original films on reels, rather than on videotapes or digital copies,{{Cite book|last=Houston|first=Penelope|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N_UqAQAAIAAJ&q=Claes|title=Keepers of the Frame: The Film Archives|date=1994|publisher=British Film Institute|isbn=978-0-85170-471-5|language=en|quote=Once you make video-tapes, rather than preserving film correctly, the pressure is off and you are left for ever with your tapes.' Gabrielle Claes, of the Royal Belgian Film Archive, argued that even film school students now watch films on video as a matter of course: there must be one surviving bastion of the old authentic values, one place at least where they can be reminded what film}} and for her work distributing old films.{{Cite web|last1=Bouras|first1=Dimitra|last2=Vlaeminckx|first2=Jean-Michel|date=2012|title=Nicola Mazzanti, conservateur de Cinematek|url=https://www.cinergie.be/actualites/interview-du-nouveau-conservateur-de-la-cinematek|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-16|website=Cinergie.be|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200929164117/https://www.cinergie.be/actualites/interview-du-nouveau-conservateur-de-la-cinematek |archive-date=2020-09-29 }} She has spoken with cinergie.be, a website focused on Belgian film, multiple times including a 1990 interview on her new challenges as curator of Cinematek,{{Cite web|last1=Vlaeminckx|first1=Jean-Michel|last2=Elhem|first2=Philippe|date=April 1, 1990|title=Gabrielle Claes - Le changement et la continuité|url=https://www.cinergie.be/actualites/gabrielle-claes-le-changement-et-la-continuite|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-17|website=Cinergie.be|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200813021013/https://www.cinergie.be/actualites/gabrielle-claes-le-changement-et-la-continuite |archive-date=2020-08-13 }} and discussions about the items in the archive.{{Cite web|last=Simon|first=Phillippe|date=December 1, 1996|title=Gabrielle Claes - La Cinémathèque royale de Belgique|url=https://www.cinergie.be/actualites/gabrielle-claes-la-cinematheque-royale-de-belgique|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-17|website=Cinergie.be|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220117150307/https://www.cinergie.be/actualites/gabrielle-claes-la-cinematheque-royale-de-belgique |archive-date=2022-01-17 }}{{Cite web|date=December 1, 2002|title=Entrevue avec Gabrielle Claes : la cinémathèque, nouvel état des lieux|url=https://www.cinergie.be/actualites/entrevue-avec-gabrielle-claes-la-cinematheque-nouvel-etat-des-lieux|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-17|website=Cinergie.be|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220117150255/https://www.cinergie.be/actualites/entrevue-avec-gabrielle-claes-la-cinematheque-nouvel-etat-des-lieux |archive-date=2022-01-17 }}{{Cite web|last=Bouras|first=Dmitra|date=February 6, 2002|title=Gabrielle Claes, conservateur de CINEMATEK|url=https://www.cinergie.be/actualites/gabrielle-claes-conservateur-de-cinematek|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-17|website=Cinergie.be|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201001070213/https://www.cinergie.be/actualites/gabrielle-claes-conservateur-de-cinematek |archive-date=2020-10-01 }} In 1994, the film director Eric de Kuyper talked about her comments on the international nature of film archives means they are not reflecting the regional aspect of a given archive.{{Cite journal|last=de Kuyper|first=Eric|date=1994|title=Anyone for an Aesthetic of Film History?|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3815011|journal=Film History|volume=6|issue=1|pages=100–109|jstor=3815011|issn=0892-2160}}

In 2001 the archive experienced financial troubles as Claes discussed in articles in the media,{{Cite web|last=Geitner|first=Paul|date=2001-05-11|title=Belgium's Vast Film Archive Fights for Self-Preservation|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-may-11-ca-62030-story.html|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-17|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|quote=...Claes, 54, worries that the archive won’t be able to attract qualified people to keep it going. “I see [the archive] with kind of a tenderness, but I’m not expecting young people to do so,” she says. “We are amateurs, and there’s something nice about that but . . . that’s part of the problem. . . . I want this archive to be a modern institution, with the right people, good equipment. The films deserve that, otherwise they’re not going to survive, and all the work which was done is going to be for nothing at the end.”|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118182602/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-may-11-ca-62030-story.html |archive-date=2022-01-18 }}{{Cite news|date=2001-04-04|title=Gabrielle Claes, « cinémathécaire » en péril|language=fr|work=Le Monde.fr|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/2001/04/04/gabrielle-claes-cinemathecaire-en-peril_4179146_1819218.html|access-date=2022-01-17}} and there was a proposal to use funds from the lottery to support the archive.{{Cite web|date=April 1, 2001|title=Entrevue avec Gabrielle Claes|url=https://www.cinergie.be/actualites/gabrielle-claes-2001-04-01|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-17|website=Cinergie.be|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200815135100/https://www.cinergie.be/actualites/gabrielle-claes-2001-04-01 |archive-date=2020-08-15 }}{{Cite news|first=Paul |last=Geitner |authorlink= |title=Money is tight at the world's largest film archive in Belgium |newspaper=Fort Worth Star-Telegram|date=May 10, 2001 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/92860699/fort-worth-star-telegram/ |accessdate=}} She was able to enlist the support of filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese to make statements in support of the archive.{{Cite web|last=MALANDRIN|first=Stéphane|date=April 13, 2001|title=Patrimoine et tombola.|url=https://www.liberation.fr/culture/2001/04/13/patrimoine-et-tombola_361258/|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-17|website=Libération|language=fr|quote=Scorsese intervient. La mobilisation pour sauver la Cinémathèque dépasse les frontières du royaume. Martin Scorsese, depuis Rome où il tourne Gangs of New York, a envoyé un message de solidarité à Gabrielle Claes. «J'adjure, écrit-il, le gouvernement belge de donner à la cinémathèque l'assurance d'un financement convenable, afin qu'elle puisse continuer ses efforts de préservation et de restauration de films.»|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210910164629/https://www.liberation.fr/culture/2001/04/13/patrimoine-et-tombola_361258/ |archive-date=2021-09-10 }} In 2007 she talked about the possibility of preserving films in digital format with Le Temps newspaper.{{Cite news|last=Creutz|first=Norbert|date=2007-09-22|title=La cacophonie des fichiers|language=fr|work=Le Temps|url=https://www.letemps.ch/culture/cacophonie-fichiers|access-date=2022-01-17|issn=1423-3967}}

Claes was on the executive committee of the International Federation of Film Archives from 1995 until 1999.{{Cite web|title=Past executive committees|url=https://www.fiafnet.org/pages/History/Past-Executive-Committees.html|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-17|website=International Federation of Film Archives|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151205082539/http://www.fiafnet.org:80/pages/History/Past-Executive-Committees.html |archive-date=2015-12-05 }} She was one of the founders of the Association of European Film Archives and Cinematheques (ACE). She served as president{{Cite web|date=October 22, 2002|title=Un patrimoine grand comme l'Europe|url=https://www.cineuropa.org/fr/newsdetail/16971/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118182822/https://www.cineuropa.org/fr/newsdetail/16971/ |archive-date=2022-01-18 }}{{Cite book|last1=Nasta|first1=Dominique|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YJ4f2d-a9OkC&dq=%28Association+des+cin%C3%A9math%C3%A8que+europ%C3%A9ennes%29++President.+gabrielle+claes&pg=PA11|title=Le son en perspective: nouvelles recherches|last2=Huvelle|first2=Didier|date=2004|publisher=Peter Lang|isbn=978-90-5201-208-7|language=en}} and treasurer{{Cite web|title=Executive Committee – ACE – Association des Cinémathèques Européennes|url=https://ace-film.eu/about-ace/executive-committee/|access-date=2022-01-17|language=en-US}} of ACE, and was the first person to hold the position of president.{{Cite web|title=International Federation of Film Archives|url=https://www.fiafnet.org/pages/History/FIAF-Personalities.html|access-date=2022-01-16|website=www.fiafnet.org}}

Gabrielle Claes made an appearance in "All Night Long" ("Toute une nuit") by Chantal Akerman (1982).{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/sim_la-revue-du-cinema_1982-11_377|title=La Revue du Cinema 1982-11: Iss 377|date=1982|publisher=Ligue Francaise De L'enseignement |pages=28|language=French}} She is also in the film Exprmntl about the film festival of the same name that was organized by Cinematek; the film was shown in 2019 at the London Short Film Festival.{{Cite web|title=Events {{!}} LSFF2019 {{!}} London Short Film Festival|url=https://archive.shortfilms.org.uk/lsff2019|access-date=2022-01-17|website=archive.shortfilms.org.uk}}

• {{Cite web|last=Claes|first=Gabrielle|date=2001|title=Managing a collection- issues of selection and transmission|url=https://www.dfi.dk/files/docs/2018-01/Gabrielleclaes.pdf|access-date=January 17, 2022|website=Danish Film Institute|publisher=Preserve Then Show}}
• reviewed in The Moving Image: The Journal of the Association of Moving Image Archivists{{Cite journal|last=Hahn|first=James|date=2005|title=Review of Preserve Then Show|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41167198|journal=The Moving Image: The Journal of the Association of Moving Image Archivists|volume=5|issue=1|pages=156–159|doi=10.1353/mov.2005.0008|jstor=41167198|s2cid=191415605|issn=1532-3978|url-access=subscription}}
• {{Cite journal|last=Claes|first=Gabrielle|date=2009|title=Musée du cinéma / Cinematek|url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/661d40f4fe05092f5bd2d6a26035b091/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=29010|access-date=2022-01-17|journal=Journal of Film Preservation|issue=79/80|pages=26–30}}
• {{Cite journal|last1=Claes|first1=Gabrielle|last2=Martens|first2=Erik|date=2009|title=La Cinémathèque numérise|url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/3cae3944b7b68cda4c9a5d526c272456/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=29010|access-date=2022-01-17|journal=Journal of Film Preservation|pages=102|issue=79/80}}

In 1995 she won the Joseph Plateau Award for "guests of Film Fest Ghent whose achievements have earned them a special and distinct place in the history of international film making".{{Cite web|title=Joseph Plateau Honorary Award|url=https://www.filmfestival.be/en/festival/awards/special-joseph-plateau-honorary-award|access-date=2022-01-16|website=Film Festival Gent|language=en}} She also served on the 1995 jury for the Grand Prix for Best Film of the Film Fest Ghent.{{Cite web|title=Officiële Competitie|url=https://www.filmfestival.be/nl/festival/awards/officiele-competitie|access-date=2022-01-17|website=Film Festival Gent|language=nl}} In 2011, the Flemish Film Awards awarded her with Prijs van de Verdienste, a merit award, in recognition of her work with the Cinematek film archive.{{Cite web|date=September 11, 2011|title=De Vlaamse Filmprijzen zijn uitgereikt, Rundskop winnaar|url=https://www.frontview-magazine.be/nl/nieuws/de-vlaamse-filmprijzen-zijn-uitgereikt-rundskop-winnaar|url-status=live|quote=Gabriëlle Claes heeft als opvolgster van Jacques Ledoux schitterend werk geleverd bij Cinematek. Het is niet alleen belangrijk om films te maken, maar ook het geheugen van de cinema en in het bijzonder die van de Vlaamse Films moet verder uitgedragen kunnen worden|language=nl|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220117051850/https://www.frontview-magazine.be/nl/nieuws/de-vlaamse-filmprijzen-zijn-uitgereikt-rundskop-winnaar |archive-date=2022-01-17 }}

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• 2011 interview with Claes on Dailymotion,[https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xp5kh1] in French

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Category:Belgian film producers

Category:Living people

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

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