The recent announcement that after almost 100 years of steady operation Duart was closing its doors should be noted by the post industry of New York. Duart and its leader Irwin Young were essential in establishing the viable post business we all enjoy today. Their nurturing on the independent film community, innovations in lab and video technology helped push the film to digital transition forward. Their history is the history of post-production in NY, so listen to the discussion and partake in the celebration of it.

Guest Speakers:

David Leitner - Filmmaker, Writer, Consultant
David is an Oscar-nominated producer, director, and Emmy-nominated cinematographer with over ninety credits in full-length dramas and documentaries including eight Sundance premieres. He is an author (The Filmmaker’s Handbook, Kodak’s Creating Better Video With 16mm Film), contributing editor (The Independent, Millimeter, Filmmaker), and industry consultant on camera design and film preservation. He is an active board member of IndieCollect and a Fellow of the SMPTE. From 1977-1985 he was Director of Optical Printing, then Director of New Technology, at DuArt Film & Video in New York, responsible for innovations in liquid gate design, cine lens testing, film-to-tape transfer, and Super 16.

Jane Tolmachyov - Senior Colorist at DuArt
 
Jane was born and raised in Russia and studied at the Moscow Institute of Cinematography, while working as an Assistant Film Editor.
Jane immigrated to the United States. While freelancing as an assistant film editor in NY, Jane took a course in television production and post. During this time, Jane was introduced by her filmmaker uncle to DuArt Film and Video, as it was known then, where one meeting with a remarkable man, Mr. Bob Smith President of Duart, became the turning point in her career. In the course of it, she has worked on countless documentaries and features with documentarians such as: Frederick Wiseman, Ken and Rick Burns, Michael Moore and DP(s) like Nestor Almendros, Fred Elms, Ed Lachman.

Most recent projects include: “2nd Chance” directed by Ramin Bahrani, 4K film remastering and restoration of 4 films by Joan Micklin Silver for Cohen Film Collection, Yvonne Rainer’s “Lives of Performers” and Deborah Shaffer’s “Wobblies” for MOMA Film Collection and ongoing work on collection of 33 films by Frederick Wiseman.

Tim Spitzer - Post Supervisor at Jigsaw Productions

Tim misused the last 40 plus years, joyfully meandering through, and lighting the road of the migration of:  film to video, video to film, film to data, data to film, video to data, data to video, data to data…all for the sake of having tales be told. In the midst, Tim has also been employed at: DuArt Film and Video, Tapehouse,  Postworks, NY, Goldcrest Post, and Jigsaw Productions.  

Bob Mastronardi - Retired, Eastman Kodak 

Bob began his career in the motion picture industry at DuArt Labs in 1980, as a customer service supervisor. In 1992, he accepted a Sales and Engineering Representative position in the Motion Picture Division of Eastman Kodak Company. In his 25 plus years with Kodak, he managed sales, marketing and technical support for Kodak products and services. In 2007, as WorldWide Marketing manager, he coordinated and supervised the technical development and launch of Kodak Vision3 color negative products. As TV segment manager, he facilitated sales, marketing and technical support to episodic TV productions for high profile accounts such as: Sopranos, Law and Order, Sex and the City, 30 Rock and NFL Films. 

Since 2020, Bob has been enjoying semi-retirement.

Moderator:

Domenic Rom - Managing Director at Goldcrest Post 

Domenic has over 40 years of post-production experience. Domenic began painting stages and fixing lights at Unitel Video, became a colorist moving to Duart Film and Video, as an evening colorist. Then eventually joined the ranks of management, leading the entire company. Domenic founded The Lab at Moving Images, which was acquired by Technicolor/Postworks, Deluxe and currently Goldcrest. Domenic worked in all aspects of post Dailies, Color, Sound Off-Line and VFX to name a few. Plus, watched the industry transition from: film based workflow to digital integration.