It all started in a garage…

… in Amman, Jordan where over 800 film canisters were discovered. With no equipment for viewing the films and the cost of digitization out of reach, the films were scheduled to be thrown away.

Matthew Epler was teaching film in Jordan when he stumbled into the collection and convinced the Jordanian Film Commission to provide storage for the films until a solution could be found. A couple of years later, as a graduate student at New York University, he created the “A Film Archive” project to crowd-source the translation of the Arabic and Russian titles in the collection. He then created Kinograph version 1 as his thesis project.

Kinograph was an idea that attracted like-minded DIY’ers and film lovers and quickly became a community of people who share their resources in hopes that yesterday’s treasures are not lost.

Version 1 was published in 2013, and version 2 is in active development thanks to support from Colgate University.

Kinograph uses parts that are readily accessible on the internet or 3D printed. All designs are available for free and will continue to be forever. More details on the development and design can be found here.

Community Titles

Kinograph is made possible by a community of enthusiasts, tinkerers, hackers, engineers, hobbyists, archivists, nerds, and friends. Those that have made significant contributions are given titles. While they may be symbolic, the titles are earned and reflect a level of contribution that is significant in making Kinograph a useful tool for all who need it.

U Perera
Consulting Engineer

Erik Piil
Consultant

Greg Schmidt
Consulting Engineer

Ed Nisley
Consulting Engineer

Chris Ritter
Consulting Engineer

Roger Evans
Consulting Engineer

dan74
Consulting Engineer

Brian Rousch
Consulting Engineer

Robert Hart
Consulting Engineer

Perry Paolatonio
Consulting Engineer

Charles Pomaski
Consulting Engineer

Michael Reilly
Consulting Engineer

Community Contributors

Individuals whose input has been directly implemented in the official releases of Kinograph.