Mire’s lab is a shared creative space working with film as its medium, mostly Super 8 and 16mm. We dip the roll, we examine it, we cut it up, we tape it up, we expose it to shock treatment or we handle it with extreme care. Mire is an ideal place to experiment with process, accidents and hazardous occurrences, offering the opportunity to handle machinery from a film industry which, with the rise of digital technology, has left precious tools in the hands of the artisans of film.
The lab is open to all that seek the hands-on, physical, mechanical and sensory approach of film, kicking the door wide open to endless possibilities !
In practice, following initial training in the use of the tools, chemicals and machinery, the lab allows you to hand develop your film and work on images shot in Super 8 and 16mm format, or to create new images from found footage.
To copy or rework images, the Debrie Tipro contact printer (16mm to 16mm/ 35mm to 16mm) and the JK optical printer (Super 8 to 16mm/16mm to 16mm) are available.
The lab also provides editing equipment such as an editing table 16mm CTM, as well as Super 8 and 16mm splicers, winders, and viewers.
To encourage the general public to discover photo-chemical cinema, Mire regularly holds introductory workshops for developing or use of machinery as well as workshops with guest filmmakers. Mire also sells rolls of film at cost and rents cameras.
Access to the lab is possible upon membership subscription (20euros/year), after initial training, and according to a shared calendar. As far as the chemicals go, Mire takes care of ordering and preparing them. A participation fee is requested in accordance with the developed footage.
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The laboratory is only one aspect of Mire’s activity as an organization dedicated to experimental cinema and moving images since 1993. Mire also holds public screenings and workshops, has its own festival and has participated in European projects for the preservation and diffusion of analog cinema.
Since 2018, Mire organizes its annual festival PRISME – Argentique du futur. PRISME highlights an innovative contemporary and committed analog cinema in interaction with other artistic practices such as sonic, visual, performance and photographic arts.
