The IFI has been working for eighteen months to restore vintage commercials from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Some of the featured brands include Aer Lingus, Bovril, HB, Odlums, Knorr, Spar, Jabobs, and ESB. They're all available to watch for free here on the IFI player. Ross Keane, director at the IFI, gave a statement saying: “We are delighted to be adding this critically important material to the IFI Irish Film Archive’s online collection. This project has been a huge undertaking for the organisation, and we are particularly pleased to be able to share the results with the public through our new IFI Player, which provides access to many parts of our vast collection to audiences right around the world, free of charge.”
The collection was restored from over 8,000 rolls of film that had sadly been damaged when they were poorly stored in a damp warehouse. Each frame had to be tended to individually, in a process of both physical and chemical conservation, scanning and digital restoration.
How many of these old commercials do you remember?