Nitrate film: exhibition and loan considerations
Because nitrate film is both a volatile material that can burn uncontrollably and a deep lung irritant that can cause health problems, it needs to be transported and exhibited extremely carefully. Serious consideration should be given as to whether it should be loaned to other institutions, especially if they don’t have the experience and resources to deal with this material’s inherent risks. An alternative to loaning the nitrate original of a film is to loan a copy that has been professionally made on safety film (Kodak, n.d.).
Since cellulose nitrate film is classified as a hazardous material by the U.S. Department of Transportation, it has to be shipped according to strict guidelines. It can be shipped using either UPS or FedEx only after it has been packaged, labeled, and prepared in accordance with Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) (U.S. Department of Transportation. (2016).
Once the film is delivered to the borrowing institution, it must be handled, stored, and displayed according to the same practices outlined in the Storage and Handling considerations portions of this website. Very few theaters are equipped to exhibit nitrate film. One is the 500-seat Dryden Theatre at the Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York, which for the last two years has hosted The Nitrate Picture Show. According to Maltin (2015), "If the picture was made in Technicolor during the 1930s and ’40s, nothing can compare to an original print made in the dye-transfer process. It’s best described as eye-popping" (Maltin, 2015), thus the interest in viewing films in their original format.