Since 1950, color negative film has become the standard on which millions of motion picture and television shows have been photographed. Since the early 1970s, it has become apparent that the color negative film stock on which these images were recorded was not entirely stable and was fading with time. In the early 1980s, Martin Scorsese spearheaded a campaign addressing the problem of color fading in motion picture films. The campaign stimulated public support for film preservation.The end of the '80s saw a new awareness about reassessing the conditions of our film heritage. For years, many film restorationists have tried to produce a photo chemical solution to restoring the color from old color motion picture negatives without success, until now. In 1994, while producing the documentary TRINITY AND BEYOND, Peter Kuran developed a straight forward and very effective method of restoring the color to faded motion picture color negatives he called "RCI" for Restored Color ImageTM process. This patented process produces a new intermediate film element with restored color, fine grain and excellent retention of shadow detail. This process not only surpasses other photo chemical attempts to fix this challenging problem, it also rivals new digital technologies in image quality as well as price. The RCITM process was awarded an Academy Award for 2002 by the Scientific and Technical Committee of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for its revolutionary approach to this problem. Peter Kuran is a visual effects artist and supervisor who entered American film as an animator for STAR WARS (1977). He started Visual Concept Entertainment in 1982 after he'd finished work as animation supervisor for Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) on George Lucas' THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. As an animator on the STAR WARS films, Kuran introduced the concept of animating shadows and interactive light to objects to make them appear more interactive. Since that time, Kuran and VCE have worked on over 250 theatrical motion pictures including, most recently, WONDERS ARE MANY, NORBIT, DELTA FARCE and SEARCHERS 2.0 (all 2007). As a filmmaker, Kuran has produced five documentaries on the subject of Atomic history, weapons and testing. Beginning in 1995, he produced and directed the award winning film "Trinity and Beyond (the Atomic Bomb Movie)" and has since produced "Nukes in Space", "Atomic Journeys: Welcome to Ground Zero" and "Atomic Filmmakers: Behind the Scenes" (all 1999), and "Nuclear Rescue 911: Broken Arrows & Incidents" (2001).  Scientific and Engineering Awards (Academy Plaques) 2001: For the invention of the RCI-Color Film Restoration Process. (w. Sean Coughlin, Joseph A. Olivier and William Conner for the engineering and development) 1 Scientific/Technical Award