There’s two school of thoughts here.
- Scans should be public and be shared with the whole world
- Scans should be private and should be shared with only a small group of donors
Not everyone on this website is in group 2, a lot of people on this website are actually in group 1. So it’s very hard to keep a project funded here private.
The good news is that, NC-17 will give us Toy Story 35mm scan for free 😃
Hey man,
I’m actively hunting it down. Part 2 seems to be a lot more common, but if you’re patient, I’m confident I can track down Part 1. I’m about 90% sure I have a partial print in Russian and another in Italian. One way or another, I’ll make it happen.
That said, I need to be honest about something. I think a big issue surrounding this scan is how Tristan has been treating the people who supported it—especially the Patrons who helped fund it. It’s pretty disheartening to see people being told some supporters are getting copies while others are getting refunds. Then there’s the excuse about being “worried it might leak” and somehow getting hit with copyright claims… I mean, come on—this site made its name off Star Wars scans. It doesn’t get more high-risk than that.
Look, I understand that scanning is expensive and time-consuming. But let’s be real: you didn’t make the film. You didn’t animate it. Your name isn’t creatively tied to Pixar. Having a limited exclusive window for funders? Totally fair. But acting like a scan gives you permanent ownership over a cultural artifact just because you bought the print and paid for a scan—that’s not preservation, that’s gatekeeping.
The more attention film print scans get, the better. Labels are obsessed with negatives. Studios don’t give a damn about film print scans right now. Ironically, what we’re doing might be giving them the best preservation copy they’ll ever see. And you’d be surprised how many filmmakers, producers, and even studios quietly acknowledge that.
To a lot of people, getting a 35mm scan of a beloved film is a huge deal. They wait patiently—sometimes for years—for a chance to see it. So when you tell them that only a select few get access while everyone else gets a refund or silence, it leaves a bad taste. Especially when the people being denied were the same ones defending you when delays piled up.
And about the leaks—you keep pointing fingers, but let’s be honest: the only leaks in the last year have been from my scans. And I’m fine with that. After a 3-month exclusivity period, I open it up for everyone. That’s how I operate. Ironically, I’m often accused of leaking things, but the truth is, it’s usually someone else acting in bad faith. Meanwhile, I keep scanning and pushing forward.
Some people in this community think I’ve ruined it. Maybe that’s what the loudest voices say. But I’ve tried to be transparent every step of the way. I didn’t just buy a basic Cintel or Kinetta—I built my own scanner, from the ground up. It works completely differently from anything out there. And I did that for one reason: to preserve film.
Honestly, it feels like we need a full reset in this scene. If you’re into film preservation just so you can hoard art that isn’t yours, what’s the point? If you’re passionate about cinema, then that passion should be contagious—not buried under layers of secrecy and power trips.
You might not like me. That’s fine. But I hope you respect the work ethic and what I’m trying to do. We don’t have to be best friends—but we should be working together. Because at the end of the day, this is about one thing: the love of cinema. And if we lose sight of that, what are we even doing?