Pollock Theater brought “Lawrence of Arabia” back to the big screen for a nearly-full house last Tuesday night as part of their “Future of the Past” film series.

The event, as well as the “Future of the Past: The Art and Philosophy of Film Preservation” series, is co-sponsored by UCSB’s Film & Media studies Department and the Carsey-Wolf Center.

Ross Melnick, a UCSB Film & Media Studies assistant professor, curated the “Future of the Past” series. It ties into a graduate seminar he is teaching this quarter called “Moving Image Archive Studies: Theory, Industry, and Practice,” which explores how film archiving will continue to grow and change over time.

Melnick chose “Lawrence of Arabia” for the series because of its popularity and longevity.

“It’s a crowd pleaser and one of the most celebrated [films] in the canon,” Melnick said. “People are always excited to see it.”

Sony Pictures Entertainment restored the 1962 classic film in honor of its 50th anniversary. Grover Crisp, Senior Vice President of Asset Management, Film Restoration & Digital Mastering, oversaw the restoration with a restoration team at Sony.

Crisp introduced the film during Tuesday night’s screening and showed clips of what it looked like when they originally found it, pointing out its imperfections.

Richard Hutton, Executive Director of the Carsey-Wolf Center, said the technology available at Pollock Theater allowed the audience to see “Lawrence of Arabia” in the highest quality available: 4K Digital Cinema Package.

A close to four-hour long movie, “Lawrence of Arabia” was shown with an intermission, during which time the audience could have refreshments in the lobby.

Melnick said, “It was an old-school intermission and there was a real buzz in the crowd. People discussed what they’d just seen and what they thought was coming next.”

The “Future of the Past” series ends with Elia Kazan’s “Wild River” on Mar. 12 at Pollock Theater.

A version of this article appeared on page 8 of February 28th, 2013’s print edition of the Nexus.