רטו קרומר  •  Reto Kromer

Having graduated in both mathematics and computer science, Reto Kromer became involved in audiovisual conservation and restoration in 1986, and took early retirement in 2026. He is still lecturing at the Bern University of Applied Sciences and the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, and continues to work part-time in the field of audiovisual preservation after his retirement. He began developing open-source solutions in 1993. Since suffering a stroke in 2011, he has devoted part of his time to the study and teaching of Medieval, Western and Italo-Yiddish as well as other rare Jewish languages, including some varieties of Northern Judeo-Italian such as Judeo-Venetian, Judeo-Lombard and Judeo-Piedmontese.

He ran his own preservation company for twenty-three years. Previously he was head of preservation at the Cinémathèque suisse (the Swiss National Film Archive). He also was a lecturer at the University of Lausanne and the Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola in Donostia (San Sebastián). He served as a board member of the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) for four years. His work has seen him honoured with one of the inaugural Joint Technical Symposium (JTS) Awards and a SMPTE James A. Lindner Archival Technology Medal.

2026-11-08