SA Films filmmaker Yoki P Soufyan said the movie’s celluloid had been ruined by fungus and kept in the EYE Museum in the Netherlands.

“It was half ruined, so we were worried the damage would spread. That’s why we took over the restoration,” Yoki explained at the Tiga Dara press conference at Jakarta’s Plaza Indonesia mall on Wednesday.

(Read also: Restored classic Tiga Dara set for cinema return)

According to Yoki, the EYE Museum had planned to restore the movie, but due to financial constraints that never happened. The restoration of Tiga Dara was finally done at the Italian studio L’Immagine Ritrovata, taking 17 months and a budget of Rp. 3 billion (US$228,223).

Lintang Gitomartoyo, physical restoration supervisor, said the movie's celluloid had suffered from vinegar syndrome or "celluloid cancer". "Vinegar syndrome cannot be cured, that is why I refer to it as cancer. If it attacks a film, it is bad," he explained, "We can only slow down the growth of fungus. After this, [the celluloid] has to be kept under maintenance in a safe environment."

Aside from the chemical damage, Lintang also found torn and scratched negative rolls, bugs, glue marks, curled-up celluloid and fold marks. "The hardest part is if there's a scratch in the middle of a picture. If it's torn apart. I had to make sure that the tear mark is placed right where it was torn, before I can tape them together," he said.

(Read also: Restoring Usmar Ismail's 'Tiga Dara')

With regard to the physical restoration work, Yoki P Soufyan noted the importance to save and preserve cultural heritage. "Tiga Dara is about our history, musicality and our culture. Therefore, in the mission to avoid the loss of authentic historical and cultural knowledge, restoring this movie is a very important task."

Film director Nia Dinata, who was also present at the press conference, said the movie would be made available for the public at several theaters, "It will be shown at Blitz and Cinemaxx. This morning we just received news that the movie will also be shown at 21Cineplex, although maybe not on too many screens," kompas.com cited the director as saying.

Tiga Dara tells the story of three sisters, Nunung (Chitra Dewi), Nana (Mieke Wijaya) and Neni (Indriati Iskak), who live with their grandmother (Fifi Young) and father, Sukandar (Hassan Sanusi). The grandmother is obsessed with finding boyfriends for her granddaughters, and all three girls fall in love at the same time.

Tiga Dara was screened at cinemas for eight weeks when it was first launched in 1956 and won a Piala Citra award for Best Musical Arrangement at the 1960 Indonesian Film Festival. (asw)

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