The restoration of Easy Rider began approximately 18 months ago when, during an overall evaluation of the picture and audio elements, it was discovered that two of the ten reels of Original Camera Negative were actually duplicate replacement negatives. The Original Negative for these two reels were evidently damaged during the latter half of 1969, probably through overprinting at the time of initial release, the result being multiple vertical scratches to the emulsion of the film. The restoration of Easy Rider is still very much a work in progress, with 20 of the expected 25 minutes of negative digitally reproduced. The new reels need further refinement to a degree, primarily to correct for some minor mix-registration Also, in addition to the previously mentioned two reels, there are 18 other sections throughout the rest of the film that have damage that will be replaced shortly. Most of this damage is in the form of vertical scratches or 3 to 7 frame tears in various reels, seven damaged sections in reel one alone. In the current print, five of the 18 damaged sections have been replaced using digital processing, at both 2K and 4K resolution. Other replacements will be integrated in the coming weeks. Also, because the original camera negative had been treated with a lacquer coating during the 1970’s, there is still embedded dirt in the emulsion of the film. This dirt is manifested by small white dots that cross the image at times, most notably in night scenes. Tests at Kodak in Rochester and at Cinetech lab proved that to remove this lacquer would risk damaging the negative.