©Thai Film Archive
2024 FIAF Bangkok Symposium
Film Archives in the Global South
Thai Film Archive, Bangkok, 22-23 April 2023
We are pleased to present the recorded sessions from the 2024 FIAF Congress Symposium on "Film Archives in the Global South". This symposium highlighted the remarkable contributions of film archives across Latin America, Asia, and Africa, regions that are collectively home to 41 of the 173 FIAF members and associates as of 2023. Despite facing significant developmental and economic challenges, as well as political and social instability, these archives play a crucial role in preserving cultural diversity, local histories, and critical societal reflections.
During this symposium, we explored how film archives in the Global South are redefining preservation practices. Their innovative strategies go beyond traditional models, offering new approaches that are tailored to their specific contexts and challenges. This event featured insightful presentations organized into two panels and six sessions, addressing a broad spectrum of topics including transnational and cross-cultural film preservation, collaborative efforts, and postcolonial perspectives. The discussions also covered practical challenges such as sustainability, funding, and the management of at-risk collections, including issues like vinegar syndrome and censorship. We encourage you to explore the videos and presentations from this symposium to gain a deeper appreciation of the pioneering work being done by these film archives and their impact on the global preservation landscape.
The scientific committee was composed of Bliss Cua Lim (Professor,University of Toronto, Canada), Sudarat Musikawong (Associated Professor Mahidol University, Thailand), Paula Félix-Didier (Director, Museo del Cine Pablo Ducros Hicken, Buenos Aires, Argentina), Drika de Oliveira (Head of Film Collection,Cinemateca do Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Jon Wengström (Senior Curator, Swedish Film Institute, Stockholm, Sweden), Chalida Uabumrungjit (Director, Thai Film Archive, Nakornpathom, Thailand) and Sanchai Chotirosseranee (Deputy Director, Thai Film Archive, Nakornpathom, Thailand) as its Coordinator.
Click on each of the images below to access the programme and video recording of the corresponding Symposium session. Please forgive us for the not always perfect quality of the sound and image. Please note also that the presentations were delivered in one of the three official FIAF languages and that these video-recordings do not include subtitles or audio-translation.
Panel 1
FIAF Archives and the Restitution/Repatriation Debates: Toward a New Future for Global Cinema Heritage
Session 1
Sustainabilities: Preserving Collections, Institutions and the Environment
Session 2
Memory and Restitution: Migrating Archives, Reclaiming Stories
Session 3
Digitization and Restoration : Some Different Paths and Contexts
Panel 2
Opposing the Current: Transnational Collaboration as a Mutual Learning Tool
Session 4
Tales from the Vault: Stories of Institutional and Special Collections Projects
Session 5
Lost and Endangered Films: Divergent Paths in Writing History and Creating Archives
Session 6
Access and Programming: Reflections on Circulation and Responsibilities
