Sam Kula

Montreal-born Sam Kula's career started in 1959, when he joined the British Film Institute as a young Deputy Curator under Ernest Lindgren. In the 1960s he moved to the USA to join the American Film Institute as its first Assistant Director, and was among those who oversaw the publication of the multi-volume AFI Catalog. In 1973, he moved back to Montreal to head the Film, Sound and Television section of the newly-created audiovisual archives of the National Archives of Canada. This institution joined FIAF in 1977 and Sam Kula served on the FIAF Executive Committee from 1981 to 1987, and was Vice-President from 1985-87. He was closely associated with the UNESCO Recommendation for the Safeguarding and Preservation of Moving Images (1980). He remained active after retiring from the National Archives in 1989, notably with Canada AV Trust, a body he helped to create in order to promote the idea of film preservation. He also served as President of AMIA, the Association of Moving Image Archivists, from 2001 to 2004.

Robert Daudelin, "Sam Kula (1933-2010), Journal of Film Preservation, Issue 85, 2001, pp.83-84.

Rosemary Bergeron, "Sam Kula, 1932–2010", Archivaria, The Journal of the Association of Canadian Archivists,