Vladimir Opela

Born in 1938, two months before the formal creation of FIAF, Vladimir Opěla joined the Ceskoslavensky Filmovy Ustav (Film Archive of Czechoslovakia) in 1965, where he first worked as Acquisitions Officer. In 1989 he became the archive's Curator and Director. In June 1992, he was confirmed as the Director of the newly formed Národní filmový archiv (National Film Archive) of the Czech Republic.

Opěla became actively involved in FIAF in the 1980s. He joined the Cataloguing Commission in 1987, and sat on the FIAF Executive Committee from 1991 to 1997, and again from 2005 to 2013, serving terms as Vice-President. Opěla was also active internationally through his work at UNESCO. He conceived the UNESCO World Day for Audiovisual Heritage, celebrated every 27 October since 2007.

In 2012, he was succeeded by Michal Bregant as Director of Národní filmový archiv, but he has continued to work for the archive ever since. He was elected as FIAF Honorary Member by the FIAF General Assembly in Skopje in April 2014. Four years later, the FIAF Community celebrated his 80th birthday during the 2018 Prague Congress hosted by the institution to which he has devoted his entire career.