Melisia Shinners (1950-2023)

M. Shinners at the 2010 FIAF Congress in Oslo. Photo: Eva Orbanz.

It is with great sadness that we heard from our colleagues at the South African National Film, Video and Sound Archives in Pretoria (South Africa) that Melisia Shinners, audiovisual archivist who was Head of Film and Video Preservation at the Archives from 1991 until her retirement in 2015, passed away on 22 January, aged 72. She dedicated her career to the preservation of audio-visual materials.

Melisia was one of the participants in the Film Restoration Summer School/ FIAF Summer School hosted for the first time in Bologna in 2007. She was our South African Member's representative at most FIAF congresses between 2005 and 2015, and she played in active role in the hosting of the 2011 FIAF Congress in Pretoria, as well as in the organization of the Summer School, also in Pretoria, in March-April 2011. She was a member of the FIAF Executive Committee from 2013 to 2015.

M. Shinners presenting at the 2005 FIAF Congress in Ljubljana. Photo: FIAF

M. Shinners with Tineke de Vaal and Eva Orbanz at the 2005 FIAF Congress in Ljubljana. Photo: FIAF

M. Shinners (centre) at the 2011 FIAF Summer School in Pretoria. Photo: FIAF

M. Shinners teaching at the 2011 FIAF Summer School in Pretoria. Photo: FIAF

M. Shinners (left) during a FIAF Executive Committee meeting in Skopje, 2014. Photo: FIAF.

M. Shinners (left) during a FIAF Executive Committee meeting in Canberra. Photo: FIAF.