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64th International Federation
of Film Archives Congress
17 > 26 april 2008
At the Cinémathèque française
Second century forum
A gloomy anniversary
Selected at the end of the general assembly of the 2007 Congress in Tokyo, the theme of the Second Century Forum will address a question we are all asking: what about the cinematographic heritage of Sub-Saharan Africa? In other words, will film heritage institutions finally be established in a permanent way, so that the composite cinematographic wealth of the African people can be preserved on African soil?
In the 1980s, the Pan-African Federation of Filmmakers called for the creation of the Cinémathèque Africaine (African Film Library) at FESPACO. In 1998, this call led to the inauguration of the preservation center of the Cinémathèque Africaine in Ouagadougou. Today, however, the situation appears to be at a standstill, due to a lack of long-term financing. The air-conditioning system that protected the films is now almost non-operational. Films from the 60s and 70s are in danger, falling victim to vinegar syndrome. The program for film maintenance and restoration is stalled.
The situation in Ouagadougou is far from being unique. From Congo, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, and Mali, we receive calls for constructive help, including requests for skill transfers, film preservation equipment, hardware and software to build up inventories, but also for repatriation of African films that are preserved everywhere… except in Africa.
The Thomson Foundation, which has a great deal of experience acquired through working with film archives and cinémathèques on all continents, in particular during the creation of the Bophana center in Cambodia, is sponsoring this forum. At the end of the forum, specific solutions will be proposed by the fiaf to officials coming all the way to Paris to talk about the situation of the film heritage which they are in charge of and responsible for. |
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• Salle Henri Langlois, Cinémathèque française
9:00 a.m.
• Screening of La mémoire du Congo en péril, a film by Guy Bomanyama
9:15 a.m.
• Guido Convents: The exceptional Cinematographic heritage of the belgian colonial period
9:35 a.m.
• Ardiouma Soma: The Cinémathèque in Ouagadougou is already ten years old - an overview
9:55 a.m.
• Henning Mankell and Pedro Pimenta: Cinematographic heritage issues in Mozambique
10:30 a.m.
• Carlos Vaz: the state of cinematographic heritage in Guinea-Bissau
10:45 a.m.
• Coffee break
11:00 a.m.
• Round table led by Wolfgang Klaue and Robert Daudelin | What short - and medium - term measures can be taken for african cinematographic heritage?
With :
- Séverine Wemaere, the Thomson Foundation
- Gaston Kaboré, Burkina Faso
- Joie Springer, UNESCO
- Bengt Orhall, Suède, consultant
- Djalma Luiz Félix Lourenço, Mozambique
- Jean-Pierre Garcia, Amiens Film Festival
1:00 p.m.
• End of discussions
Speakers:
⇒ Guido Convents is a cinema historian. Since the 1980s, he has published works about African cinema, particularly in the Belgian Congo, Rwanda-Urundi, Zaire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi. Along with Guido Huysmans, he is the creator of Afrika Filmfestival, which takes place at Leuven, in Belgium.
⇒ Ardiouma Soma is the director of the Cinémathèque Africaine in Ouagadougou.
⇒ Henning Mankell is a well-known Swedish author, known in particular for his detective novels. He spends his time between Sweden and Mozambique, where he is very active in the field of culture. He is highly involved in defending cinematographic heritage, and has actively contributed to bringing the Svenska Filminstitutet in Stockholm into closer contact with leaders in Mozambican cinema.
⇒ Pedro Pimenta is the director of the documentary film festival Dockanema in Maputo. His long-term experience as an independent producer in a region that is now marked by South African influence has led him to take a position on questions relating to the film heritage of Mozambique.
⇒ Carloz Vaz is the president of the National Cinema and Audiovisual Institute in Guinea-Bissau.
⇒ Séverine Wemaere is the director of the Thomson Foundation.
⇒ Jean-Pierre Garcia is the director of the International Film Festival in Amiens, which for over 20 years has been coupled with Fespaco and Vues d'Afrique. He has notably published Sous l’arbre à palabres: guide pratique à l’usage des cinéastes africains (Under the Tree of Endless Discussions: a Practical Guide to African Filmmakers).
⇒ Joie Springer represents the Information Society Division of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
⇒ Bengt Orhall is an expert and consultant in the field of cinematographic technical industries and film preservation. He is the author of a recent report for the Svenska Filminstitutet in Stockholm on the film archives of Maputo.
⇒ Gaston Kaboré currently directs the Imagine Institute in Ouagadougou, which was created in 2003 and dedicated to providing training in the fields of image and sound. It was designed as a place of exchange for collective memory and audiovisual heritage.
⇒ Djalma Luiz Félix Lourenço is the director of the National Cinema and Audiovisual Institute of Mozambique.
⇒ Boris Todorovitch, the director of cinematographic heritage at the CNC, will preside over the forum.
⇒ Wolfgang Klaue and Robert Daudelin, honorary members of the fiaf, will act as moderators.
