second century forum
The Future of Film Archiving (FoFA):
Preserving Analogue Heritage Techniques in a Digital World
Wednesday, May 7th, 09:15 – 12:45
Chair and panelists to be announced
On the initiative of the BFI, a group of experts convened in September 2012 to assess the challenges facing film archives as a result from the industrial shift from analogue to digital in capture, post-production and distribution. The challenges discussed were the availability of raw film stock, laboratory services and film digitization equipment; the importance of long-term storage for film, training and transfer of know-how; and the repercussions for restoration practice and scientific research. The focus was thus on the future of film as a physical, analogue, photochemical medium, rather than the challenges surrounding digital film archives.
These matters concern the global archival community and as part of re-opening and expanding the discussion, the FoFA initiative has been invited by the FIAF Executive Committee to organize this congress’ Second Century Forum. In the forum, the assessments and suggested actions on some of the topics listed above will be looked at more in depth, some exemplary case studies will be presented, and there will be an open discussion with the FIAF membership on how to move forward with the issue of preserving analogue heritage techniques.