Journal of Film Preservation - FIAF
Journal of Film Preservation - FIAF
Journal of Film Preservation - FIAF
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emplacer les pionniers des médias du<br />
siècle passé. Sa vie et son œuvre<br />
montrent et montreront exemple aux<br />
nouvelles générations d’archivistes.<br />
Se presentan los textos de homenaje<br />
de dos colegas que conocieron y<br />
trataron durante muchos años a<br />
Maryann Gomes, directora del North<br />
West <strong>Film</strong> Archive (15 de agosto de<br />
1954 - 2 de junio de 2002).<br />
Janet McBain relata la biografía de<br />
Maryann y nos recuerda que nació en<br />
Glasgow, de padres de Goa; que cursó<br />
estudios en la Loreto Grammar<br />
School, Manchester, la University de<br />
Londres, y el politécnico de Leeds; que<br />
recibió una formación de pedagogía<br />
en disciplinas artísticas e historia del<br />
arte. Luego de una carrera en el<br />
Manchester City Art Galleries Service<br />
y el Politécnico de Manchester<br />
Polytechnic, en 1983 fue nombrada<br />
conservadora del North West <strong>Film</strong><br />
Archive, transformándose en una de<br />
las figuras pioneras en la<br />
conservación del acervo regional en<br />
Gran Bretaña. Maryann siempre supo<br />
combinar una exigencia pr<strong>of</strong>esional<br />
extrema con un sentido del humor y<br />
alegría de vivir entusiasmantes.<br />
Roger Smither destaca la infatigable<br />
labor de Maryann a favor del<br />
reconocimiento de la colección<br />
regional de su archivo a nivel<br />
internacional, subrayando su mérito<br />
de haber adherido a la <strong>FIAF</strong> en una<br />
época -1995- en que el reglamento en<br />
principio sólo admitía candidatos que<br />
operaban a nivel nacional. Su<br />
participación en el simposio de<br />
Cartagena abrió el camino a la<br />
aceptación de las películas de n<strong>of</strong>icción<br />
en el seno de la <strong>FIAF</strong>. Su<br />
contribución a la apertura iniciada en<br />
la <strong>FIAF</strong> en 2000 fue determinante. Su<br />
lucha por la causa de los archivos<br />
regionales fue aún más apasionada<br />
en la Conferencia de AMIA en Miami<br />
en 1998, donde con su contribución<br />
titulada “La riqueza de las regiones:<br />
Proyectando la imagen global del<br />
Siglo XX” sirvió de preámbulo a sus<br />
intervenciones en Montreal en 1999, y<br />
en Los Angeles en 2000. El ejemplo<br />
de Maryann contradice a quienes<br />
piensan que en el nuevo orden, más y<br />
más burocratizado, nadie podrá<br />
remplazar a los pioneros de mediados<br />
del siglo pasado. Su vida y obra sirven<br />
y servirán de ejemplo a las nuevas<br />
generaciones de archivistas.<br />
She has left her colleagues with many fond memories <strong>of</strong> the strength<br />
<strong>of</strong> her personality.<br />
Maryann during sight-seeing breaks at international congresses,<br />
doggedly and good humouredly bartering for hours with local traders<br />
and typically emerging triumphant with armfuls <strong>of</strong> gifts for friends and<br />
workmates back home while her faint hearted colleagues sat quietly in<br />
the shade <strong>of</strong> tropical heat. Meetings <strong>of</strong> the UK’s <strong>Film</strong> Archive Forum, <strong>of</strong><br />
which she was a founder member, enlivened by her contributions -<br />
always articulate and energetic, if not always consensual. It is hard<br />
when someone with such a zest for life is taken so young from the<br />
friends and colleagues who loved her.<br />
Roger Smither, Keeper, Imperial War Museum <strong>Film</strong> & Video<br />
Archive/Vice-President, <strong>FIAF</strong><br />
With her pr<strong>of</strong>ound commitment to the film heritage preserved in her<br />
archive, Maryann naturally took a leading role in championing such<br />
material in the international domain. She made an incontestable case<br />
for the NWFA’s membership <strong>of</strong> <strong>FIAF</strong>, and gained admission in 1995,<br />
when the Federation was governed by rules which normally expected<br />
candidates to “operate at the national level.” Although many <strong>FIAF</strong><br />
members at that time had little time for non-fiction film <strong>of</strong> any kind,<br />
Maryann’s symposium presentations on amateur film at the Cartagena<br />
Congress in 1997 and on local topicals at the London Congress in 2000<br />
helped open their eyes. Her participation in other elements <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Federation’s annual congresses proved the relevance and value to <strong>FIAF</strong>’s<br />
terms <strong>of</strong> reference <strong>of</strong> all kinds <strong>of</strong> moving images - and moving image<br />
archives - and helped pave the way for the more inclusive membership<br />
definition that was adopted in 2000.<br />
In AMIA - the Association <strong>of</strong> Moving Image Archivists - Maryann<br />
stimulated an even more immediate recognition <strong>of</strong> the cause <strong>of</strong><br />
regional film archiving, when her first attendance at an AMIA<br />
Conference, in Miami in 1998, led to the creation <strong>of</strong> a Regional Archives<br />
Special Interest Group, which she immediately volunteered to chair.<br />
Her compelling ability to explain and to share her passion for film as a<br />
record <strong>of</strong> the lives <strong>of</strong> ordinary people was demonstrated in two<br />
important presentations: “The Richness <strong>of</strong> the Regions: Projecting a<br />
Global Picture <strong>of</strong> the Twentieth Century” at the AMIA Conference in<br />
Montreal in 1999, and an equally influential presentation on diversity in<br />
Los Angeles in 2000.<br />
Maryann’s life refuted those who complain that the spirit that fired the<br />
legendary founders <strong>of</strong> film archives and cinematheques in the middle<br />
<strong>of</strong> the last century has no equivalent in the increasingly bureaucratic<br />
modern world. Her memorial will be the number <strong>of</strong> archives and<br />
archivists who will continue to acknowledge her as an inspiration in<br />
their own work.<br />
59 <strong>Journal</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Film</strong> <strong>Preservation</strong> / 65 / 2002