Journal of Film Preservation - FIAF

Second Century Forum - Stockholm
June 2003
David Francis
Open Forum
From left to right: Jan de Vaal, Ernest
Lindgren, Hans Wilhelm Lavries, Einar
Lauritzen, Ove Busendorff, Mary Meerson at
the FIAF Congress in Vence, 1953
Editor’s note: The following essay is an annotated version of the paper
that the author delivered in the Second Century Forum, June 4 2003,
during the 59th FIAF Congress.
At the last FIAF Congress, in Seoul, I looked at the “Challenges of Film
Archiving in the 21st Century”. I would now like to turn my attention to
the future role of FIAF. I want to do this by looking at the changes that
have occurred within FIAF and those that have occurred outside the
Federation.
FIAF has a successful history. Not only has it provided its members with
an intellectual forum for the exchange of knowledge, it has also put
the importance of film preservation on international agendas. The work
of its commissions, and the manuals that resulted, helped to define
film archives as professional bodies on a par with national museums
and art galleries.
The Federation had a clear identity when it started. It was a small
group of passionate collectors and film enthusiasts who wanted to
safeguard the art of the cinema and make classic films available in
their respective countries. In
those days, collection and
screenings were the major
activities because there
were virtually no resources
for preservation.
Today FIAF’s identity is more
diffuse. It has spent a lot of
time defining the rights and
responsibilities of
membership but it has not
come out with a precise
mission statement
supported by all members.
Curators never seem to
have been able to explain
the Federation’s raison
d’etre to their staff, and for
financial reasons they are seldom able to invite their staff to
Congresses, so they can see FIAF in action. I don’t think the Federation
would have got such a reputation for elitism, if archive staff had
understood its virtues, been committed to its activities and prepared to
add their voices in its promotion.
This is very sad because FIAF has achieved a lot. In fact, its identity crisis
may stem from the fact that it succeeded in so many areas. For
2 Journal of Film Preservation / 67 / 2004