The UNAM Film Archive and the FIAF will hold the International Online Symposium “Prevention and Management of Natural and Human Disasters in Film Archives”
The International On-site Symposium “Prevention and Management of Natural and Human Disasters in Film Archives”, which was to be held as part of the Congress of the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) from April 20 to 21 in Mexico City, had to be canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the Film Archive of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and FIAF have joined forces to organize an International Symposium on the same topic, which will take place from 28 September to 1 October for the first time in virtual format and the lectures will be available in three languages: Spanish, English and French.
For four days, the UNAM Film Archive, a member of the FIAF, will host and receive experts from various film archives around the world: Switzerland, Argentina, Brazil, France, Thailand, Spain, Croatia, the United States and Mexico, who will address the issue of natural disasters in Latin America, Asia and Europe; as well as risk management and future planning.
The welcoming ceremony will be held on September 28 at 9:00 (Mexico City time) by the President of the FIAF, Frédéric Maire (Swiss Cinematheque) and the Director General of the UNAM Film Archive, Hugo Villa; and the opening speech will be given by Paolo Cherchi Usai, from the Italian National Film Archive.
Later, at 10:00 am, the first session will be held with the theme: Latin America and Disasters, moderated by Rachael Stoeltje, Director of the Library Archive of Moving Images at Indiana University.
The following day, Tuesday, September 29, at 7:00 am, the theme: Natural Disasters will be discussed, moderated by Hisashi Okajima, Director of the National Film Archive of Japan.
On Wednesday, September 30, at 9:00 am, the topic: Risk Management and Disaster Planning will be addressed, moderated by Hugo Villa, General Director of the UNAM Film Archive.
On Thursday, 1 October, at 9:00 am the symposium will conclude with the theme: Disasters and the Future, moderated by David Walsh, Head of the FIAF Technical Commission and Head of Digital Collections at the Imperial War Museums (IWM).
All the sessions of the International Online Symposium “Prevention and Management of Natural and Human Disasters in Film Archives”, will be available on the Facebook account of the UNAM Film Archive and on its YouTube channel: