World Audiovisual Heritage Day

THE ICAA and the Spanish Film Library have joined the celebration of World Audiovisual Heritage Day on October 27.

The Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts (ICAA) and the Spanish Film Library have joined the celebration of World Audiovisual Heritage Day, which took place this Sunday, October 27. This commemoration, promoted by UNESCO since 2005, seeks to raise public attention to the relevance and historical value of cinematographic and audiovisual documents, to underline their role in the construction of the cultural identity of peoples and to raise awareness about the need to adopt the necessary measures for their safeguarding and preservation.

Susana de la Sierra, director of the Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Sciences (ICAA), has highlighted that "audiovisual heritage, by its very material nature, is a heritage of extreme fragility and vulnerability. A good part of this heritage has already been irreparably lost with the consequent damage that this entails for the audiovisual memory of people. Cinematographic heritage is also, we must not forget, a living heritage and subject to unstoppable technological development that determines technical obsolescence and the loss of certain materials; fundamental reasons that open continuous challenges for the preservation of the works. Therefore, we must all be deeply involved, public and private sector.

To celebrate this day, the Spanish Film Library has programmed throughout the month of October, for the tenth consecutive year and in collaboration with the Association of Friends of the Spanish Film Library (AAFE) and the Círculo de Bellas Artes, the Sombras Recobradas cycle that includes various recently restored titles. The cycle has included the screening of the titles Ruff (Miroslav Cikan, 1973)y L´assasino (Elio Petri, 1961).

This year, in addition, the anniversary acquires even greater relevance for the ICAA and the Spanish Film Archive because, after several years of intense work, the transfer of funds has taken place to the new Film Collection Conservation Center of the Spanish Film Archive in the City of the Image of Madrid, a space equipped with modern facilities in terms of preservation. This Center is already the reference place in Spain for the conservation of audiovisual heritage.

The ICAA, through the Spanish Film Library, develops other initiatives in this area. Among them, it grants aid for conservation, participates in national and international forums, maintains agreements with universities for the training of students through internship programs and participation in master's degrees, and organizes seminars and workshops for professionals, in addition to, of course, carrying out permanent work of identification, cataloguing, research, restoration and dissemination.