From May 28 to June 1 2022, I attend the 7th Eye International Conference 2022. This annually event organized by Eye Filmmuseum, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis, and Association of Moving Image Archivist. The theme of the conference is Global Audiovisual Archiving: Exchange of Knowledge and Practices.
Eye International Conference 2022 aims “to broaden the knowledge and connections within the global archival community, leading to new insights on the status of film heritage and archiving in different parts of the world”. During the conference, the gap between global north and global south was discussed. More than half of the speakers who were coming the global south shared challenges and obstacles related to the practice of archiving and how to expand the knowledge about audiovisual archive.
I join the first side event, Meet the Archive, a public program highlighting recent projects with the Eye Collection in May 28. In this program, Eye Filmmuseum presents on-going film restoration. In the Beyond the Archive session, curator and researcher from Eye Filmmuseum presents two projects. The first one is Juan Vrijs’ films, and the second one is film from Vrijheidsfilms dan LOSON. Besides that, Eye Filmmuseum also screened Ton van Saane films, which is based on the drawing.
During this program, I was triggered by presentation from Imaran Channa, Pakistani visual artist and Eye artist-in-residence. He presented Gaming with Colonial Films, making an environment for game based on the colonial films from Dutch East Indies period in Eye Collection. His presentation didn’t have sensibility over the long history of colonialism in Indonesia.
However, I could repress this displeasure over Channa’s presentation after I see the opening film, Vrouwen van Suriname directed by At van Praag in 1978. This political film tells about socio-political situation in Surinam and the Surinamese community in the 1970s.
Giovanna Fossati officially opened the conference on May 29. After that, there was a roundtable presentation, It’s Almost too Late!, which emphasizes the vulnerability of the audiovisual archive as a cultural heritage. In the roundtable Transnational Exchanges and the Circulation of Video Film Cultures in Sub-Saharan African, the panelists emphasize how initiatives from universities and film archive institutions were able to demonstrate a cross-border collaborative work in preserving audiovisual works as cultural heritage. In the third session, there was Digitization Challenges and Criticalities, which pointed out the potentiality and opportunities for the archive activist to share about their experience during digitization. The last one was Audiovisual Archives and the Digital Spaces: A Global South Perspective. In this session, Judith Opoku Boateng from University of Ghana said that solidarity among people in the global south is all we need to tackle the precariousness of the audiovisual archive in the south region.
Rachel Stoeltje from the Amsterdam Association of Moving Image Archivist/Indiana University opened the second day of the conference. Panel presentations during this day included Transnational Collaboration, Cross-continental Connections, Global Preservation Collaborations, and Repatriation, Reparation, Restitution.
Panelists in Global Preservation Collaboration? Landing Specific Project show the collaborative work on the preservation in Latin America conducted New York University Moving Image Archivist and Presentation Audiovisual Preservation Exchange Program (NYU MIAP APEX). The specific work of this collaborative work is the creation of arturita.net, which emphasized on the exchange of archival knowledge.
Floris Paalman from University of Amsterdam opened the third day. During this day, there were several presentations from Southeast Asia. Challenging the Red Tape panel consist presentation from Sasikorn Likhitwong and Sanchai Choittirosseranee from Thai Film Archive. They shared Thai Film Archive strategy working under Thai military regime. In the panel Making the Invisible Visible, Kultursinema from Indonesia shared method to broaden knowledge about the history of Indonesian cinema through exhibitions and films. Meanwhile, Rosemarie Roque from Society of Filipino Archivist for Film/ Polytechnic University of the Philippines in the panel Alternative Archive and Practices share project she had during C19 pandemic.
I shared on-going research and digitization progress on Ratna Asmara during the Open House Program. I initiated research on Ratna Asmara in the mid 2020. After I met with Kelas Liarsip, we had been working together to make a monograph on Ratna Asmara and to digitized Dr. Samsi, 2nd film directed by her. Dr. Samsi was screened previously in Eye Filmmuseum during public lecture This is Film! Indonesian Film Heritage (read the article here). The Open House program consists of guided tours, presentations, demonstrations, and screenings in Eye Collection Center.
** I would like to thank to Indonesia’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology for supporting research, digitization, and expanding knowledge on Ratna Asmara’s legacy. I would like to thank to Marinus Plantema for supporting my attendance in this conference.
EYE International Conference 2022
Pada tanggal 28 Mei hingga 1 Juni 2022, saya berkesempatan untuk menghadiri Eye International Conference 2022. Acara tahunan yang diselenggarakan oleh Eye Filmmuseum, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis, dan Association of Moving Image Archivist. Dalam perhelatan ke tujuh ini, Eye International Conference mengambil tajuk Global Audiovisual Archiving: Exchange of Knowledge and Practices.
Mengutip halaman situs Eye International Conference 2022, konferensi ini bertujuan untuk “memperluas pengetahuan dan jaringan antar komunitas arsip global dan memperkaya pemahaman akan film sebagai warisan budaya dan praktek pengarsipan di berbagai wilayah dunia”. Hal ihwal tentang perbedaan antara praktek pengarsipan di kawasan selatan dengan kawasan utara dibahas secara lebih mendalam. Para pembicara, yang mayoritas berasal dari kawasan selatan, dalam konferensi ini berbagi tentang tantangan yang dihadapi oleh praktek pengarsipan dan penyebarluasan pengetahuan arsip audiovisual.
Acara pada hari pertama adalah Meet the Archive. Program ini secara khusus berisi presentasi Eye Filmmuseum. Pada Sesi Ephemeral Movement: Work in Progress, kurator Eye Filmmuseum mempresentasikan kerja restorasi yang saat ini sedang berlangsung. Sedangkan pada sesi Beyond the Archive, kurator dan peneliti Eye filmmuseum mempresentasikan dua film yang sedang mereka kerjakan yakni film dari Juan Vrijs dan film dari Cineclub Vrijheidsfilms dan LOSON. Setelah istirahat berlangsung sesi Animated yang salah satunya menampilkan film drawings karya Ton van Saane dan presentasi dari seniman residensi, Imran Channa, tentang Gamin with Colonial Films. Pukul 19.00 GMT +1, berlangsung pemutaran film Vrouwen van Suriname sebagai film pembuka konferensi.
Pada tanggal 29 Mei 2022, Giovanna Fossati membuka secara resmi konferensi pada pukul 10.00 GMT +1. Sesi pertama pada hari ini berlangsung sebuah roundtable dengan tajuk It’s Almost Too Late! yang menekankan pada kerentanan gambar bergerak sebagai sebuah warisan budaya. Roundtable berikutnya berlangsung pada pukul 11.20 GMT+1 dengan tajuk Transnational Exchanges and the Circulation of Video Film Cultures in Sub-Saharan African. Sesi ini menekankan pada bagaimana inisiatif dari universitas dan arsip film mampu menunjukkan sebuah kerja kolaborasi lintas negara dalam menjaga karya gambar bergerak sebagai warisan budaya. Sedangkan roundtable ketiga bertajuk Digitization Challenges and Criticalities menekankan pada potensi dan kesempatan para aktivis arsip untuk berbagi mengenai tantangan dan pengalaman dalam proses digitasi arsip. Pukul 16.00 GMT+1 berlangsung pemutaran film karya Hussein Sharrife, sutradara eksil kelahiran Sudan. Sesi selanjutnya merupakan panel presentasi dengan tajuk Audiovisual Archives and the Digital Space yang menekankan pada perspektif dan pengalaman kawasan selatan. Terakhir adalah pemutaran film About Some Meaningless Events karya Ahmed Bouanani.
Hari kedua dibuka oleh Rachael Stoeltje dari Amsterdam Association of Moving Image Archivist/ Indiana University. Adapun panel presentasi yang berlangsung pada hari ini meliputi beberapa tajuk seperti Transnational Collaboration, Cross-continental Connections, Global Preservation Collaborations, dan Repration, Reparation, Restitution. Panel Cross- continental Connections yang dimoderatori oleh Lisabona Rahman yang berlangsung pada pukul 11.15 – 12.30 menunjukkan upaya untuk melihat kembali arsip sebagai sebuah pengetahuan lintas bangsa. Hari kedua ini ditutup oleh pemutaran film The Death of a Horse yang disutradarai oleh Vdekja e kalit dan Saimir Kumbaro dari Albania.
Hari ketiga konferensi dibuka oleh Floris Paalman dari University of Amsterdam. Dalam beberapa panel presentasi hari ini beberapa pembicara dari kawasan Asia Tenggara membagikan tantangan dan pengalaman mereka mengenai pengarsipan, distribusi arsip, dan pengelolaan arsip. Misalnya dalam panel Challengin the Red Tape, terdapat presentasi dari Sasikorn Likhitwong dan Sanchai Choitirosseranee dari Thai Film Archive mengenai strategi pengarsipan di bawah rezim militer Thailand. Sedangkan dalam panel Making the Invisible, Visible, terdapat presentasi dari Mahardika Yudha, anggota Kultursinema, yang berbagi tentang metode persebaran pengetahun sinema melalui pameran. Adapula Rosemarie Roque dari Society of Filipino Archivist for Film/ Polytechnic University of the Philippines dalam panel Alternative Archive and Practices yang berbagi tentang projek yang ia kerjakan selama pandemik Covid-19 berkaitan dengan distribusi arsip audiovisual tentang Filipina selama rezim Marcos. Terakhir adalah pemutaran kompilasi film Uma Outra Historia yang dikuratori oleh Another Gaze dan Cinelimite.
Penutup konferensi adalah program Open House pada tanggal 1 Juni 2022. Pada hari terakhir ini saya mendapatkan kesempatan untuk berbagi proses digitasi dan penelitian Ratna Asmara yang didukung oleh Kementerian Pendidikan, Kebudayaan, Riset, dan Teknologi. Acara berlangsung di gedung penyimpanan arsip film. Jaraknya 15 menit berjalan kaki dari Eye Filmmuseum. Dalam sesi yang saya ikuti, saya bersama dengan beberapa pembicara seperti Luna Hupperetz yang berbagi penelitian dan proses restorasi film dari Cineklub, Laura Batticucci yang berbagi tentang preservasi film Esdras Baptista dan Anabelle Aventurin yang berbagi tentang film Med Hondo. Sesi ini diperuntukkan untuk kerja preservasi, digitasi, restorasi, dan penelitian yang sedang berlangsung.
