“There is no doubt that audio-visual recordings are an immensely valuable repository of our collective memory. Whether they are documentary films, newscasts or interviews, they tell us stories about people’s lives, social developments, political changes, cultural events from the time they were recorded…they also reveal a lot about the perspective of the creators of the audio-visual materials, and the narrative and messages they intended to convey to their audience,” said Ambassador Huber in her message to mark the Audio-Visual Heritage Day.
“Archives are an important building-block to ‘dealing with the past’ and working towards national healing and reconciliation,” she added.
In the recent past, audio-visual material at the National Archives of Zimbabwe had come under threat from neglect, chemical decay and technological obsolescence.
This is why the Embassy of Switzerland working with the International Federation of Television Archives (IFTA) under the “Save Your Archive” programme supported the National Archives of Zimbabwe to safeguard the 2700 reels of films in their repository, that have been catalogued up to now, and to take urgent measures to conserve this heritage and ensure it remains accessible to the public now, and to future generations.
Film digital archiving project
The IFTA have been providing technical support in the accessibility and preservation of the Zimbabwe film collection which dates back to the 1960s. The project has provided a scanner to digitise the films, as well as Information and Communication Technology (ICT) equipment and storage devices to secure and provide access to the films once they have been digitized.
The National Archives of Zimbabwe have been facing acute challenges including lack of funding and the obsolescence, deterioration and natural decay of existing media formats. In addition there is a need to increase the National Archives of Zimbabwe’s capacity to maintain and preserve audio-visual records and archives for the long-term.
Digitization is the only way to preserve these collections, to make them available well into the future.
“Preserving the audio-visual heritage of Zimbabwe is a key task of the Ministry of Sports, Arts and Culture,” said Reverend Paul Damasane, Principal Director, Arts and Culture in the Ministry of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture, adding, however, that the National Archives of Zimbabwe “knew that they could not do it alone, and Switzerland has been an incredible partner.”
“With their contribution, we have now started a major digitization project. Today we have done a number of recordings that are now available in a digital format. The public also will now have access to Zimbabwe’s historical films and recordings, which is a major benefit of this effort,” said Reverend Damasane.
The main objectives of the World Day for Audio-visual Heritage are to raise public awareness of the need for heritage conservation, democratize files, make heritage more accessible, attract media attention to issues of heritage, highlight the audiovisual heritage in danger, especially in developing countries and provide opportunity to celebrate local, national and international aspects of the audiovisual heritage among others.
