Memory of the World Committee for Asia and the Pacific

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MOWCAP Supports a Film Preservation Workshop in Yangon

A Memory of the World (M0W) training workshop for film archivists was held in Yangon, Myanmar, on 18-19 October 2017.

The organisers were the “Save Myanmar Film Project”,  a voluntary group associated with the Wathann Film Institute, a local non-government organisation, in collaboration with the Myanmar Ministry of Information and Culture. The Ministry maintains the country’s most important film archive collection, and the venue for the workshop was the Ministry’s head quarters building. The 15 participants came from various backgrounds and included some staff of the Ministry.

The workshop was led by Mick Newham and Ray Edmondson, both of whom have long international careers in audiovisual archiving, are former senior staff of the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, and former presidents of the regional professional federation SEAPAVAA (South East Asia Pacific Audiovisual Archive Association). In preparation for the workshop, the MoW publication, Audiovisual Archiving: Philosophy and Principles (2016 edition) was translated into Burmese and distributed to all participants.

The group of participants was divided into two: on the first day, Group 1 spent the day with Ray discussing basic archiving concepts and principles, the practicalities of identification, collection management, preservation and access, and disaster preparedness. Group 2 learned about the physical and chemical attributes of film, and had hands-on practice with film winding and splicing. On the second day, the two groups changed places.

The workshop was intended to encourage the growing interest in film preservation among film makers, researchers and archivists, and to help develop a more comprehensive approach to the assembling and protection of the nation’s film heritage. Some follow-up actions were agreed on to help ensure that the experience of the workshop is built upon as the Save Myanmar Film Project and the work of the Ministry develops.

The training was made possible by the generous financial support of the Asia Culture Center through the ongoing partnership with MOWCAP.

Preserving South East Asia’s Cinematic Heritage

UNESCO and the Asian Film Archive Workshop June 17

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubHS09MQo-s[/embedyt]

From the 7-8 June 2017 UNESCO and the Asian Film Archive cooperated to hold a two-day workshop that explored how UNESCO’s Memory of the World programme (Memory of the World Asia Pacific “MOWCAP”) can help protect and preserve Southeast Asia’s precious audiovisual heritage. Twelve participants from ten Southeast Asian countries attended the workshop which aimed at helping in the identification of potential audiovisual heritage for nomination and assistance in the inscription process. The workshop was generously supported by the National Library Board, Singapore.

[Read more…]

National Workshop Held in Yangon, 4-5 May

Myanmar’s documentary heritage is rich and diverse, ranging from ancient texts carved in stone and palm leaf manuscripts to cinema and audio-visual materials. As a developing nation, however, Myanmar faces major challenges in safeguarding this heritage and making it accessible to all.

UNESCO working closely with the Myanmar National Commission for UNESCO, held a national level Memory of the World (MoW) training workshop from 4-5 May 2017.

The workshop focused on increasing participants’ knowledge of and skills related to the MoW programme, particularly developing nominations to MoW registers and how the programme can bolster efforts to safeguard Myanmar’s documentary heritage through the establishment of a Memory of the World National Committee.

[Read more…]

UNESCO Memory of the World Project in Myanmar Begins

A project to Safeguard the Documentary Heritage of Myanmar through the UNESCO Memory of the World (MOW) Programme has begun.

The project will be completed with Myanmar during 2017 and will include a series of national level training workshops on developing nominations to the Memory of the World registers, a national survey of documentary heritage, as well as a publication and accompanying exhibition on the country’s rich documentary heritage.

Read more about this project on the UNESCO Bangkok website.

Safeguarding Documentary Heritage in Asia and the Pacific

UNESCO and the Government of Malaysia have successfully held a stakeholder meeting for the project entitled ‘Safeguarding the Documentary Heritage of LDCs and SIDS in Southeast Asia through the UNESCO Memory of the World (MoW) Programme’. More information on this important project is available here.

A detailed plan has been developed and can be accessed here.

The photo shows Mr. Andrew Henderson, consultant for UNESCO, presenting  a copy of ‘Memory of the World Documentary Heritage in Asia and the Pacific’ to Dr. Yasmeen Yasim, Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Government of Malaysia.

 

Coffee Table Book

Coffee table book

Coffee table book

A new MOWCAP publication “Memory of the World Documentary Heritage in Asia and the Pacific” is now available. This beautifully presented book covers the documentary heritage from the region that was inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World register and/or the Asia Pacific register from 1997 to 2012.

A good book to buy as a gift for those who are interested in the history of the Asia Pacific region.

The book is available from the following sites www.book4us.com and www.superbookcity.com.

Safeguarding Documentary Heritage in Southeast Asia

UNESCO is implementing a programme in close cooperation with the National Heritage Department, Ministry of Tourism and Culture and the National Archives of Malaysia. The programme will result in the creation of a Southeast Asian/ASEAN ‘action plan’ for the implementation of the UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Preservation of, and Access to Documentary Heritage, including in Digital Form (2015).

The aim of the project is to support the safeguarding of the significant doumentary heritage of Southeast Asia, with a particular focus on Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) through the implementation of the Memory of the World programme and the UNESCO Recommendation. A detailed plan has been developed and can be accessed here.