Date: 18 June 2012, Mon
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: The Pod, National Library Building (Level 16), 100 Victoria Street Singapore 188064

Entry is free by registration.

Synopsis of Programme
If you are a filmmaker, film student, film enthusiast or film collector and would like to find out more on how to care for your materials, prevent them from further deterioration, and cope with the preservation of ever changing digital formats, this talk is for YOU. Join us in a casual dialogue session with Mr. Ray Edmondson, one of the most knowledgeable and highly respected audiovisual archivists in the world.

How can your collections, film projects, related materials like rushes, photos, music, scripts etc be archived in a proper way? Will film be lost forever as digital formats dominate the film industry? Are digital formats vulnerable? Are your current practices sufficient and suitable for long-term archival of your materials? Ray will share with you his expertise and experiences and answer all your questions on the developments and preservation of film and audiovisual materials in both analogue and digital formats.

Biodata of RAY EDMONDSON
After graduating in Arts and Librarianship at the University of New South Wales, Ray joined the Film Section of the National Library of Australia in 1968. In 1973, he established and led its new Film Archive Unit, becoming the overall head of the Library's Film Section in 1978. Described as the 'moving spirit' behind the creation of the National Film and Sound Archive in 1984, he served as its Deputy Director until 2001, when he was endowed as its first honorary Curator Emeritus. During his public service career, he devised and led corporately funded film restorations and pioneering programs like The Last Film Search and Operation Newsreel. Ray currently runs Archive Associates Pty Ltd with his wife, Sue.

His service as chair or board member of various professional or community organisations is wide ranging and include The Federation Line Inc., Music Roll Australia, Archive Forum and the Friends of the National Film and Sound Archive. Internationally, he served as the inaugural President of SEAPAVAA (South East Asia Pacific Audiovisual Archive Association) from 1996 to 2002 and ex-officio Council member, as Past President, until 2008. He presently co-chairs AMIA's (Association of Moving Image Archivists) Advocacy Task Force. Since 1996, he has been involved in UNESCO's Memory of the World Program, authoring its current General Guidelines, and presently serves on its national, regional and international committees.

Ray writes, advises, speaks and constantly travels internationally and his regular teaching commitments have included the professional audiovisual archiving courses offered by Charles Sturt University (Australia), University of East Anglia (UK) and the George Eastman House School of Film Preservation (USA). His latest monograph, Audiovisual Archiving: Philosophy and Principles, was published by UNESCO in 2004.

His interests include animation and comic strips, and mechanical music. He has recently completed his doctoral project at the University of Canberra.

In 1987, Ray was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for his work in audiovisual archiving. In 2003, he received the AMIA Silver Light Award for his outstanding career achievements. In 2008 he was elected NSW Pioneer of the Year by the Australian Society of Cinema Pioneers. SEAPAVAA conferred Ray with the SEAPVAA Lifetime Achievement Award and SEAPAVAA Fellowship for exceptional contribution in audiovisual archiving in the region in 2010, and in the same year he received the Distinguished Achievement Award of the Australian Society of Archivists.

Acknowledgements
The Asian Film Archive would like to thank Mr. Ray Edmondson for sharing his experience and expertise.

To register, please email info@asianfilmarchive.org with the subject heading "Talk on 18 June" and provide your full name and email contact.


 

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