25th SEAPAVAA Conference opens in Hanoi

The 25th South East Asia-Pacific Audio Visual Archive Association (SEAPAVAA) Conference, with the theme “AV Archiving in Changing Times: Successes, Failures, and Challenges”, opened in Hanoi, on June 23.

Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ta Quang Dong speaks at the opening ceremony of the 25th SEAPAVAA Conference. (Photo:VGP)
Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ta Quang Dong speaks at the opening ceremony of the 25th SEAPAVAA Conference. (Photo:VGP)

Hosted by the Vietnam Film Institute and taking place both online and face-to-face in Hanoi, it sees the participation of leaders and delegates from member countries and territories of the SEAPAVAA.

In her opening remarks, SEAPAVAA President Karen Chan said that 2020 and 2021 have been challenging times for archival and heritage agencies due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. For archivists, operations have been turned upside down as they have to deal with unknown and unexpected situations.

The theme of this conference is to promote agencies, organisations and units to continue to be persistent and innovative in digital image archiving activities, in order to persist in the current context and have rare documentary footage to show online, creating inspiration for the community, she added.

Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ta Quang Dong affirmed that Vietnam always attaches great importance to the work of archiving, preserving and promoting film heritage. In recent times, the Vietnam Film Institute - an active member of SEAPAVAA, has made constant efforts to fulfill the task of archiving, preserving and promoting the value of moving image material in Vietnam.

Hosting the annual conference on the Silver Jubilee anniversary of SEAPAVAA is a great honour for Vietnam, giving the country a chance to show its international commitment, and making a valuable contribution to the association’s activities.

The 25th conference of SEAPAVAA will run until June 27. This is the first time the conference has been held virtually. A number of sideline activities will be held, including an exhibition of moving images on Vietnamese tourism and a Vietnamese film screening.

SEAPAVAA was founded in 1996 in Manila, the Philippines, with its annual conference held in a rotational format by its members.

As a founding member of the association, the Vietnam Film Institution has hosted three conferences in 1998, 2004 and 2012.