FIAT/IFTA announced a special fund to save endangered AV archives on the 2013 UNESCO World Day for AV Heritage, and announced it support for NARSSA National Archives and Records Service of South Africa - The “Rivonia trial” sound records, including rare and endangered recordings of Nelson Mandela.

1. « SAVE YOUR ARCHIVE », a FIAT/IFTA program
Dominique Saintville (Ina)
Mette Charis Buchman (DR)
Théo Maüsli (RSI)

3. FIAT/IFTA
Save your Archive
UNESCO
World Day for AV Heritage

4. Sharing the same vision
• Raise awareness about the value and the
vulnerability of the audio visual heritage
• Save the world audio visual heritage
• Take action!
« Start saving a few endangered archives »

5. Do not wait, take action!
« Start saving endangered archives »
• It reflects our vision of
FIAT/IFTA as a
networked, united,
professional community

6. Save your Archive
• A FIAT/IFTA program
– Announced last year at the WC in London
– Intended to support a few well defined projects focused on
preservation, digitization, valorization of archival content
– By various means : professional advice, equipment,
training, funding
• All details are available at http://fiatifta.org/save-yourarchive/
– Guidelines
– Application Template

7. « Save your Archive »
The outcome of FIAT/IFTA previous initiatives
• Madagascar / FL@H, 2011/2012
• a successfull experience of saving an endangered archive
• Involving FIAT/IFTA and its members
• FL@H:
• An independant archive preserving and digitizing the film and
video heritage of Madagascar
• Thanks to the French cooperation

8. The FL@H story
• FL@H was running out of money to pay the
wages and the electricity
• FL@H President alerted the FIAT/IFTA EC in 2011
• At the Torino Conference, a partnership was set
ut – FIAT/IFTA, OIF, Ina, ORTN and Memnon - to
gather the necesary resources to relaunch the
activity and secure a sustainable development
• At the London confrence the progress made were
reported
• And more progresses have been made since …

9. Save your Archive Resources
• A special fund is established from the FIAT/IFTA regular
budget
– thanks to an efficient management of FIAT/IFTA income
– 2013 budget
• A dedicated team of FIAT/IFTA volunteers:
– Mette Charis Buchman (DR), Théo Maeusli (RTS), Roberto
Rossetto (RAI), Brid Dooley (RTE), Dominique Saintville (Ina)
– And the Ina advisers: Jean Varra, Camille Martin, Jean Gabriel
Minel

10. Agenda
2012
• September 30th: Program is announced
2013
• May 1st: Call for projects is issued
• September 1st: Twelve applications received
• September & October: Projects assessed & selected
• October 27th: Four selected projects announced
• November: Agreements signed. A FIAT/IFTA volunteer
appointed
2014
• September/October: Report back at the next FIAT/IFTA
WC

11. Selection criteria
The collection at risk
–
–
–
–
Vulnerability
Value, significance
Copyright
Accessibility
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
The project
Specificity
Feasibility
Cost & budget
Impact
Organization support
Partners & Sponsors
Replicability
Diversity

12. Selected projects
• Madagascar / Fl@h / Valorization of archive
content
• Romania / TVR / Preservation & Digitization of
a historical collection – the 1989 Revolution
• South Africa /National Archives / Digitization
of the Sound Recordings of the Nelson
Mandela’s trial
• Zimbabwe / National Archives / Preparation of
the film archive digitization plan

13. « Save your Archive » in 2014?
• Same agenda as in 2013
• Budget allocation has been decided

15. Madagascar
Valorizing the unique FL@H Archive

17. THE LIVE ROMANIAN
REVOLUTION
An endangered collection at the
Romanian Television Archive

18. ROMANIA, DECEMBER 1989
” The Romanian Revolution was a series of riots and
protests in Romania in December 1989. These
were part of the Revolutions of 1989 that
occurred in several Warsaw Pact countries. The
Romanian Revolution resulted in the violent
overthrow and execution of longtime Romanian
Communist Party leader Nicolae Ceauşescu, and
the end of 42 years of Communist rule in
Romania”
WiKIPEDIA

19. THE LIVE ROMANIAN REVOLUTION
• Key moments from the fall of the communist era
in Romania (december 1989)
• A collection in The Romanian Television Archive
• 400 h of footage (100 h broadcasted live) –
advanced state of degradation
• Restore, preserve, digitalize and make accessible
• under the leadership of Georgiana-Irina Negrara
Lazar, Head of Archive

20. WHY GRANTED HELP?
•
•
•
•
•
An important collection
An endangered collection
A collection that will/can be made accessible
A collection with an impact on the world
The project/application is smart
–
–
–
–
–
Specific
Measurable
Ambitious
Realistic
Timely

22. South Africa
NARSSA/NFVSA – National Archives
The “Rivonia trial” sound recordings

23. NFVSA
National Film, Video
and Sound Archive of
South Africa

24. The Dictabelt Collection
• NFVSA holds a collection of 8.000 dictabelts
• Dictabelts were used to record proceedings during Court
cases, between 50’s to early 70’s
• The most well known case is the Rivonia trial

25. Rivonia trial
The Rivonia trial
The Rivonia archive material
• Rivonia, a suburb of
Johannesburg where ANC
(African National Congress)
leaders were arrested
• Nelson Mandela and the ANC
leaders charged with acts of
sabotage
• The trial took place in Pretoria
(Nov. 1963 - June 1964)
• A turning point in the struggle
against the apartheid
•
•
•
•
Court audio recordings
550 dictabelts x 30 min
Rare playback dictaphones
Only 7 dictabelts have been
digitized (British Library, 2001)
• Nelson Mandela final address

26. An invaluable collection
• It is part of South Africa collective memory
• It is listed in the UNESCO’s Memory of the World
Register
• The project is part of the Commemoration of the
Rivonia Trial
• So far the collection is not accessible

27. The archive material :
dictabelts, dictaphones

28. Dictabelts, descriptions, folders

29. The NFVSA project
• General goal
– digitize and give access to the Rivonia records
– preserve this material for posterity
– In the longer term: save the complete dictabelt collection
• Specific request to FIAT/IFTA for 2013/2014
– Start the digitization of the Rivonia records by supporting the
digitization of a first sub collection of one hundred dictabelts
• Approached partners
– Ina

30. Building an international partnership
to save the Rivonia records
Process
• Digitization & restauration tests
– INA & French service
provider
• Preparation of the documents by
NFVSA
• Digital preservation in France
• Restauration
• Documentation
• Valorization
Playback machine used for tests:
“Archeophone”

31. Nelson Mandela’s final address
on 20th April 1964
•
•
“During my lifetime I have dedicated
myself to this struggle of the African
people. I have fought against white
domination, and I have fought
against black domination. I have
cherished the ideal of a democratic
and free society in which all persons
live together in harmony and with
equal opportunities. It is an ideal
which I hope to live for and to
achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal
for which I am prepared to die.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T
PrdWWj6dro