By Joyce Ann L. Rocamora
MANILA – Film scholars and archivists are rallying stronger support for the preservation of old films and audiovisual material in the Philippines and across Southeast Asia.
The call was made on Thursday during the Philippine-led Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Film and Television Summit 2026 at Seda Manila Bay, which gathered industry leaders and producers from across the region, including South Korea, France, Japan, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Mongolia, Malaysia, and Laos.
In the Philippines alone, University of the Philippines Film Institute associate professor Patrick Campos said there is still no dedicated statute to establish a national audio-visual archive, with preservation efforts only existing as a project under many development agencies or a program sustained on annual appropriations.
“A film archive needs custody measured in decades and not in years because Philippine cinema is now over 100 years old,” he said.
Campos also cited the need to strengthen both institutions and film education to sustain what he called “archival relay,” or the chain of work that keeps a film alive, from preservation to public access.
He then encouraged stakeholders to establish an archival network on a regional level instead of building one central vault to own said materials.
“National archives are important, but we can begin thinking about a vital regional archival network, endeavoring to care for a regional and not just national memory,” he added.
The summit, slated for Aug. 13-14, is organized by the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) in collaboration with the Asian Film Alliance Network (AFAN).
It aims to foster dialogue and possible collaborative initiatives to strengthen the Asian screen ecosystem and drive conversation on film archiving and education.
“Right now, what we are doing is understanding each other as human beings as expressed in the language of film, in the language of media, and more so in the language of communality,” Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) Chairperson Jose Javier Reyes.
“It is finding our unity through media that we find ourselves as Asians as well… Let us see the importance of media so that we may truly promote mutual understanding and, hopefully, peace.”
At a post-summit session press conference, Reyes said the Philippines hopes the summit would lead to the creation of an “Asian bloc of creatives dedicated to film.”
“By knowing each other, it leads us to understand, cooperate, and collaborate,” he said.
“It is with the hope that with the various opportunities for conversation and discussion, these countries –in terms of their cinematic projects, in terms of policies– will get together and create a more solid and sustainable Asian bloc of creatives.”
Also gracing the event are First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, Negros Occidental Rep. Javi Benitez, and famed director National Artist Kidlat Tahimik, among other dignitaries. (PNA)
