Film Heritage Foundation

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Last edited March 27, 2021

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Film Heritage Foundation is a non-profit organization, based in Mumbai, India, dedicated to film preservation, restoration and archiving of India’s film heritage.[1] It was founded in 2014 by filmmaker, archivist and restorer Shivendra Singh Dungarpur.[2][3]

The foundation's aim is to preserve both films as well as film-related memorabilia, Out of 1338 silent films, just 29 survive, many only in fragments; and from the 250 films produced between 1931 and 1941, only 15 are in existence.[4][5] In 2015, the foundation raised funds for their film preservation and restoration workshop as well as from private businesses and Bollywood actors.[6]

The foundation also runs education and training programmes and regularly holds workshops on film conservation and preservation and restoration around the country.[7][8] In 2019, the foundation received the memorabilia of the Indian actor Raj Kapoor for preservation.[9] The foundation initiated an oral history project in 2018, in which it interviewed at length, for a permanent historical and cultural record, some of the most eminent film personalities of India, including Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Mani Ratnam, Amitabh Bachchan, Soumitra Chatterjee, Goutam Ghose and Aparna Sen.[10][11] The foundation in the past has been supported by Tata Trusts with a three-year grant in 2017 to provide scholarships for participants at their annual film preservation and restoration workshops.[12]

In 2015, Martin Scorsese’s The Film Foundation lent their support for Film Heritage Foundation’s first film preservation and restoration workshop in Mumbai. The foundation was accepted as an associate member of the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) at the General Assembly held in Sydney in April 2015 and Shivendra Singh Dungarpur was elected for a second term as a member of the Executive Committee of FIAF at the FIAF Congress in Lausanne in 2019.[13][14]

Preservation and archiving

Film collection

The foundation currently has around 500 titles on 35 mm, 16 mm, Super 8 and 8 mm formats. Besides feature films, the collections include important historical footage dating from the 1930s and ‘40s including footage of the freedom movement and rare home movies of the pre-Independence era that are preserved in a temperature-controlled storage facility.[15]

Non-film archive

The foundation also archive film-related memorabilia like posters, photographs, scripts, lobby cards, song booklets and artefacts of eminent film personalities.[16]

Training programmes

The foundation has been conducting week-long annual film preservation and restoration workshops in collaboration with the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) around the country since 2015 for creating awareness in major film centres.[17]

Other workshops

Film Heritage Foundation held the first in the series of short workshops in association with the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) and in collaboration with Nehru Science Centre (National Council of Science Museums, Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India) – “Film Preservation in Practice” – a two-day workshop with David Walsh and Mick Newnham on March 9 and 10, 2018. In March 2019, Film Heritage Foundation in association with FIAF and the Nepal Film Development Board conducted a workshop in Kathmandu to save Nepal’s Audiovisual Heritage.[18][19]

In July 2019, Film Heritage Foundation in collaboration with the National Film Corporation of Sri Lanka organized a 3-day paper and photograph conservation workshop in Sri Lanka. Andreas Weisser in February 2020 conducted a workshop in Mumbai for the preservation of audio and videotapes. The workshop had covered the history of audio and video technology (analogue and digital), degradation mechanisms, risk assessment, caretaking of equipment, storage requirements and optimization of storage facilities, conservation/restoration treatment methodologies and preparation for in-house or external digitalization projects.[20]

Film Heritage Foundation organized Reframing the Future of Film an event headlined by visual artist Tacita Dean and film director Christopher Nolan in 2018 in Mumbai.[21][22] The series of five events held over three days in Mumbai highlighted the necessity of preserving photochemical film in the digital age. This was the fourth iteration of the event held earlier at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, the Tate Modern in London and the Museo Tamayo in Mexico City.[23]

Oral history programme

Film Heritage Foundation (FHF) has partnered with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (AMPAS) known for the Oscars, for a pioneering visual history program following international practices of oral history for film heritage in India.

Publications

  • The Film Heritage Foundation launched their first book From Darkness Into Light: Perspectives on Film Preservation and Restoration, edited by Rajesh Devraj was published in 2015. It was the first-ever book dedicated to the topic of film preservation and restoration to have been published in India.
  • Their second book Yesterday’s Films For Tomorrow a compilation of the writings of India’s foremost film archivist by PK Nair was published in 2107.

Advisory council

References

  1. ↑ Film Heritage Foundation: Aims to ramp up film preservation & restoration in India | Business Standard News. Business-standard.com.
  2. ↑ https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/pk-nair-cinema-obituary/article8317562.ece
  3. ↑ Bring back the past!. Deccanchronicle.com.
  4. ↑ Viacom18, Film Heritage Foundation launch film preservation workshop | Business Standard News. Business-standard.com.
  5. ↑ https://www.thehindu.com/education/for-posterity-and-beyond/article20185509.ece
  6. ↑ Film Heritage Foundation gets corporate funds to preserve old Indian cinema - The Economic Times. Economictimes.indiatimes.com(2015-02-21).
  7. ↑ At Film Heritage Foundation’s workshops, experts from across the globe aim to give new life to India's iconic works, Bhattacharya, Suryasarathi. Firstpost.com(November 19, 2018).
  8. ↑ https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/movies/nagarjuna-and-amala-announce-film-heritage-foundation-s-film-preservation-restoration-workshop/article29219333.ece
  9. ↑ Memorabilia of Raj Kapoor films passed on to Film Heritage Foundation - entertainment. Mid-day.com(2019-09-25).
  10. ↑ On-camera accounts of legends who shaped Indian cinema to be archived - Times of India. The Times of India.
  11. ↑ The art of the unhurried interview. Livemint.com(2019-08-09).
  12. ↑ The guardians of India’s reel heritage - Transforming lives. Tata Trusts(2019-02-27).
  13. ↑ 30 yrs after PK Nair, Dungarpur elected to FIAF executive body, Chatterjee, Anupriya. Pune Mirror(May 11, 2017).
  14. ↑ The Preservation Man. www.dainikgomantak.com.
  15. ↑ A workshop on saving India’s cinema heritage to be held in Hyderabad. The Hindu(19 August 2019).
  16. ↑ A man's crusade to save India's cinematic heritage from decay. The Economic Times.
  17. ↑ A workshop on saving India’s cinema heritage to be held in Hyderabad. The Hindu(19 August 2019).
  18. ↑ Film preservationists suggest regional archives because of India’s diversity(12 March 2018).
  19. ↑ P is for preservation. The Hindu(7 March 2018).
  20. ↑ Saving Sri Lanka’s Film Heritage. Lanka Business News(7 March 2018).
  21. ↑ Christopher Nolan arrives in Mumbai - Times of India. The Times of India.
  22. ↑ Nolan will visit Mumbai, talk on cinema preservation. theweek.in.
  23. ↑ Christopher Nolan in India: Celluloid vs digital cinema debate rages on. The Hindu(2 April 2018).
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