The Global Audiovisual Archiving Conference: Building Alliances (GAVA) is an international collaborative event and outreach program that aims to foster an international network around AV community archives from parts of the world that have historically been left out of mainstream archival discussions. GAVA will bring together archival specialists from across Canada and around the world with a wide range of expertise, experience, and engagement with media archives at an equally wide variety of scales. The discussions, presentations, screenings, video series, workshops, and tours that comprise this project will largely focus on community archives and archival projects by activists and artists. The focus on marginalized audiovisual archives, as emphasized by Caswell (2022), is imperative and directly linked to the urgency of the current situation.
Click here to download a PDF copy of the current version of the conference schedule.
Registration will open in late May. For online attendees, the schedule times below are listed in EST.
July 11, 2024 - Toronto Metropolitan University
Opening Reception
Come join us for a screening and an opening reception at Toronto Metropolitan University (122 Bond St, Toronto, ON M5B 1E9)! Toronto Metropolitan University is home to the Film+Photography Preservation and Collections Management M.A., which provides students with a two-year comprehensive education in the theory, history, practice, and methods of still and moving image preservation.
Schedule:
3:00-4:00 PM, Open house of TMU Film and Photo Preservation facilities
4:00-5:00 PM, Welcome reception, TMU Image Arts Lobby
5:00-7:00 PM, Screening: La opción cero (directed by Marcel Beltrán, 2020), followed by a Q&A with the director, TMU Image Arts 307 auditorium
July 12, 2024 - TIFF Lightbox
9:00-9:30 AM, Opening remarks from presenting partners
- Welcome to GAVA! Land acknowledgment and introduction by our presenting partners: TIFF, Eye Filmmuseum, and Archive/Counter-Archive.
- Keith Bennie (Toronto International Film Festival)
- Giovanna Fossati (The Eye Filmmuseum)
- Janine Marchessault (Archive/Counter-Archive)
9-30-10:45 AM, Panel: On the Challenges of Building Archival Alliances Across Geographic Contexts
Moderator: Monika Kin Gagnon (Concordia University)
- Stefanie Schulte Strathaus (Arsenal - Institute for Film and Video Art). “Archive Work as a Collaborative Practice of Learning and Unlearning.”
- Juana Suárez (New York University). “Understanding the Bureaucratic Scaffold: Tips for ‘Saving Global South Archives’.”
- Judith Opoku-Boateng (University of Ghana). “Strengthening African Audiovisual Archives: Embracing Intracontinental Linkages.”
- Amrita Biswas (Goethe University, Frankfurt). “Restoring Jalsaghar: the Geo-Cultural Politics of Saving Cinema.”
10:45-12:00 PM, Roundtable: Community, Connection and Adversity - AV Archiving in Southeast Asia, Asia and the Pacific
Moderator: Martino Cipriani (RMIT Vietnam)
- Julie Ann Nealega (Probe Archives, Probe Productions Incorporated – Philippines)
- Brenda Danker (Arkib Filem Rakyat, Malaysia)
- Nathaniel Majaw (The Northeast India AV Archive)
- Michelle Baru Toro (National Film Institute of Papua New Guinea)
12:00-1:00 PM, Lunch
- A light lunch will be provided to registered attendees
1:00-2:30 PM, Screening: Queer Toronto on Cable: This Show May Be Offensive to Heterosexuals (1978-1979)
Moderator: Andrew Burke (University of Winnipeg)
- Screening and archival intervention presented by Axelle Demus (York University)
2:30-4:00 PM, Panel: Crossing Fonds to Enhance Access and Support Interpretation
Moderator: Andrew Burke (University of Winnipeg)
- Sara Diamond (OCAD) “Why Cross Fonds?”
- Karen Knights (VIVO Media Arts Centre) and Sara Diamond (OCAD). “Serving up Feminism: How AV Enriches Labour Archives Across Collections and Decades.”
- Melanie Hardbattle (Simon Fraser University). “Bringing Past Voices Into Future Dialogues: Exploring New Methods of Archival Access and Activation.”
- Andrea Fatona (OCAD). “Bridging the Gap: Co-creating Black Presence in the Archives.”
- Dana Claxton (University of British Columbia). “IMAGeNation in the Archive: NDN'S and FONDS.”
4:00-4:45 PM, Break
4:45-6:30 PM, Show and Tell 1: Political Histories
Moderator: Floris Paalman (University of Amsterdam)
- Nada El-Omari (Independent filmmaker, Canada). “Momentum”
- Dimitrios Latsis (University of Alabama). “Partnering with Communities in Audiovisual Archiving Pedagogy.”
- Lalu Esra Ozban (University of California, Santa Cruz). “Trans Suices are Political: Zirve Soylu.”
- Nathan Alves (Nova University of Lisbon and Center for Research in Anthropology). “The Kozak's Images Against Genocide: The Restitution of the Films and Photographs to the Xetá Indigenous People.”
- Julia Minne (Cinémathèque Québécoise and Université de Montréal). “Reactivate the archives of the feminist collective Vidéo Femmes.”
6:30-7:30 PM, Dinner (not provided)
7:30-9:00 PM, Evening screening: Yugantar
Moderator: Floris Paalman (University of Amsterdam)
- Film and archival project presented by Markus Ruff (Arsenal – Institute for Film and Video Art). Film by the Yuguntar collective (India).
- Screenings: MOLKARIN (Maid Servant, 1981); TAMBAKU CHAAKILA OOB ALI (Tobacco Embers, 1982) ; IDHI KATHA MATRAMENA (Is this just a Story?, 1983).
July 13, 2024 - TIFF Lightbox
9:00-10:30 AM, Roundtable: Data Loss and the Archival Struggle: A Focus on Nigeria
Moderator: Aboubakar Sanogo (Carleton University)
- Didi Cheeka (Lagos Film Society)
- Nancy King (University of Jos)
- Ali Nuhu Mohammed (Nigerian Film Corporation)
- Stefanie Schulte Strathaus (Arsenal - Institute for Film and Video Art)
- Vinzenz Hediger (Goethe Universität Frankfurt)
10:30-12:30 PM, Show and Tell 2: Artistic Interventions
Moderator: Michael Zryd (York University)
- Marcel Beltrán (Independent filmmaker, Cuba). “Codex República: A Film Essay on Cuba’s Unseen Cinematic History.”
- Jennifer Dysart (Independent filmmaker, Canada). “Restriction, Impulse and Intention: Reflections on the Archival Origins of Brimming.”
- Yasmine Benabdallah (University of California, Santa Cruz). “With and Against the Archive: Building a Decolonial Collective in Morocco
- Asha Tamirisa (Bates College). “Counter-Archiving the Avant-Garde: Digital Communal Archiving.”
- Mahardika Yudha (Independent curator, Indonesia). “Kultursinema As a Method of Experience History and Film Archives in Indonesia.”
- Mikhel Proulx (Queen's University). “Tryleather.net and the Collaborative Performance Art Archive of Margaret Dragu.”
12:30-1:45 PM, Lunch: A light lunch will be provided to registered attendees
1:45-3:15 PM, Lightning Talks 1
Moderator: Janine Marchessault (York University)
Feminist, queer, and decolonial interventions in the archives
- Laura Horak (Carleton). “Audiovisual Archives as (Anti-)Trans Technologies”
- Lola Rémy (McGill). “Solidarity Networks Across Small Archives: The Affective Labour of Chelsea Spengemann.”
- Brett Lougheed and Albert McLeod (Two-Spirit Archives at the University of Winnipeg). “In Our Own Words: Two-Spirit Oral Histories.”
- Allison Elliott (The Feminist Institute). “The Feminist Institute’s Pop-Up Memory Lab: An Exploration of Participatory Archival Spaces.”
Counter-archival practices: new approaches to preservation and collaboration
- Joshua Ng and Callum Booth-Lewis (Archives New Zealand). “Preserving New Zealand's Audiovisual Heritage: The Utaina Project.”
- Paula Albuquerque (Gerrit Rietveld Academie, University of Applied Science). “Glitching the Archive Decolonizing and Anarchiving Proto-Surveillance in Former Colonies.”
- Diego Cavallotti (University of Cagliari). “Transarchive: A New Epistemological Model For Social Movement Archives.”
- Michael Marlatt (York University). “Archivist/Curator/Student/User: Creating a Global Audiovisual Archival Disability Network.”
- Deb Verhoeven (University of Alberta), Madeleine Mendell (Independent Media Archivist) and Mél Hogan (Queen’s University). “We Are All Archives Now: DNA and Moving Image Storage.”
3:15-4:15 PM, Break
4:15-5:15 PM, Panel: Latin American Kinships for Film Preservations
Moderator: Stacy Allison-Cassin (Dalhousie University)
- Isabel Wschebor Pellegrino (Universidad de la República, Uruguay). “Independent Audiovisual Preservation in Uruguay: LAPA - Audiovisual Preservation Laboratory.”
- Lorena Best Urday (Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas). “You Again, Miss? María Barea and Warmi Cine y Video”
- Carolina Cappa (Elias Querejeta Zine Eskola, Spain). “Collective Films Preserved Collectively: On the “Second Hand” Project.”
5:15-6:30 PM, Roundtable: Collaboration and Digitisation: Two Way Learning and Sharing, Creating a Culturally Led Co-design
Moderator: Stacy Allison-Cassin (Dalhousie University)
- Gillian Moody (National Film and Sound Archive)
- Tasha James (Australian Broadcasting Corporation Archives)
- Diat Alferink (Torres Strait Islander Media Association)
- Michelle Baru Toro (National Film Institute, Papua New Guinea)
6:30-7:30 PM, Dinner (not provided)
7:30-9:00 PM, Evening screening: WINHANGANHA
Moderator: Stacy Allison-Cassin (Dalhousie University)
- Film and archival project presented by Meagan Loader (National Film and Sound Archive of Australia) with a hybrid Q&A with the director Jazz Money (Independent artist and filmmaker) after the screening.
July 14, 2024 - TIFF Lightbox
9:00-10:30 AM, Lightning Talks 2:
Moderator: Anne Gant (Eye Filmmuseum)
Archives of humanitarian organization and displacement
- María Fernanda Carrillo (Escuela Nacional de Artes Cinematográficas, UNAM). “Reparation Documentary as a Process: Archives and Collaborative Cinema at Bojayá, Colombia.”
- Suzanne Langlois (York University) “The Early United Nations’ Films: A Fragile Heritage.”
Remediating and reactivating archives
- Kofi Ofosu-Yeboah (Archives at Aburi, Ghana). “SELF-CURATE (And Artist-First Approach to Memory and Imagination).”
- Lucy Szemetová (University of St Andrews). “(Re)mediated Realities of the Balázs Béla Stúdio and its Archiving.”
- Nazli Akhtari (University of Waterloo). “Remixing the Qajar Archives.”
- Kimberly Tarr (New York University). “Nearly a Half-Century Later: Reactivating Chinese Cable TV (CCTV).”
- Chantal Partamian (Knowledge Workshop - Beirut, Lebanon). “Archiving LBTQ Narratives in Lebanon: Challenges, Ethics, and Future Preservation in the case of Meem.”
10:30-12:00 PM, Roundtable: Timok Digital - A Model for International Community-Centered Archiving in the Balkans
Moderator: Theo Xenophontos (York University)
- Kelli Shay Hix (BAVC Media in San Francisco)
- Marie Lascu (Independent audiovisual archivist, Community Archiving Workshop (CAW))
- Siobhan C. Hagan (Smithsonian Institution's Audiovisual Media Preservation Initiative)
- Vesna Madžoski (Independent scholar, SKVER)
- Mikica Andrejić (Independent photographer, SKVER)
- Biljana Milenkovic (Library of Congress, Washington)
12:00-1:00 PM, Lunch: A light lunch will be provided to registered attendees
1:00-2:00 PM, Panel: Displaced and Dispersed Film Heritage: Refiguring Global Audiovisual Archiving
Moderator: Giovanna Fossati (Eye Filmmusem)
- Farah Clementine Dramani Issifou (Harvard). “Restituting African Film Heritage.”
- Nikolaus Perneczky (Queen Mary University of London). “'The Diaspora of African Film History': Tracing the Dispersed Archive of Paulin Soumanou Vieyra.”
- Grazia Ingravalle. (Queen Mary University of London).”Beyond Archival Evidence: Theorising the Intermedial, Accidental, Transnational and Digitally Networked Colonial Film Archive.”
2:00-3:15 PM, Panel: Echoes of Conflict: Retracing Transnational Histories through Sonic and Photographic Remains
Moderator: Giovanna Fossati (Eye Filmmusem)
- Carolyn Birdsall (University of Amsterdam). “Collaborative Approaches to Transnational Conflict Heritage: Nazi Recorded Sound Collections after 1945.”
- Nkholedzeni Sidney Netshakhuma (University of Cape Town). “The Repatriation of Displaced Radio Recordings Archive After the Apartheid.”
- Nicole Cartier Barrera (Independent curator and researcher, Colombia). “Thresholds of Liberty and Democracy.”
3:15-4:00 PM, Break
4:00-5:45 PM, Panel: Forging Connections: On the Mobility and Malleability of Europe's LGBTQ+ Archives
Moderator: Giovanna Fossati (Eye Filmmusem)
Panel
- Eliza Steinbock (Maastricht University). “Artistic Participation in Archives: Promoting and Propagating Trans Media and Film Cultures.”
- Glyn Davis (University of St Andrews). “On the Stewardship of Queer and Trans Collections.”
- Sandro Weilenmann (Maastricht University). “Cool Raves: Archiving and Reactivating Queer and Trans Dance Culture in Contemporary Art”
Screening
- Drew de Pinto (Independent filmmaker, USA). “Compton's’22”
5:45-7:40 PM, Roundtable: Minor Archives and Radical Distribution Networks in the Americas: Problems and Proposals for Alliances
Moderator: Paul Moore (Toronto Metropolitan University)
- Amalia Córdova (Smithsonian Institution's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage)
- Tamara de Szegheo Lang (Queen's University)
- Lesley Ann Foster (Queen's University)
- Susan Lord (Queen's University)
- Gabriel Menotti (Queen's University)
- Juana Suárez (New York University)
- Darien Sánchez Nicolás (Queen's University)
- Zaira Zarza (Université de Montréal)
7:40-8:00 PM, Closing Remarks
July 15, 2024 - Various archives around Toronto
Join us for a tour of selected Toronto-based AV archives coordinated by Cléo Sallis-Parchet and Theo Xenophontos.
Registration: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/gava-media-archives-tour-tickets-914059014117
10:00-11:00 AM Tour of the ArQuives, Canada’s LGBTQ2+ Archives
11:00-11:30 AM Travel by subway to the University of Toronto
11:30-12:30 PM Tour of the Media Commons Archives
12:30-2:00 PM Lunch/personal time/travel time (lunch not provided)
2:00-3:00 PM Tour of the TIFF Film Reference Library
3:00-3:30 PM Travel by foot or streetcar to Vtape
3:30-6:00 PM Tour of Vtape and Closing reception in the Commons.