The Permanencia Voluntaria Film Archive (based in Tepoztlán), the only independent film archive in Mexico specializing in the collection and preservation of popular films, was in the epicenter of the 7.1 magnitude earthquake that shook Mexico City, Puebla, and Tepoztlán on September 19, 2017. The archive focuses on pioneers in important film genres such as the Rumberas, Luchadores, and Ficheras, and houses unique materials not found anywhere else, including movie posters, documents, and promotional items. Much of its collection as well as the structure of the building itself was heavily damaged. While this unforeseen rupture raises many practical demands as to the possibilities of repair it also provokes questions with regard to nature/culture aspects of film histories that are intertwined with cultural and political narratives.
The 311 Documentary Film Archive, launched in November 2014 and part of the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival (YIDFF), collects, preserves, and distributes (worldwide) documentary films and their production materials that address the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011. The archive and the bilingual online database act as a referential site for responses and reflections on 311, becoming a space for future learning about the disaster and the process of recovery for citizens.
Overall this panel will address how disaster might inscribe itself in archival constellations, challenge concepts of collecting and preserving, and become an impetus for new archival sites as places of repair and the production of futures.
Viviana García Besné is a filmmaker, historian, archivist, cinema director, and co-founder of the Permanencia Voluntaria film archive in Tepoztlán, outside Mexico City.
Ayumi Hata is director of the YIDFF 311 Documentary Film Archive, International Competition Coordinator for the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival (YIDFF) since 2011.
All panels, talks, and presentations in English language.
