12,500 films and documentaries at risk in mozambican archive

Moçambique faces difficulties in preserving its audiovisual heritage, with about 12,500 films and documentaries in the national archive at risk, requiring better conservation conditions, including cooling and digitization, said today responsible for the sector.

The collection is kept at the National Institute of Cultural and Creative Industries (INICC) and includes records of the colonial period, the creation of the Mozambican State and the years after independence. According to the director-general of the institution, Roberto Dove, many of these materials are over 50 years old and subject to deterioration.

“Our priority is that we can effectively create conditions, especially the issue of file cooling,” Roberto said. Give it to journalists, explaining that high temperatures accelerate film deterioration and compromise the conservation of historical records.

In addition to the conditions of conservation of the existing collection in the country, the authorities seek to identify and recover Mozambican audiovisual materials found in foreign archives and museums. According to the person responsible, there are still no exact figures on the size of this heritage, which is intended to recover or make accessible to Mozambicans by digital means.

In this process, the Spanish Cooperation and the Portuguese Cinemateca collaborate with the Mozambican authorities in identifying and digitizing documents. According to the person responsible, about 300 films and documentaries are being scanned in Lisbon, in an operation that depends on the availability of resources and technical conditions.

“ At the moment we are not yet able to digitize here,” Dove said, defending the creation of technical capacity in Mozambique to treat and preserve audiovisual materials.

The filmmaker Luís Manuel Simão, former director-general of production of the National Institute of Cinema, warned of the risk of loss of records recorded on films and old video tapes due to the lack of adequate equipment for their reproduction. Among the existing materials are images of official activities and visits made in the first years after independence.

Luís Manuel Simão defended the strengthening of technical means to allow digitization in the country, noting that part of the materials produced during the colonial period and in the following decades still needs to be identified and treated. The filmmaker recalled that some tapes were produced with old equipment, whose technology was no longer available.

“ We will probably lose much of this,” he warned, referring to the old video tapes that can no longer be played with the available equipment. The filmmaker stressed the importance of preserving these records to maintain the historical memory of the country and allow future generations to access images.

The statements were made during a round table under the theme “Mozambican Audiovisual Memory: Challenges of Preservation and Access”, promoted today by INICC in Maputo, under the World Audiovisual Heritage Day, marked on October 27. The initiative discussed the challenges of conservation, digitisation and recovery of historical materials.