The National Film Institute has an urgent situation at hand.
The film collection in the archives is deteriorating.
Film archivist, Michelle Baru, said Brian Bell has responded by sending their technician to assist.
“The functions of the National Film Institute are clearly defined in Section 21 of the National Cultural Commission Act 1994. In practical daily terms, the NFI’s primary mission is in producing films and video documenting Papua New Guinea’s rich and diverse cultural heritage, and to actively engage in fostering the growth of a Melanesian Film Culture and Industry,” Ms Baru explained.
Apart from these functions, the National Film Institute has been tasked by the government to develop and maintain an audio visual archive - the repository for the future National Film, Television & Sound Archives – for the collection, restoration and preservation of “moving Images”.
“…by which we mean images recorded on either film or electronic media, as a resource for future generations and as a potential revenue earner,” she said.
Ms Baru, who is also Acting Director of NFI, said at present NFI is carrying out its functions on a rental property at the NBC Radio Eastern Highlands because reconstruction to its offices and studio complex remain incomplete.
She is seriously concerned that the institution is losing some of PNG’s history captured on video.
The National Film Institute is a semi-autonomous institution funded by the state and administered by PNG’s National Cultural Commission.
It was established by an Act of Parliament in 1994 when it effectively replaced the former Skul Bilong Wokim Piksa.
“Brian Bell is helping us with air-conditioning support just until we can get the films digitised,” she said.
NFI at present cannot meet its task set by the government in developing and maintaining an archive of National Film, Television and Sound when archival facilities have not improved over the past eight years with continuous power outages.
“The continuous power outages in Goroka make it almost impossible to maintain an ambient temperature and humidity in the Archive that materials are beginning to rot,” Ms Baru pointed out.
She said known materials in the collection provide invaluable records of PNG’s modern history, culture and a society experiencing rapid social change, both before and after Independence.
She hopes the situation can be fixed immediately because much of the content of this collection remains unknown and because of its perilous condition, needs the attention of preservation and restoration specialists before it can be fully identified.