About this lecture

Archives are historically related to the human memory, and film archives, since the mid-20th century, have functioned as guardians and conservators not only of moving image materials but also of memories, public and private, official and marginal. Now, the dramatic development of digital communications and media technologies – the proliferation of YouTube, Instagram, Til-Tok, etc. – have turned the internet into a fathomless receptacle and real-time vehicle of human experiences and memories. This prompts film archives to ponder their functions and respond to the new ways images and memories are recorded, stored, accessed and democratized by not any specific entity but by humanity as a whole. The talk will narrate the work of the Thai Film Archive and demonstrate its attempt to promote film history and knowledge through new digital channels and to stay relevant in this frantic age when the practice of archivism is at once mundane, elusive, and challenging.