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🇦🇺 Australia /Culture & Society

Race against time to save Papua New Guinea's film heritage

From ABC Australia · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Context piece
  • Papua New Guinea's National Film Institute is racing against time to preserve over 1,300 film reels and tapes documenting the nation's history.
  • Unreliable power, heat, humidity, and flooding threaten the fragile collection, with some films suffering from acetate decay.
  • An urgent partnership with Australia's National Film and Sound Archive, funded by a $200,000 grant, is digitizing the films and training local staff.

Papua New Guinea's National Film Institute (NFI) is engaged in a critical race against time to safeguard its invaluable collection of over 1,300 film reels and tapes. These films represent the rich history and heritage of the island nation, but they are at risk of being lost forever.

It's a race against time.

— Zoe BaruFilm archivist Zoe Baru described the urgency of preserving Papua New Guinea's film collection.

Film archivist Zoe Baru described the situation as "a race against time." The NFI, located in Goroka, faces significant challenges. Unreliable power supplies create storage issues, and rising temperatures due to climate change exacerbate the problem. Humid conditions and a history of flooding have further compromised the fragile film collection, leading to deterioration and a pungent "vinegar syndrome," a type of acetate film decay.

An urgent partnership with the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), supported by a $200,000 cultural diplomacy grant, has provided a lifeline. Culturally significant films have been carefully selected, packed, and transported to Australia for assessment, cleaning, and digitization. NFSA staff also provided crucial training to NFI personnel in Canberra.

Our power supply sometimes is unreliable, so … storage becomes an issue.

— Zoe BaruMs. Baru explained the challenges faced by the National Film Institute in Goroka.

"The collection was at risk, but also the institution was really looking for ways to support their staff in caring for the collection," said NFSA deputy chief executive Jacqui Uhlmann. A specially designed Remote Onsite Digital Access (RODA) studio was sent to Goroka, enabling NFI staff to have ongoing access to the digitized material on-site. Ms. Baru expressed profound gratitude, calling the partnership transformative and admitting the scale of the task leaves her speechless at times. She emphasized that archiving is a "forever job" requiring continuous effort to sustain the collections.

With climate change, the place is getting hotter.

— Zoe BaruMs. Baru highlighted the impact of environmental factors on film preservation.

Despite the progress, challenges remain for the NFI, including funding security and the sheer volume of content yet to be digitized. Ms. Baru highlighted the immense responsibility on her and the practices she establishes, as the collection's survival depends entirely on them. The project, which involved transporting film carriers to the island, represents a vital effort to maintain Papua New Guinea's memory for future generations.

When I first started, there were already signs of our film deteriorating and the vinegar syndrome, it was just pungent.

— Zoe BaruMs. Baru described the physical state of some of the film reels upon her arrival.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by ABC Australia in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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