#2: Juana Suárez (Audiovisual Preservation Exchange)

Conversation

In conversation with Chief Curator Giovanna Fossati, guest Juana Suárez addresses archival practices in Latin America, touching upon the importance of international collaborative programmes, non-institutional initiatives, and community archives. One such initiative is NYU's Audiovisual Preservation Exchange Program (APEX), which promotes international collaboration and enables audiovisual archival community members to exchange knowledge and skills.

In addition, Suárez presents the challenging Yuruparí restoration project, a 64-part documentary series on Colombian celebrations, religious practices, traditions, rituals, customs, and popular cultures, emphasizing indigenous and Afro-descendant cultures.

Introduction by Giovanna Fossati (Chief Curator at Eye and Professor of Film Heritage at the University of Amsterdam). Q&A in collaboration with the Master students of the This is Film! class at the University of Amsterdam.

Screening: Cerro Nariz, la aldea proscrita (Gloria Triana & Jorge Ruiz Ardila, CO 1985, 52’)

Cerro Nariz, la aldea proscrita is the longest chapter, restored to date, of the 16mm Yuruparí documentary series (1983-1986) on Colombia's festivals, traditions, rites, and customs. This episode is a record of the oral traditions and customs of the Puinave people, forgotten due to the advance of Western culture among the indigenous populations of the Amazon region. It is the result of a decade of anthropological research carried out by Gloria Triana in the community of Guainía.

Guest

Juana Suárez is the director of the Moving Image Archiving and Preservation Program at New York University (NYU MIAP), a scholar in Latin American Cinema, and a media-preservation specialist. She is an organiser and a participant in the Archival Exchange Program (APEX) from NYU-MIAP (Colombia, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Spain, and Brazil 2013-2018).

Suárez is currently working on a book tentatively entitled Moving Images Archives, Cultural History and The Digital Turn in Latin America, and coordinating arturita.net, a collaborative digital humanities project on Latin American audiovisual archives.