The 2025 Annual Congress of the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) was held from April 27 to May 2 at the Cinémathèque Québécoise in Montreal, Canada. CEO Iris DU and Supervisor of Division of Research & Program Wood LIN from Taiwan Film & Audiovisual Institute (TFAI) are attending to meet with FIAF member institutions from around the world.
Established in 1938 under the guidance of UNESCO, FIAF is a global organization focused on addressing the challenges of preserving and promoting the world’s film heritage. Its key mission includes collecting, cataloguing, and conserving filmed cultural assets, as well as encouraging public access through screenings and curatorial programs. The theme for this year’s congress is “Film Archives Beget Films”, highlighting how archival materials can inspire and foster the creation of new films and develop a new form of cinema that may encompass early cinema, scientific or home movies, military propaganda films, and queer cinema. The program includes Symposium, the Second Century Forum, Technical Commission workshops, the General Assembly, exhibitions, and film screenings. Greater interaction among film scholars, artists, and archive professionals is expected to spark new preservation methods and archival practices.
During the general assembly on May 2, TFAI formally proposed a call to FIAF members for the identification and repatriation of pre-1960s audiovisual footage and related documents of Taiwanese Indigenous peoples.
CEO Iris DU stated that “TFAI is deeply committed to decolonization and transitional justice, and we actively collect and preserve relevant audiovisual archives. Taiwan’s Indigenous communities have long been marginalized or overlooked. By reaching out internationally, we hope FIAF member institutions can help uncover long-forgotten footage that expands our collective historical memory. Such efforts would play a crucial role in building a more inclusive and representative historical narrative for Taiwan.” DU emphasized that the return of archival Indigenous materials is not merely a physical repatriation, but a matter of ethical and historical justice. Through the return and reinterpretation of these images, Indigenous communities in Taiwan can reclaim their own histories and develop their own visual narratives, asserting their cultural agency.
Focusing on the theme of "Show, Resume," at this year’s FIAF symposium, Wood LIN presented a paper he co-authored with Wanling CHEN, the Head of Documentary at TFAI. Entitled“A Long Journey of Demystification of Historical Spectres: Media Transition, Artistic Transformation, and Open Access of Taiwan Film Studio Newsreels (1945–1985)”, the paper explores how these films, once tools of ideological dissemination produced by Taiwan Film Studios, have been digitized and preserved by TFAI. Furthermore, through curations by the Taiwan International Documentary Festival (TIDF) and creative archival projects, these newsreels are being reintroduced to the public realm. In the future, TFAI has launched an open-access "Taiwan Film Studio Newsreel Database" that invites reinterpretation and reuse, transforming historical footage into a sustainable audiovisual resource.
The TFAI delegation also visited the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Montreal to introduce its key mission and explore future collaboration. Among the initiatives discussed was the Taiwan Cinema Toolkit—a curated collection of Taiwanese films intended for use by Canadian cultural institutions and film archives for film screening. The program could help to promote Taiwan Cinema internationally.
As Taiwan’s representative to FIAF, TFAI aims to one day host a future congress, strengthening global ties and promoting international collaboration. To this end, TFAI plans to hold an international forum later this year, inviting professionals from global film archives to Taiwan to exchange insights. The forum is expected to inject new energy into Taiwan’s audiovisual preservation efforts.