Students from the Moving Image Archiving and Preservation (MIAP) Program in NYU's Department of Cinema Studies organized another successful Audiovisual Preservation Exchange (APEX) last month. APEX promotes international collaboration and dialogue on film and media preservation in order to safeguard the world's audiovisual heritage. The initiative gives members of the archival community opportunities to exchange knowledge and skills across borders.
APEX is organized by MIAP students under the guidance of a faculty advisor and with support from the previous year’s student and alumni leaders. With partners in the host country, students plan activities to take place over a two-week period. Participants include students, graduates, and faculty from the NYU MIAP program, who work in teams with volunteers from other schools and staff from host institutions.
APEX 2017 took place from May 22 to May 31 in Cartagena, Spain, and elsewhere in the country's southeastern Murcia region, with additional activities in Madrid on June 2. MIAP students, faculty, and alumni worked in partnership with a graduate student from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and associates from host organizations Memorias Celuloides, Red de Cine Domestíco, Archivo Municipal de Cartagena, and Filmoteca Regional de Murcia.
Student and alumni participants created a bilingual blog to document activities. The APEX Cartagena website includes photo galleries and student-penned articles about projects undertaken and workshops offered during this year's exchange.
Shahed Dowlatshahi (MIAP '18), Jacob Zaborowski (MIAP '17), and Allie Whalen (MIAP '15) inspecting film during APEX Cartagena.
Prof. Mona Jimenez served as faculty leader, with support from Pamela Vízner Oyarce (MIAP '14) and Prof. Juana Suárez, MIAP's incoming Director and a 2013 graduate of the program. MIAP students Shahed Dowlatshahi and Dylan Lorenz took part, along with Allie Whalen (MIAP '15) and Jacob Zaborowski (MIAP '17). Fellow 2017 graduates Rob Anen, Savannah Campbell, and Manon Gray were the lead student organizers.
Profs. Jimenez and Suárez presenting on APEX at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.
Prof. Jimenez established APEX with foundational programs in Ghana between 2008 and 2014. In 2009, MIAP Director Dan Streible organized another successful collaboration between preservation students from NYU and staff at the Museo del Cine in Buenos Aires. This year marks the fifth APEX organized by NYU MIAP students, following previous exchanges in Bogotá, Montevideo, Buenos Aires, and Santiago.
APEX Cartagena participants working with film at the Utopía art space.
Support for APEX Cartagena was generously provided by The Film Foundation, the Concejalía de Cultura de Cartagena, Second Run Media Preservation, Jim Lindner, and APEX's partner organizations in Spain.
