The Archival Afterlives of Philippine Cinema

Bliss Cua Lim's The Archival Afterlives of Philippine Cinema explores the crisis-ridden history of Philippine film archiving, highlighting the improvisational creativity of audiovisual archivists, collectors, advocates, and amateurs who embrace imperfect access in the face of inhospitable conditions.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 400 pages
Publication date: 22 January 2024
Publisher: Duke University Press

Bliss Cua Lim's book, "The Archival Afterlives of Philippine Cinema," explores the crisis-ridden history of Philippine film archiving, which includes lost films, limited access, and collapsed archives. Lim draws on cultural policy, queer and feminist theory, materialist media studies, and postcolonial historiography to analyze the archival practices of making do in the Philippines. Instead of denigrating underfunded Philippine audiovisual archives in contrast to institutions in the global North, Lim shows how archival practices of making do can inspire alternative theoretical and historical approaches to cinema. Lim examines formal state and corporate archives, analyzing restorations of the last nitrate film and a star-studded lesbian classic as well as archiving under the Marcos dictatorship. She also foregrounds informal archival efforts, such as a cinephilic video store specializing in vintage Tagalog classics, a microcuratorial initiative for experimental films, and guerilla screenings for rural Visayan audiences. Throughout, Lim centers the improvisational creativity of audiovisual archivists, collectors, advocates, and amateurs who embrace imperfect access in the face of inhospitable conditions.

Weight: 445g
Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781478025733