27 October marks the commemoration of the World Audiovisual Heritage Day. The UNESCO General Council proclaimed 27 October as the annual World Audiovisual Heritage Day to create global awareness of the various issues at stake in preserving the audiovisual heritage. Sound recordings and moving images in any form are vulnerable, and easily discarded or deliberately destroyed.
The Department of Arts and Culture through its National Film, Video and Sound Archive of South Africa (NFVSA), an affiliate of various International Archives bodies and the largest audiovisual archive in the African continent contribute to the awareness for the preservation and safeguarding of South Africa’s audiovisual heritage. In the holdings of the NFVSA there are more than half a million recordings (audio and visual) that are being preserved for posterity.
“Audiovisual records portray our common heritage whether this is in the form of daily news broadcasts; advertisements for popular but passing fads or more symbolic events that are representative of the cultural identity of a people”, said Deputy Minister of Arts and Culture Rejoice Mabudafhasi at the commemoration of World Audiovisual Heritage Day 2016.
“Much of the world’s audiovisual heritage has already been irrevocably lost through neglect, destruction, decay and the lack of resources, skills, and structures, thus impoverishing the memory of mankind. Unless public awareness of the importance of preservation is increased, this trend will continue,” remarked Mabudafhasi.
Transcending language and cultural boundaries, appealing immediately to the eye and the ear, to the literate and illiterate, audiovisual records/archives have transformed societies in that the information complements the written record.
