Discussion Abstract:
In exploring the evolving role of archives within social movements, the webinar focuses on the dialectic of moment and movement; how archival practices not only document historical struggles but also intervene in the political urgencies of the present. Deriving from the archival practices of Freedom Film Network’s Arkib Filem Rakyat (People’s Film Archive) and the Philippine Labor Movement Archive, we examine how archives function beyond static repositories, acting instead as dynamic tools for political thought and practice. Rather than solely preserving political legacies, social movement-based archives hold the potential to become tactical inventories of strategies, failures, and possibilities to understand the process of movementization. As history is often recuperated or neutralized by dominant narratives, how can we structure and activate archives to resist such recuperation? How does archival praxis respond to such challenges within its own societal condition? What role do activated storytelling, curation, and contextualization play in making archives speak to contemporary struggles? Through this conversation, we interrogate the grounded archival practices of Arkib Filem Rakyat and the Philippine Labor Movement Archive on how the archives serve not just memory but potentialities of mobilization.
For full summary of the webinar, kindly access HERE.
Speakers:
i) Brenda Danker, Freedom Film Network (MY)
Brenda Danker aims to empower and amplify the voices of the marginalised community for social change in her various roles as educator, media producer and researcher in Malaysia. She currently manages a film network focused on social justice, and mentors social documentary filmmakers through FreedomFilmFest Malaysia. Brenda is the co-founder of Freedom Film Network, and it’s main programmes include Arkib Filem Rakyat, an archive of films and raw footage from 1990s, related to activism and social movements in Malaysia.
ii) Adrian D. Mendizabal, Philippine Labor Movement Archive (PH)
Adrian D. Mendizabal is a media studies scholar, film critic, and memory worker. An ArtsEquator 2024 fellow, he is a researcher at the University of the Philippines Film Institute, focusing on its film archives and academic programs, and a volunteer archivist at the Philippine Labor Movement Archives. His writings have appeared in VCinema, Nang Magazine, and MUBI Notebook. He is working on a research project exploring the relationship between memory, technics, archives, and social movements.
Moderator: i) Zikri Rahman (Program Coordinator, Pusat Sejarah Rakyat)
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This event is organised by Pusat Sejarah Rakyat (PSR) as part of the Under The Banana Tree’s Archival Network in Southeast Asia. It is in collaboration with History Department, University of Bristol and funded by Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), UK Research and Innovation & International Institute of Social History, NDL.