>Mission Vision > Board of Trustees > History
 |
It was in 1993 when the late Agustin “Hammy” Sotto, respected film critic and researcher, led a group of professionals – archivists, librarians and scholars – who took on the challenge of organizing what was then called the Society of Film Archivists. Sans any funds, much less its own office and archiving equipment, this intrepid lot persevered; fueled simply by their passion for film and their resolve to preserve the film heritage of the country.
SOFIA then set out to identify specific needs for the retrieval and restoration of endangered films – cinematic works that were in grave danger of further decay. It also organized short-term training workshops in preservation and collection management, and offered to advice various institutions in their archiving programs. With assistance
coming from the National Commission for the Culture and the Arts, SOFIA was able to program the restoration of some landmark films, including the first film produced by LVN in 1938-1939 and some key films by major filmmakers like Gerardo de Leon, Lamberto Avellana, Lino Brocka and Ishmael Bernal.
In cooperation with institutions like the Philippine Information Agency and the National Film and Sound Archive in Australia, SOFIA handled training workshops and seminars on cataloguing, film and video preservation, archives management, intellectual property rights, and a strategic planning workshop for a national audio-visual archives. Members of SOFIA have also represented the country in international seminars and conferences.
In 2008, SOFIA reorganized itself as the Society of Filipino
Archivists for Film — Samahan ng mga Filipinong Arkivista para sa Pelukula, Inc. — with renewed vigor, a fresh batch of members, and guided by a new mission- vision.
