Ivan Passer: cassettes, tapes and disks

synopsis

Twenty-seven October is the traditional UNESCO World Day for Audiovisual Heritage. On this occasion, the National Film Archive, Prague, unveils a personal archive from the estate of director and screenwriter Ivan Passer. Acquired by the NFA in 2021, the extraordinary audiovisual collection contains more than 300 items – from VHS tapes, Betacam and U-Matic tapes to audio CDs and dictation tapes – and provides a rare glimpse into the creative and personal life of the renowned Czech filmmaker during his lifetime in the United States. The festival's lecture focuses on the professional processes involved in sorting and digitising Passer's archive and features exclusive extracts from his personal and professional materials – including a tribute to legendary curator Hubert Bals, which Passer conceived as a reflection on his own vision of cinema. The audience can look forward to an in-depth look at Passer's remarkable artistic legacy, as well as the complex nuances of dealing with personal archives and estates. The lecture is presented by historian Valentina Carnali and NFA curator Matej Strnad. 

biography

Valentina Carnali studied Restoration and History and is pursuing a Master’s degree in Semiotics at the University of Bologna. She is currently an intern at the Digital Laboratory of the National Film Archive in Prague, where she works on the digitisation of cassettes and data management. Prior to the NFA, she was an intern at the Cineteca di Bologna, where she contributed to two digitization projects focused on obsolete media formats.

Matej Strnad is the Head of the Curatorial Department at the National Film Archive in Prague. He coordinates the work of the department and special acquisition, restoration and curatorial projects. Strnad is a graduate of the Centre for Audiovisual Studies at FAMU and is also the Head of the Programming and Access to Collections Commission (PACC) of the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF).