IASA English

Z-1 Film Atölyesi at the IASA Conference

In September 2023, the 54th IASA (International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives) Conference and the 4th ICTM (International Council for Traditional Music) Forum were organized in Istanbul, hosted by Istanbul University.

Throughout the week, various seminars and workshops were conducted with presentations by experts in the field. One of these workshops was the Community Archiving Workshop, held in one of the historically rich, hand-painted rooms of Istanbul University, attended by over forty participants from fifteen countries, organized in two sessions. The workshop, a joint effort by Z-1 Film Atölyesi and the globally recognized CAW (Community Archiving Workshop), was an inspiring experience for both partners.

During the workshop, participants were provided enlightening training on inventorying, archiving, and digitizing sound and visual materials. The materials consisted of films of various formats and genres from the Z-1 Film Atölyesi collection, along with Turkish Folk Music records from the Istanbul University Central Library Ethnomusicology Department.

In this process, the Z-1 Film Atölyesi team [Aycan Çetin (Producer and Manager of Z-1 Film Atölyesi), Özgür Erkekli (Playwright and Faculty Member), Alper Çağlayan (Screenwriter and Archive Coordinator)] gained significant knowledge. We contributed to the participants’ learning and also introduced our archive. The platform, which reinforced our archiving experience, also allowed us to familiarize ourselves with new techniques.

The conference, where many international participants shared their knowledge and experiences, holds a meaningful place in the steps that Z-1 Film Atölyesi, which has a special sensitivity towards the preservation of cultural heritage and its transmission to future generations, will take in this field.