Queer Memory and Film

The relationship between queer memory and cinema is a complex one. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) histories have often been and continue to be systematically and deliberately excluded from the “official” memory narratives of nation-states, whether it be within the context of education or other commemorative projects. In order to counter this erasure, activists and artists have worked to preserve and reimagine LGBTQ pasts, creating archives, undertaking historiographic work, and, finally, reimagining queer histories in film and television. While memory remains an underutilized concept in queer studies, authors working in this nascent area of the field have nonetheless examined how the queer past is being commemorated through national, educational, and cinematic technologies of memory. For example, Scott McKinnon’s work has focused on gay male memories of cinema-going, therein highlighting the role of audience studies for the understanding of gay memory. Like McKinnon, Christopher Castiglia and Christopher Reed have also focused on the gay male community, emphasizing the ways in which film and television can combat the effects of conservative and homonormative politics on how the past is remembered. While Castiglia, Reed, and McKinnon’s work focuses on the memories of gay men, a monograph by the author of this article has analyzed how contemporary film and television represent LGBTQ histories, therein interrogating the role these mediums play in the creation of what can be termed specifically queer memory. Furthermore, while monographs dealing with queer memory are only beginning to appear, a number of single case studies and book chapters have focused on specific cinematic works, and have looked at how they present the LGBTQ past, particularly with respect to activist histories. Authors like Dagmar Brunow have also emphasized the link between queer memory and film preservation, exhibition and distribution, therein pointing toward the ways in which practices of curation shape one’s perception of the past. Taken together, these different approaches to queer filmic memory not only illuminate the relevance of cinema to the ways in which LGBTQ people recall and imagine the past of their own community, but also to the unfixed and continually evolving nature of queer memory itself.

El patrimonio cinematográfico y audiovisual en la Biblioteca y Filmoteca de Navarra

RESUMEN El artículo constituye una aproximación a los orígenes del patrimonio cinematográfico y audiovisual de Navarra y de las políticas públicas de conservación patrimonial hasta la reciente configuración jurídica de una Filmoteca de Navarra. LABURPENA Nafarroako zinemazko eta ikusentzunezko ondareari hurbilpena da artikulu hau. Horrekin batera, ondaren kontserbatzeko hartu diren neurri publikoak jasotzen dira, Nafarroako Filmoteka legalki eratu aurretik. ABSTRACT The article enlightens the history of moving images heritage of Navarre and the origins of film preservation public policies until the setting up of Navarra Film Library.

Mondo Macabro as Trashy/Cult Film Archive: The Case of Classic Indonesian Exploitation Cinema

Film archiving and local exploitation films, let alone the trashy film archive, are marginal in the discourses of film journalism, scholarship, policies, and criticism in Indonesia (Imanjaya, 2009c; Imanjaya, 2012a; Imanjaya, 2014). However, this paper will demonstrate the importance of Indonesian exploitation cinema, alternative film archives, and exploitation film preservation. It will focus on the output of Mondo Macabro, a transnational DVD label that consistently preserves world trashy films, including Indonesian films produced from the 1970s to the 1990s. By focusing on its DVD paratexts, that is, its DVD covers, special features, and online promotional materials, and applying the Chaperone archiving model also applied by Criterion Collection, this paper will also argue that Mondo Macabro gives trashy or cult films a new lease on life, and more importantly, treats them as collector’s items.

Sinematek Indonesia: Formidable Achievements in Film Collection and Research - But a Collection Under Threat

Sinematek Indonesia, the archive for feature films in Indonesia, was the first film archive established in South East Asia. The article outlines the circumstances of its establishment in 1975, as a result of negotiations between a progressive governor of Jakarta and filmmakers and educators, but shows how this, and subsequent funding frameworks outside of central government funding, has led to its current situation. The history of the Sinematek is discussed in the context of changing eras of Indonesian history. While highlighting the achievements of Sinematek Indonesia in film collection and research, it emphasizes that its remarkable collection of films on celluoid is under threat because there is no regular budget for film restoration or even for proper preservation. Also outlined is recent cooperation between Sinematek and the newly established ‘Indonesian Film Center’ in the digitization of its collection. The article is as much a memoir, as an academic article, for much of the information here is based on Hanan’s regular engagement with the archive since 1981, which has included providing subtitles for film classics in its collection, and organizing occasional film preservation projects for educational purposes.