Inside the Archive #55: A film workshop in India and 1,500 film cans for BFI National Archive

Last month, three BFI colleagues were invited to teach at the 10th Film Preservation & Restoration Workshop India (FPRWI) held in Bhubaneswar. The event is an educational programme in audio–visual archival methods, techniques and philosophy run by Film Heritage Foundation (FHF). The FHF is a non-profit archive organisation led by filmmaker and archivist Shivendra Singh Dungarpur.

The BFI has long supported FHF’s efforts to reshape conversations around film preservation in India. FHF’s restorations are regularly showcased internationally, including a restoration of Sholay (1975) that screened in Bologna and at BFI IMAX during the BFI London Film Festival. Their unique approach – combining lectures, hands-on training, and a curated film programme – remains unmatched in the region.

This year’s workshop featured screenings of FHF’s restorations, including the at-risk Odia feature Maya Miriga (1984). We also watched recent Criterion–led restorations such as Dead Man (1995), A History of Violence (2015), and the poignant The Cloud-Capped Star (1960), which is screening at BFI Southbank this month.

The workshop content spanned audio, digital, photographic and paper preservation. Elena Nepoti led sessions on film preservation and participated in an industry-leading panel. Joanna White delivered a lecture on digital preservation, exploring the opportunities and complexities of Open Source – a transformative approach pioneered at BFI. Additionally, Dylan Cave partnered with FHF’s Priyanka Shetye to conduct collaborative sessions on collections management and acquisition.

The BFI joined the faculty alongside colleagues from Cinemateca Portuguesa, L’Immagine Ritrovata in Bologna, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

The 2025 student body comprised 50 international participants, while FHF continues to prioritize opportunities for students across South Asia. This year, the workshop welcomed delegations from Bhutan and Sri Lanka.

The group also included representatives from the Odisha state government, signalling a strong commitment by the state’s Department of Handlooms, Textiles and Handicrafts to create a moving image archive. Despite 90 years of filmmaking in the region, its film and moving image industry has lacked dedicated pathways for conservation and preservation – until now.

At the opening ceremony, Shri Mohan Charan Majhi, Chief Minister of Odisha, announced plans to establish a state archive – an initiative formally ratified and signed in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) at the closing ceremony. This milestone reflects the significant momentum built over 10 years of FHF workshops, advancing the importance of moving image conservation across the subcontinent. What FHF has achieved in just over a decade is remarkable.

Together with my colleagues, Elena Nepoti and Joanna White, it was a joy to represent the BFI and share our knowledge, experience and advocacy. We felt encouraged by FHF’s energy and community-building efforts and we celebrated the excitement of graduating archivists and the promise of future archives.

– Dylan Cave, Collections Development Manager

The BFI National Archive is home to the world’s most significant collections of film and television. Through millions of items, our collections form a fascinating record of the history, culture and art of filmmaking and TV production from the late 1900s to today. Our vaults hold over a century of stories about daily life in the UK, and communities around the world, for audiences to learn from and enjoy.

But looking after film in all its varied, fragile formats presents many challenges. If stored incorrectly, celluloid can break, shrink, or decompose beyond repair. The BFI has teams of expert archivists and technicians who work tirelessly to make sure that millions of frames of cinematic history are kept safe. To do this, we need 1,500 new film cans a year to safely store 16mm and 35mm film. Just £5 buys a new film can for the BFI National Archive. This can could hold one of Britain’s best loved films, an iconic series finale, or an unseen title that is yet to find its audience.

We are asking supporters to give £5 and play your part in keeping our shared film history safe for decades to come.

– Katy Donnelly, Philanthropy Manager

The Inside the Archive blog is supported by the BFI Screen Heritage Fund, awarding National Lottery funding.