Indian Megastar Amitabh Bachchan will be conferred with the 2021 Film Archive Award by the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) at a virtual ceremony scheduled to take place on March 19, 2021.
Legendary filmmakers Christopher Nolan and Martin Scorsese will present the prestigious award to Amitabh Bachchan. The iconic filmmakers have themselves been previous recipients of the award.
The award will be conferred to Amitabh Bachchan for his contribution to the preservation of and access to the world's film heritage for the benefit of present and future generations.
What is the International Federation of Film Archives?
The International Federation of Film Archives is an organisation of film archives and museums from across the world.
Key Highlights
•Amitabh Bachchan was nominated for the award by FIAF-affiliate Film Heritage Foundation, an Indian film archival organisation founded by Indian filmmaker and archivist Shivendra Singh Dungarpur.
•The filmmaker pointed out India's dismal track record in film preservation. He stated that India lost almost 70 percent of its films by 1950.
•He also brought attention to the fact that among the 1,338 silent films made in India, only around 29 survive and many only in fragments.
Dungarpur further highlighted that Amitabh Bachchan constructively wielded his influence to amplify the cause on a war footing in South Asia and that he was the unanimous choice of the 172 FIAF-affiliated archives for the award.
•Bachchan, during the opening ceremony of the 2018 Kolkata Film Festival, had delivered an impassioned speech on film preservation, saying that most films of Indian filmmaking legends have "gone up in flames or have been discarded on the scrap heap."
•He had said that "very little of this great film heritage survives, and if we do not take urgent steps to save what remains, in another hundred years there will be no memory of these films and nothing left to celebrate."
Martin Scorsese, who is widely regarded as one of the most influential directors in film history, also spoke about the Indian actor saying, "Amitabh Bachchan's advocacy for preserving India's film legacy has been exceptional."
Christopher Nolan, who is also a staunch supporter of celluloid over digital, said that "as a past recipient of the FIAF Award, I know how imperative it is that representatives of the film industry around the world come together to ensure that we preserve our film heritage."
He further congratulated the Indian actor saying, "he has played an essential role in putting the cause of film preservation on the map in India and the subcontinent."
Background
The Film Archive Award was introduced in 2001 and its first recipient was Martin Scorsese who was recognised for his film archival efforts.
Since then, the award has honoured personalities from outside the archival scene who have worked to advocate the cause of film preservation.
The past winners of the award include Ingmar Bergman (2003), Mike Leigh (2005), Hou Hsiao-hsien (2006), Peter Bogdanovich (2007), Rithy Panh (2009), Agnes Varda (2013), Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (2016), Christopher Nolan (2017), Apichatpong Weerasethakul (2018), Jean-Luc Godard (2019), and Walter Salles (2020).
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