Today, on April 26, Grigor Arshakyan, Director of “National Archives of Armenia” SNCO, and Shushanik Mirzakhanyan, Acting Director of National Cinema Center of Armenia SNCO, signed a memorandum of cooperation which establishes broad cooperation between the two organizations in the preservation of films owned by the Republic of Armenia in the direction of digitization and popularization.

We are talking about both feature and documentary, animated and chronicle films.

As it is known, tens of thousands of photos and videotapes are stored in the National Archives of Armenia, in Cinema-Photo-Phono Branch which will henceforth be restored and operationalized by joint efforts.

According to the memorandum, the National Archives provides the Cinema Center with raw tapes of Armenian films for digital restoration and commercial and non-commercial use. From now on, the issue of representation of state jubilee events and international festivals will be decided by the joint assessment of both parties. After the tapes have been scanned and restored, the original and two new recorded copies will be returned to the National Archives. The National Archives maintains contractual control over the materials it provides, while not interfering too much with the operations of the National Cinema Center.

Thus, the memorandum will give a new breath to the Armenian audiovisual films, old tapes, and photographs that have been in the vaults of the National Archives for decades. They will be submitted for professional processing and facilitating the further representation of Armenian films.