The ABS-CBN Film Archives, also called ABS-CBN Archives, is a state-of-the-art

film archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or ...

in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

located at the basement of

ELJ Communications Center The Eugenio Lopez Junior Communications Center (also called 9501, ELJ Communications Center, or simply ELJ Center) is the headquarters of the media conglomerate ABS-CBN Corporation and its subsidiaries, and the television network of the same n ...

in Eugenio Lopez Drive,

Diliman, Quezon City Quezon City (, ; fil, Lungsod Quezon ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read in Filipino as Kyusi), is the List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a populatio ...

. It was a member of the Southeast Asia-Pacific Audio-Visual Archive Association, as well as the Society of Filipino Archivists for Film or Sofia. At present, ABS-CBN Film Archives holds about 2,400 Filipino films from

Star Cinema ABS-CBN Film Productions, Inc. (doing business as Star Cinema or ABS-CBN Films) is a Philippines, Filipino film studio and film and television production company and film distributor headquartered in Quezon City. It is one of the major film ...

, LVN Pictures,

Regal Films Regal Entertainment, Inc. (formerly and more commonly known as Regal Films) is a Philippine film production company based in Pasig. It was founded by Lily Monteverde on August 19, 1962. It has produced movies of all genres; and is the oldest s ...

VIVA Films Viva Films is a Philippine film production company established under Viva Communications. It was founded on November 11, 1981, by Vic del Rosario Jr. History Veering away from the Sharon Cuneta-Gabby Concepcion tandem, Viva became home to qual ...

Seiko Films Seiko Films was a Philippine film production company owned and run by Robbie Tan. It is known for its bold film of the late 1990s. Seiko Films was known for its tagline "If it's from Seiko, it must be good" used from 1989 to 1994. History Seik ...

Cinema Artists Cinema Artists (a/k/a Cinema Artists Philippines) is an independent Filipino motion picture company founded by Lino Brocka Catalino Ortiz Brocka (April 3, 1939 – May 22, 1991) was a Filipino film director. He is widely regarded as one of th ...

Sampaguita Pictures Sampaguita Pictures was a Philippine film production company. It was named for the Philippine national flower, sampaguita. Though no longer functioning, the company's Sampaguita Compound remains in Quezon City. History Sampaguita Pictures was es ...

OctoArts Films OctoArts Films (also known as OctoArts Films International for foreign films) is a Filipino film production and distribution company founded in 1989 by Orly R. Ilacad. A veteran record producer, Ilacad only decided to establish the film company ...

, Imus Productions, RVQ Productions, Cine Suerte, NV Productions along with the cinema libraries of

Dolphy Rodolfo Vera Quizon Sr. (; July 25, 1928 – July 10, 2012), better known by his stage names Dolphy, Pidol, and Golay, was a Filipino comedian and actor. He is widely regarded as the country's "King of Comedy" for his comedic talent embodied ...

Nora Aunor Nora Cabaltera Villamayor (born May 21, 1953), professionally known as Nora Aunor (), is a Filipino actress, recording artist, and film producer. Aunor has also appeared in several stage plays, television shows and concerts. She is known as Ph ...

Fernando Poe Jr. Ronald Allan Kelley Poe (August 20, 1939 – December 14, 2004), known professionally as Fernando Poe Jr., and often referred to by his initials FPJ, was a Filipino actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, and politician. His long and s ...

, Rudy Fernandez,

Ramon Revilla Ramon Bautista Revilla Sr. (born Jose Acuña Bautista; March 8, 1927 – June 26, 2020), popularly known simply as Ramon Revilla Sr., was a Filipino actor who served as Senator of the Republic of the Philippines. He was known as the "''Hari ng ...

, and

Armida Siguion-Reyna Armida Siguion-Reyna (born Armida Liwanag Ponce Enrile; November 4, 1930February 11, 2019) was a Filipina singer, film and stage actress, producer and television show host. She was the chairperson of the Movie and Television Review and Classific ...

. ABS-CBN Film Archives held the largest film collection in the country. It was headed by Leo Katigbak. On August 31, 2020, ABS-CBN Film Archives along with '' Sagip Pelikula'' downsized its operations as part of the retrenchment by

ABS-CBN Corporation ABS-CBN Corporation is a Filipino media company based in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines. It is the largest entertainment and media conglomerate in the Philippines. It is a subsidiary of Lopez Holdings Corporation which is owned by t ...

after its new legislative franchise for the company's broadcasting operations was denied by the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

Facility

The facility of ABS-CBN Film Archives is covered with insulated walls. It has two film vaults: the medium-term vault and the long-term vault. The medium term vault holds

betacam Betacam is a family of half-inch professional videocassette products developed by Sony in 1982. In colloquial use, "Betacam" singly is often used to refer to a Betacam camcorder, a Betacam tape, a Betacam video recorder or the format itself. All ...

tapes,

U-matic U-matic is an analogue recording videocassette format first shown by Sony in prototype in October 1969, and introduced to the market in September 1971. It was among the first video formats to contain the videotape inside a cassette, as oppo ...

16mm 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, educ ...

negatives and prints, and some

35mm 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film * 35 mm movie film, a type of motion picture film stock * 35MM 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format ...

negatives and prints while the long-term vault holds the 35mm negatives and master prints. The facility is protected by a special

fire suppression system Fire suppression systems are used to extinguish, control, or in some cases, entirely prevent fires from spreading or occurring. Fire suppression systems have an incredibly large variety of applications, and as such, there are many different types ...

Acclimatization Acclimatization or acclimatisation ( also called acclimation or acclimatation) is the process in which an individual organism adjusts to a change in its environment (such as a change in altitude, temperature, humidity, photoperiod, or pH), ...

rooms are located between the vaults and the exit. Before a film could be taken out from the vault, it has to stay in the first acclimatization room for 24 hours and in the second acclimatization room for another 24 hours to prevent damage caused by condensation due to rapid temperature change. The temperature in the long-term vault is maintained between 8 and 10 °C with 31 to 35 percent relative humidity while in the medium-term vault, the temperature is maintained between 15 and 20 °C with 35 to 50 percent relative humidity. The air-conditioning system of the facility operates 24 hours a day. The facility is accessible to visitors for academic and research purposes.

Digital film restoration

ABS-CBN Film Restoration Project was a digital film restoration and remastering project of ABS-CBN Film Archives in partnership with Central Digital Lab. The goal of the project was to digitally restore and remaster select films in the archives of ABS-CBN. As of 2015, the project restored and remastered over 100 films. Restoration cost ranged anywhere between two hundred thousand

pesos The peso is the monetary unit of several countries in the Americas, and the Philippines. Originating in the Spanish Empire, the word translates to "weight". In most countries the peso uses the same sign, "$", as many currencies named "dollar" ...

and ten million pesos per film.

References

External links

*Bliss Cua Lim (July 2, 2010)
Pepot and the Archive: Cinephilia and the Archive Crisis of Philippine Cinema

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and pr ...

*Aimee Dacanay (August 4, 2017)
The Art and Science of Film Restoration and How It's Saving Philippine Cinema
Spot.ph {{ABS-CBN ABS-CBN Corporation Cinema museums Film archives in Asia Film preservation Film preservation organizations 1994 establishments in the Philippines Organizations established in 1994 2020 disestablishments in the Philippines Organizations disestablished in 2020 Archives in the Philippines Museums in Quezon City Assets owned by ABS-CBN Corporation