Drawing on cultural policy, queer and feminist theory, materialist media studies, and postcolonial historiography, Bliss Cua Lim analyzes the crisis-ridden history of Philippine film archiving—a history of lost films, limited access, and collapsed archives. Rather than denigrate underfunded Philippine audiovisual archives in contrast to institutions in the global North, The Archival Afterlives of Philippine Cinema shows how archival practices of making do can inspire alternative theoretical and historical approaches to cinema. Lim examines formal state and corporate archives, analyzing restorations of the last nitrate film and a star-studded lesbian classic as well as archiving under the Marcos dictatorship. She also foregrounds informal archival efforts: a cinephilic video store specializing in vintage Tagalog classics; a microcuratorial initiative for experimental films; and guerilla screenings for rural Visayan audiences. Throughout, Lim centers the improvisational creativity of audiovisual archivists, collectors, advocates, and amateurs who embrace imperfect access in the face of inhospitable conditions.

Bliss Cua Lim is Professor of Cinema Studies at the University of Toronto and the author of Translating Time: Cinema, the Fantastic, and Temporal Critique, also published by Duke University Press.

Acronyms  ix
Acknowledgments  xi
Introduction. Keywords for Philippine Cinema’s Archival Afterlives  1
1. A Tale of Three Buildings: Marcos Cultural Policy and Anarchival Temporality  51
2. Silence, Perseverance, and Survival in State-Run Philippine Film Archives  76
3. Privatization and the ABS-CBN Film Archives  107
4. Queer Anachronisms and Temporalities of Restoration: T-Bird at Ako  133
5. Informal Archiving in a Riverine System: Video 48 and the Kalampag Tracking Agency  173
6. Binisaya: Archival Power and Vernacular Audiences in Iskalawags  214
Epilogue. Of Audiences and Archival Publics: Pepot Artista  256
Notes  277
Bibliography  339
Index  375