Seminar debates role of archives

While Tamil cinema could boast of a rich and long history, there is little available from its early years. What really is the future of early Tamil cinema? – this is the question that a group of academicians, film historians and archivists set out to answer at a two-day seminar that began here on Thursday.

Organised by the Roja Muthiah Research Library in collaboration with the India Foundation for the Arts, the event features a line-up of paper presentations and discussions that seek to address lack of archives of early Tamil cinema. The idea of the seminar was to build awareness about the need for archives. Gradually, a collection of old Tamil films would be built, said G. Sundar, director, Roja Muthiah Research Library.