The PBI Film and Video Archive

New Acquisitions:

Read more about our recent film acquisitions.  The Archive collection basically falls into five general categories:

1. Historical Footage assembled from thirteen countries with materials ranging from Japan’s colonization of Manchuria to the movement for democracy in South Korea to recently declassified US Dept. of Energy videos on atomic weapons testing programs.
   » View Footage
   
 
2. Production Footage shot on location throughout Asia from 1988 to 2001. Samples include Mongolian cavalry troops charging in full 13th century battle armor along the steppes; the birthday celebrations of Confucius in Qufu, China; Wayang Kulit performers in Yogyakarta and numerous city scenes of Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing, Taipei, Seoul, Manila, etc.
   » View Footage
    
3. Documentaries ranging from classics like Frank Capra’s WWII “Know Your Enemy Japan,” to the US Dept. of Defense’s “Know Your Enemy the Vietcong,” to a recent insider’s view of North Korea. There is also a 12 volume series of award-winning student documentaries from the International Documentary Association.
    
4. Feature films from throughout Asia, from old classics like “Song of China” (1936) to recent releases by filmmakers in Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Cambodia, Vietnam and India.
    
5. Interviews consisting of a very valuable collection of unique tapes: sample subjects include Kim Dae Jung, Kiichi Miyazawa, Vo Nguyen Giap, Dai Qing, Yasuhiro Nakasone, Akira Kurosawa, Charles Kades, Beate Gordon and Lee Kuan Yew. The Archive also has an on-going oral history, digital video interview project on the War Experience which currently focuses on the lives of former US Navy Japanese Language Officers and teachers in WWII.  » View Interviews

Among our recent acquisitions is the entire collection of footage and video used for The Fifties, an eight-part documentary first aired on the History Channel; 200 tapes of old television shows from the sixties and early seventies; and 40 video cassettes dealing with art, culture, and history from the Korean government. Additionally, our Curator, Loureiro and a film crew spent five weeks in China in the Fall of 2002. There is now 32 hours of digital footage which consists of locations shots in urban and rural areas together with 20 interviews from a broad spectrum of Chinese society.

A key mission of the Archive is the preservation of audio and video material. We have started digitizing our unique collection of 78 phonographic albums onto CDs. Within the next few years, we hope to begin transferring our entire video collection into digital format. Our preservation resources have been well received by Pomona and other Claremont faculty and staff who have approached us to preserve their worn classroom videos and tapes they shot overseas. The Archive can handle a wide variety of film and video formats, from Betamax transfers to worldwide video system conversions to professional Betacam SP.

While the Archive has only limited editing facilities, it is very well suited for Media Studies students, not only to learn about the basics of film and video preservation, but also to obtain hands-on experience with a wide variety of consumer and professional video and audio equipment. Our year-round internship program is especially popular.

Although the Archive exists primarily to serve students and faculty at Pomona and other Claremont Colleges, we provide research assistance to many academic institutions in the greater Los Angeles area and other parts of the country. In addition, commercial film producers such as WGBH, ESPN, CNN, and the History Channel have recently purchased footage from our Archive for their documentary productions.

With the age of digitalization, video streaming and the Internet upon us, the Archive has undertaken several new projects incorporating these new technologies.

Except for stock footage, our video titles for documentaries and films are available on our archive database.

Please contact the Archive at:
Phone: 909-445-9386
email: pbi@pomona.edu