Safeguarding our history through film production
A specially designed Exhibition of documents from the South Sudan National Archives was launched on Thursday 9th of November 2018 at the premises of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA) of the Republic of South Sudan. The Exhibition is part of the outreach programme developed to connect the people of South Sudan with the historic archival collection under the framework of the UNESCO project “South Sudan National Archives.”
In this regard, we are pleased to announce the release of this ever first documentary film entitled “South Sudan National Archives Safeguarding Our History” collected during the outreach programme activities to raise awareness on the National Archives and make them widely accessible to general public in South Sudan and beyond. The launch at the National Parliament and the exhibition of the National Archives outreach programme on 09 November 2017, was an opportunity to see important documents related to major historic events in South Sudan.
The documentary film aimed to present and promote the archival collection to the wider public on the role archives can play in promoting peace, reconciliation and nation building. The archives form the primary historical documentary resource for development of South Sudan national identity. As stated by Hon. Dr. Benjamin Marial a member of South Sudan National Parliament that ‘’ people are people because of archives, it records the history of the people and this is what is left to the posterity, hundred years from now, citizens of the country will see this and they will know how far people have come from’’.
The main objective of the South Sudan National Archives outreach programme was to bring national focus on the role archives can play in nurturing peace and reconciliation in the country as stated by Mr. Sardar Umar Alam, Head of Office and UNESCO Representative to South Sudan that “this is an opportunity to install an appreciation for the important role archives can play in peace and reconciliation”.
The exhibition has given opportunity to both South Sudanese public and wider to appreciate twenty-one documents presented with explanatory captions as well as the timeline of the efforts invested in the preservation of the documents, from the 1970s to nowadays. The Archives staff acted as the Exhibition’s guides for the occasion, sharing their deep knowledge of the collection and answering questions from the visitors.
The Exhibition is part of the “South Sudan National Archives Project” which is implemented by UNESCO in close partnership with the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, and with the support of Norway. Since the launch of the project in 2012, UNESCO has continuously worked with the Rift Valley Institute with the aim to preserve the collection for future generations of South Sudanese.
To view the film, please visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcVOGfI2vrM