Associate professor of film & media studies wins Fulbright grant to research book in Philippines

Felicidad “Bliss” Cua Lim, associate professor of film & media studies, has been awarded a prestigious Fulbright grant to conduct research in the Philippines for her book on the dismal state of the nation’s film archive. “Philippine cinema’s archival situation is precarious,” Lim said. “Since local production began in the early 1900s, only 37 percent of more than 8,000 films survive.” Based on interviews, scholarly and popular sources, government reports, legal statutes and Southeast Asian archivists’ newsletters, Lim will reconstruct the lost history of Philippine film archiving. “In an alarming context in which only five prewar Filipino movies survive,” she said, “I will analyze the conditions that gave rise to the country’s profound archive crisis, explicate its ongoing consequences and advocate for preservation amidst a history of government indifference and corporate privatization of the nation’s film heritage.”