Heritage Foundation ALIPH Targets Ukraine, Syria and Indonesia in New Film Rescue Program

The International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage (ALIPH) has launched its first-ever programme dedicated to film and audiovisual heritage, expanding beyond its usual focus on physical cultural sites. Announced at the Lumière Summit in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France, the Program for the Safeguarding of Cinematographic and Audiovisual Heritage at Risk will combine emergency intervention, preservation, infrastructure work and skills training. The initiative matters because an estimated 80% of the world's film heritage remains unprotected, leaving vast archives vulnerable to conflict, decay and neglect.

Three pilot projects have been identified: the Dovzhenko Centre in Kyiv, which holds around 62,000 films and 300,000 reels and was struck in June 2026, will have its at-risk materials assessed and relocated where necessary; Syria's National Film Archives, degraded by prolonged conflict, will receive support to protect its collection and rebuild long-term institutional capacity; and Sinematek Indonesia, which has run out of storage space and faces humidity damage, will get improved climate control, cataloguing and staff training. ALIPH, a Geneva-based foundation founded in 2017 with backers including the Getty Trust and the Leon Levy Foundation, has completed 640 heritage projects worth $138 million to date. It has allocated $500,000 for emergency work this year and aims to raise $15 million to sustain the film programme through 2032, with potential future projects also being scoped in Cambodia, Lebanon, Myanmar, the Philippines and the Pacific.