I am a Los Angeles based media archivist with experience working in entertainment and academic archives. Here you will find a compilation of writings and blurbs about the ethics of film restoration and the politics of preservation, as well as pieces on audiovisual works that are often marginalized in moving image archives such as pornography, experimental films, educational films, and home movies. These research interests have influenced all of my writing and projects throughout my career as an audiovisual archivist.

 

When I entered UCLA's Moving Image Archive Studies program in 2014, I had my sights set on working with commercial Hollywood films (the all too alluring track of becoming a film preservationist in order to preserve forgotten celluloid gems), however, I quickly became fascinated with non-theatrical films, particularly those dealing with race and sexuality. As I fostered these interests, I now pursue projects and endeavors that allow me to explore the complex status and relationship between these types of works and audiovisual archives.

 

While ephemeral films such as home movies and educational films have gained much needed recognition in the archival community over the past few years, pornographic moving images continue to be the most marginalized forms of media in traditional audiovisual archives. Therefore, I have spent my time as an archivist researching the complex relationship between this type of media and archives, as well as advocating for its proper preservation and access. Just as the orphan film movement helped legitimize the preservation of ephemeral films in archives a decade ago, I am hopeful that in the near future pornographic works will also be legitimized within archives, and finally recognized as crucial resources for studying our social history.

 

Looking towards the future, I am eager to encounter opportunities that will allow me to further explore these areas of interest, and provide reasonable and realistic solutions to these complex archival issues.

 

All images featured on this website belong to Michael Pazmino (unless otherwise noted).