Bangladesh Film Archive (BFA) in a clarification to the series report titled "Archives of Neglect, Historic Loss-I and II", published in The Daily Star on August 22 and 24, mentioned that the sound and print quality of Devdas (1934) as mentioned in the report as not in good condition is true as the film was old and affected when it was collected in the 1980's.
The clarification, moreover, said for better preservation they had prepared a duplicate print of the film. The reporter saw it at the time ofcleaning, it added.
The clarification said that the reporter found the vault temperature 26°-30°C as he visited the BFA film vault immediately after a load shedding. During normal condition they maintain 18°C temperature in the vault and humidity is controlled as per standard, the clarification added.
The clarification also said the reporter saw a few films in rusty tin-cans, just collected from producers and waiting for preliminary checking, piled up in the corridor. If the collected films are sent unchecked directly into the film vault those may cause damage to other films, the clarification added.
The clarification also mentioned that in response to The Daily Star correspondent's query regarding BFA ordinance and policies, the director general declined to make any comment on the issues as the matter lies with the ministry for decision.
The report lastly mentioned some recent activities and progress made to modernise BFA. The BFA also clarified that the total number of celluloid films, DVDs and DV cams collection is 2836, not2,538 as mentioned in the report OUR REPLY
Regarding Devdas The Daily Star report mentioned that the film was found being cleaned manually and using bare hands at the time The Daily Star correspondent visited the BFA film preservation vaults.
The point the report of The Daily Star raised was that manual cleaning system was causing damage to the film which different film experts and directors supported in their comments in the report.
The clarification says the quality of the film was not good when it was collected during the 1980's. And the reporter found that even the bad quality of the film is still being cleaned and preserved manually and using bare hands. Moreover, the duplicate print of the film prepared for preservation is being cleaned in the same way using bare hands and manually.
Regarding temperature. The Daily Star reporter stayed for around two hours in the BFA film vault when there was load shedding for about an hour and there was no generator and the temperature in the film vault was more than 30°C. And load shedding is frequent in the BFA rented house, preservers said.
The Daily Star reporter stayed inside the vault for an hour after the power supply resumed and the temperature inside the film vault was aro und 30°C during the whole period.
BFA preservers said even though they claim to maintain temperature of 18°c in the vault they can hardly maintain the temperature due to frequent load sheddingand the window-type air conditioner used for maintaining temperature.
Preservers preferring anonymity also added that humidity cannot be controlled as per standard as the humidifier they have is meant for domestic use, not for such an important and huge job.
Regarding piled up rusty film cans our reply is that those remained fallen for about a month in the BFA corridor unattended. The BFA preserver could not check any of them since collection. Moreover, preservers even said drugaddicts have access to the corridor and they feared that those might be stolen.
And many of over 400 tin-made cans still in use at the BFA have beco me rusty.
If the BFA preservers' statement is taken into account, our point is that when there are possibilities of films bcingstolen then is it reasonable to keep such important films in the corridor in the name of checking?
The fact about the recent activities and progress the clarification mentioned was published in bo th The Daily Star reports.