Introduction
The World Day for Audiovisual Heritage reminds us why preserving images, films, and sound matters more than ever.
Every day, millions of photos and videos vanish into digital noise forgotten hard drives, broken links, deleted memories.
In a world where stories disappear as quickly as they’re shared, there’s a group of people quietly holding time still: the photographers, videographers, and storytellers who capture what truly matters.
Since 2005, every 27 October has been dedicated by UNESCO as the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage — a day to celebrate those who protect the world’s visual and sonic memory.
At BONGEREH, we believe their work is not just art it’s legacy.
Why Audiovisual Heritage Matters
When a photographer clicks the shutter or a filmmaker presses record, they’re not just documenting a moment they’re protecting identity, emotion, and truth.
Audiovisual archives, photos, films, and sound are how future generations will understand who we were, what we valued, how we felt, and what connected us.
According to UNESCO, up to 80% of audiovisual collections worldwide are not adequately safeguarded.
Much of the 20th-century heritage has already been lost to decay, neglect, or lack of resources.
When we lose these materials, we don’t just lose art we lose perspective, context, and culture.
“Every image you capture, every frame you preserve, becomes part of our shared memory.” BONGEREH
For the Storytellers Behind the Lens
This day belongs to you
the ones who chase light, preserve emotion, and tell stories that words can’t.
Your patience, your eye for detail, your persistence they matter more than you know.
Behind every photograph lies dedication.
Behind every clip, care.
And behind every project, the belief that stories deserve to last.
In Kabul, during the late 1990s, that belief became an act of courage.
When the Taliban sought to destroy Afghanistan’s film archives, Habibullah Ali and his team at Afghan Film risked their lives to hide thousands of reels in false ceilings and behind walls.
Those cans of celluloid nearly 7,000 films survived decades of conflict and are now being restored and digitised.
Years later, filmmaker Sahraa Karimi, the first woman to head Afghan Film, called on the global arts community to protect both artists and archives as the regime returned in 2021.
Their courage is a reminder that heritage doesn’t survive by accident
it survives because someone chooses to remember.
At BONGEREH, we see you your effort, your craft, and your purpose.
Because what you do every day keeps the world’s visual memory alive.
How BONGEREH Supports Creators
Through art, storytelling, and community, BONGEREH works to bridge cultures and generations.
We collaborate with photographers, videographers, and creative storytellers who see heritage not as history but as a living story.
Through exhibitions, digital archives, and cultural storytelling, we help artists turn memory into movement.
From workshops to documentary projects, our goal is simple:
to keep culture alive through creativity.
A Call to Preserve Together
The future of our stories depends on what we choose to protect today.
Because if we stop recording, the world stops remembering.
To every visual artist, filmmaker, and cultural documentarian
thank you.
Your work matters.
You’re keeping the world’s stories alive.
💬 Join us in celebrating the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage.
Share your work with #BONGEREH and #WorldAudiovisualHeritageDay,
and help us keep memory alive.
Sources:
UNESCO — Towards Sustainable Preservation and Accessibility of Documentary Heritage
The Guardian — The Afghan Archivists Who Saved Their Nation’s Films from the Taliban
UNESCO — Sahraa Karimi and the Call to Protect Afghan Film Heritage
ICCROM — SOIMA: Facts and Figures on Sound and Image Collections
National Archives of South Africa — Audiovisual Heritage Overview