Nalu Film Foundation preserving action sports archives
The Californer/10340887

MISSION VIEJO, Calif. - Californer -- Nalu Film Foundation Launches to Preserve the Cultural History of Surfing and Action Sports by Protecting Iconic Movies, Film, Video, and Photo Archives

The Nalu Film Foundation (nalufilmfoundation.org) is a new 501(c)(3) non‑profit dedicated to preserving the historically important images of surfing and other major action sports. The foundation is actively rescuing, stabilizing, restoring, digitizing, and archiving completed movies, raw film negatives, videotape footage, still photographs, and print art.

The awesome splendor of surfing and other action sports is preserved not only in memory but in the dramatic visual images of these iconic moments. These images create legends and reinforce the distinctive culture. Film negatives, videotapes, slides, prints, and other analog formats are subject to chemical decay and damage from improper storage, deteriorating daily, and require urgent preservation. All digital formats, and the hard drives which they are stored on, must be backed up to a secure, tape-based format designed for long-term data archiving.

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The Nalu Film Foundation was created to provide a professional response to the problems: secure collection, climate‑controlled storage, expert restoration, high‑quality digitization, magnetic tape storage technology for long-term archiving, and precise cataloging so these visual histories remain accessible to athletes, filmmakers, researchers, and everyone. This way, we will permanently preserve the actions and legends of these tremendous athletes.

"Motion or still, every iconic image tells a story about the moment, the surfer, the guy behind the lens, and the whole culture and history of that era," said Derek Hoffmann, Executive Director of the Nalu Film Foundation. "If we don't act now to stabilize and digitize these archives, we risk losing landmark work and firsthand records of the evolution of surfing (and other action sports). Our goal is to partner with filmmakers, photographers, creators, families, companies, and everyone so that these legacies are secure and available for our generation, and the generations to follow."

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The foundation will operate through partnerships with supporters: independent filmmakers, photographers, other foundations, companies, athletes, families, and individuals. The immediate goals include intake assessment for archive collections, prioritizing the restoration and digitization of at‑risk materials, and establishing a searchable digital archive.  The Nalu Film Foundation seeks financial support, donations of important archive collections, related resources, equipment, and, most importantly, partners like you to fulfill the mission.

Ready to support the mission or have ideas to share? We look forward to hearing from you.

Contact: Derek Hoffmann, Executive Director, Nalu Film Foundation
https://nalufilmfoundation.org/