Southeast Asia to Host Audiovisual Preservation & Programming Gatherings in June 2026

This June, Southeast Asia will serve as a meaningful meeting point for the cultural preservation community, hosting three consecutive conferences in Malaysia and Thailand. From June 7 to 21, 2026, archivists, film scholars, film programmers and curators will gather in Malaysia and Thailand to discuss the ongoing work of safeguarding the world’s moving image and sound heritage, and have dialogues on the scholarly and curatorial reflections of this heritage.

The sequential scheduling of these events allows global colleagues to coordinate their travel across the region. This circuit offers professionals a practical opportunity to engage with SEAPAVAA in Ipoh, Malaysia, before continuing to GAVA's collaborative dialogues and ACPAC's curatorial reflections at the Thai Film Archive in Salaya.

The 30th SEAPAVAA Conference

• Dates: June 7–11, 2026
• Host: National Archives of Malaysia 
• Location: Hotel Casuarina @ Meru (Ipoh, Malaysia)
• Official website: seapavaaconference.com
• Theme: "Redefining AudioVisual in Archives – Relevancy, Technology and Unity"
• Overview: Celebrating its landmark 30th edition, the SouthEast Asia-Pacific Audio Visual Archive Association (SEAPAVAA), dedicated to audiovisual archiving development, focuses on strengthening regional capabilities, modernizing archival infrastructure, and fostering robust training and networking.

The 3rd Global Audiovisual Archiving Conference (GAVA 2026)

• Dates: June 15–18, 2026
• Host and Location: Thai Film Archive (Public Organization) (Salaya, near Bangkok, Thailand)
• Official website: fapot.or.th/gava2026
• Theme: "Outside of the Frame"
• Overview: Following highly successful iterations in Amsterdam (2022) and Toronto (2024), GAVA’s third edition travels to Thailand. Guided by an international advisory board of archivists and scholars, GAVA serves as a crucial biennial platform for open dialogue. It aims to bridge cultural, institutional, and economic divides across the global archival landscape, presenting an international program packed with collaborative panel sessions.

The 2nd Association for Curators and Programmers of Asian Cinemas Conference (ACPAC 2026)

• Dates: June 19–21, 2026
• Host and Location: Thai Film Archive (Public Organization) (Salaya, near Bangkok, Thailand)
• Official website: acpacnet.org/annual-conference-2026/
• Theme: "Exploring the Decoloniality of Film Curation and Programming"
• Overview: Overlapping seamlessly with the conclusion of GAVA, the 2nd Annual ACPAC Conference will deep-dive into the political, historical, and ethical dimensions of film programming. The conference will examine how Asian cinemas can dismantle colonial curation frameworks, establishing more localized, inclusive, and representative narratives for global audiences.