Journal of Film Preservation - FIAF

worlds. He was a writer whose work knew no boundaries between
professional and amateur, between the commercial world and the art
world, between fiction and non-fiction, between the experienced and
the emerging. Erik’s humor and wit still ring in many of our ears. His
editorial vision was flawless, spontaneous, and always, always lasersharp.
But above all, Erik’s legacy resonates to insist that optimism,
generosity, and unbridled enthusiasm and inquiry for all human
effort - whether in media or life - are the only media that really
matters.
All of us in the fields of film, television, video, communications and
new media will miss him. But I suspect his inspiring spirit wafts
through all of our classrooms, our archives, our productions, our
writing. Like a clear, cool wind, it clears out the pollen, pushes us to
engage a clearer vision, and reminds us that communication is truly
about connecting with people across any divide.
Memorial services in Vermont and New York will be arranged and
will be posted soon.
In Memoriam Hammy Sotto (1950-2001)
Clodualdo del Mundo
Agustin Sotto, Hammy to his friends and associates, passed away on
the 24th of April 2001, at the age of 51.
Film was Hammy’s passion, equalled only, perhaps by his love for the
opera. But, undoubtedly, his obsession was film research. It must be
this obsession that moved him to organize a group that would be
devoted to film archiving. How else can film research develop
without the support of a solid film archiving program? Film archiving
was virtually non-existent in the Philippines, then, but the group
decided to call itself the Society of Film Archivists (SOFIA). In 1993,
as a result of the 1993 ASEAN Conference of Film and Video
Archiving to which Hammy headed the Philippine delegation, the
organization was formed with Hammy as its founding president.
Their goal was to save significant Filipino films that were
deteriorating into oblivion.
Hammy was one of those instrumental in making film archiving a
key program of the ASEAN Committee on Culture and Information.
With the Comprehensive Program for audiovisual archiving in the
region drawn, the stage was set for the confederation of audio-visual
archivists in Southeast Asia. In 1996, the Southeast Asia Pacific
Audiovisual Archive Association (SEAPAVAA) was formed and
Hammy was elected to represent the associate members in its first
Executive Council.
Hammy was a teacher, he taught at De La Salle University and at the
University of the Philippines. He was a critic and the chair of the
78 Journal of Film Preservation / 63 / 2001