After a career of more than 40 years in the field of audiovisual archiving, a true giant of our profession will soon celebrate his last day at the office.

Eminence grise as much as a true gentleman Jean Varra acted until very recently as the head of INA’s technical department. As such he can be considered one of the founding fathers of INA’s Plan de Sauvegarde et de Numérisation, globally still one of the biggest audiovisual digitisation efforts ever. However, Jean’s unstoppable passion and interest also made him a well known protagonist on the international stages. Deeply involved in several research projects of the Presto series he significantly contributed to the setting of standards in audiovisual preservation on a global scale. Long standing member of the Preservation & Migration Commission he most actively influenced audiovisual archiving policies and practices with FIAT/IFTA’s members. His contributions to FIAT/IFTA conferences and seminars were uncountable and of a constant, exceptionnally high technical level.

Jean Varra combined the unique capabilities of a researcher and a team manager as well as those of a passionate teacher. Literally hundreds of audiovisual archiving professionals, educated at master programmes at INASUP or in shorter courses as FRAME still on a daily basis take profit from his knowledge and the way he arduously spread it.

Humbly acknowledging his exceptional merits the FIAT/IFTA community thanks Jean Varra for his countless efforts in the interest of our profession and wishes him all the best during this new phase of life.

Photocredits: Marcin Oliva Soto