Originally established in 1979 as the Vietnam Film Documentation Institute, the Vietnam Film Institute has been appointed by the government of Vietnam to undertake research studies on the art of cinema and to archive its country’s cinematic and audiovisual heritage. The Institute is a member of the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) and a founding member of the South East Asia-Pacific Audio Visual Archives Association (SEAPAVAA), enjoying full institutional membership of the latter organisation. The Institute hosted SEAPAVAA's General Assembly in 1998 and again in 2004. Its headquarters at Kim Mã Street in Hanoi incorporate a film restoration laboratory, a film studio and two film vaults housing 84,000 cans of film. Further film archive facilities are available at the Vietnam Centre for Film Research and Archive, the Institute’s branch office in Ho Chi Minh City. The Institute archives deposited copies of each Vietnam ese film approved for distribution by the National Film Censorship Committee and of foreign films which have research value or relate to Vietnam , as well as undertaking all necessary preservation work in relation to films, documents and stills belonging to the National Conservation Fund. The Institute also provides films for public exhibition through cine-clubs, universities and research institutions throughout Vietnam and exchanges film prints and documents with film organisations overseas with a view to strengthening friendly relations between Vietnam and other countries in the cinematic field. In addition to functioning as Vietnam ’s national film archives, the Vietnam Film Institute is charged with the task of undertaking research into the theory, history and sociology of cinema with a view to predicting its developmental tendencies in Vietnam , a function which is also carried out by its Ho Chi Minh City branch, the Vietnam Centre for Film Research and Archive.