Andrea Kalas is one of the leading figures in global film and media preservation. She currently serves as Vice President of Media and Archival Services at Iron Mountain, where she leads large-scale preservation, digitisation, and access projects for studios, museums, and cultural institutions worldwide.

Her career spans UCLA Film and Television Archive, the British Film Institute, Discovery Communications, Paramount Pictures, and DreamWorks. She has overseen the restoration and preservation of more than 2,000 titles — including The Godfather — and is a former President of AMIA, the Association of Moving Image Archivists.

In this episode, Andrea talks honestly about the challenges facing film and media archives today: the ticking clock on magnetic tape, why digitisation is not the finish line for moving image archiving, and why below-zero storage remains one of the most powerful tools preservationists have. She also explores what AI could genuinely unlock for archive access, the impact of federal funding cuts on cultural collections, and the restoration of Wings (1927) — from deteriorated nitrate film to a full sound presentation.

Plus the principle every archivist lives by: one copy is no copies.

The Archive Room is a podcast about archival footage, film restoration, media rights, and the people who dedicate their careers to keeping the world's film and television heritage alive. If you work in documentary filmmaking, moving image archiving, or the film and TV industry, this is the conversation for you. New episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and iHeartRadio.