Hyderabad, Aug 21 (IANS): Media and entertainment company Viacom18 and Film Heritage Foundation (FHF) on Tuesday announced that the fifth film preservation and restoration workshop will be held in Hyderabad in December this year.

The week-long workshop, scheduled to begin on December 8, will have participation from India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan.

FHF founder Shivendra Singh Dungarpur and Viacom18 Group CEO and MD Sudhanshu Vats announced the workshop in the presence of actors Akkineni Nagarjuna, Amala and legendary director K. Vishwanath.

FHF and Viacom18 have been partnering for four years to create awareness for the need to preserve and restore both films and film-related photographic and paper materials.

They are trying to achieve this through intensive training during the annual week-long film preservation and restoration workshops.

The earlier workshops were held in Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and Kolkata.

This time we have extended our partnership to bring our message of preservation and training in this specialized field to the Telugu Film industry that has been an integral part of Indian cinema and has given the industry a galaxy of talented directors, actors and musicians not only on a regional level but also for the Indian film industry at large," said Sudhanshu Vats.

"Film is an art form. It is history in motion and a reflection of the times we live in. That is why films must be saved, " said Shivendra Singh Dungarpur.