The BFI National Archive is a department of the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...

, and one of the largest

film archives An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or ...

in the world. It was founded as the National Film Library in 1935; its first curator was

Ernest Lindgren Ernest Lindgren (3 October 1910 – 22 July 1973) was a British film archivist and writer. Career Lindgren joined the British Film Institute in February 1934 as Information Officer, and became the first curator of the National Film Library ...

. In 1955, its name became the National Film Archive, and, in 1992, the National Film and Television Archive. It was renamed BFI National Archive in 2006. It collects, preserves, restores, and shares the films and television programmes which have helped to shape and record British life and times since the development of cine film in the late 19th century. The majority of the collection is British originated material, but it also features internationally significant holdings from around the world. The Archive also collects films which feature key British actors and the work of British directors. The collections themselves are accommodated on several sites. The J. Paul Getty, Jr. Conservation Centre in

Berkhamsted Berkhamsted ( ) is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, in the Bulbourne valley, north-west of London. The town is a civil parish with a town council within the borough of Dacorum which is based in the neighbouring large new town ...

, Hertfordshire, named after its benefactor, is the base for much of the restoration work, while approximately 140 million feet of unstable

nitrate film Nitrocellulose (also known as cellulose nitrate, flash paper, flash cotton, guncotton, pyroxylin and flash string, depending on form) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose through exposure to a mixture of nitric acid and ...

and all the master film collection held on acetate or other media is kept separately at a BFI storage site at

Gaydon Gaydon is a civil parish and village in Warwickshire, England, situated between Leamington Spa and Banbury. In the 2001 census, the parish had a population of 376, increasing to 446 at the 2011 Census. The village is at the junction of the ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...

BFI New Master Film Store Gaydon - offices

Preservation

Berkhamsted, The BFI National Archive Kingshill site - geograph

Film preservation Film preservation, or film restoration, describes a series of ongoing efforts among film historians, archivists, museums, cinematheques, and non-profit organizations to rescue decaying film stock and preserve the images they contain. In the wid ...

is an ongoing project among filmmakers, historians, archivists, museums, and nonprofit organisations to rescue deteriorating film stock and preserve the recorded image. In recent years the BFI National Archive has completed a number of much anticipated restorations of a diverse range of film titles. This has included the

Mitchell and Kenyon The Mitchell & Kenyon film company was a pioneer of early commercial motion pictures based in Blackburn in Lancashire, England, at the start of the 20th century. They were originally best known for minor contributions to early fictional narrative ...

collection, which consists almost entirely of actuality films commissioned by travelling fairground operators for showing at local fairgrounds or other venues across the UK in the early part of the twentieth century. Other notable recent restorations include: * Alfred Hitchcock's nine surviving silent feature films *'' Love, Life and Laughter (1923)'' *''

The Epic of Everest ''The Epic of Everest'' is a 1924 documentary about the Mallory and Irvine Mount Everest expedition. After a digital restoration in 2013, the film was re-released in UK cinemas. The publicity surrounding the film provoked a diplomatic incident, ...

'' (1924) *'' The Great White Silence (1924)'' *'' Shooting Stars'' (dir. Anthony Asquith, 1927) *''

The Battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands ''The Battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands'' is a 1927 British docudrama film directed by Walter Summers. The film focuses on the naval warfare around the Battle of Coronel and Battle of the Falkland Islands during the First World War. It wa ...

'' (1927) *'' Shiraz: A Romance of India (1928)'' *'' The First Born (1928)'' *''

Underground Underground most commonly refers to: * Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth Underground may also refer to: Places * The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston * The Underground ...

'' (dir.

Anthony Asquith Anthony William Landon Asquith (; 9 November 1902 – 20 February 1968) was an English film director. He collaborated successfully with playwright Terence Rattigan on ''The Winslow Boy'' (1948) and '' The Browning Version'' (1951), among oth ...

, 1928) *'' The Informer (1929)'' *'' The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933)'' *'' Hell Drivers (1957)'' *'' Night of the Demon (1957)'' *'' The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961)'' *'' Women in Love (1969)'' *'' Jabberwocky (1977)''

Collections

The collection now known as the BFI National Archive was founded as the National Film Library in 1935 by

, who was the first curator. The BFI National Archive now comprises over 275,000 titles in total consisting of feature, non-fiction, short films (dating from 1894), 210,000 television programmes and some artists' films. It is one of the largest film collections in the world. Notable collections include: *

collection *

GPO Film Unit The GPO Film Unit was a subdivision of the UK General Post Office. The unit was established in 1933, taking on responsibilities of the Empire Marketing Board Film Unit. Headed by John Grierson, it was set up to produce sponsored documentary films ...

collection * Central Office of Information (COI) film collection *

Chaplin Chaplin may refer to: People * Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977), English comedy film actor and director * Chaplin (name), other people named Chaplin Films * '' Unknown Chaplin'' (1983) * ''Chaplin'' (film) (1992) * ''Chaplin'' (2011 film), Ben ...

Out-Takes collection The archive holds 20,000 silent films including, Cecil Hepworth's '' Alice in Wonderland'' (1903), and actively collects artists' moving images. In addition to moving image materials the Special Collections hold the records of filmmakers and institutions. Significant collections include: *

Michael Powell Michael Latham Powell (30 September 1905 – 19 February 1990) was an English filmmaker, celebrated for his partnership with Emeric Pressburger. Through their production company The Archers, they together wrote, produced and directed a seri ...

and

Emeric Pressburger Emeric Pressburger (born Imre József Pressburger; 5 December 19025 February 1988) was a Hungarian-British screenwriter, film director, and producer. He is best known for his series of film collaborations with Michael Powell, in a collaborat ...

Carol Reed Sir Carol Reed (30 December 1906 – 25 April 1976) was an English film director and producer, best known for '' Odd Man Out'' (1947), '' The Fallen Idol'' (1948), ''The Third Man'' (1949), and ''Oliver!'' (1968), for which he was awarded the ...

* David Lean *

Ken Loach Kenneth Charles Loach (born 17 June 1936) is a British film director and screenwriter. His socially critical directing style and socialist ideals are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as poverty ('' Poor Cow'', 1967), homelessn ...

Derek Jarman Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman (31 January 1942 – 19 February 1994) was an English artist, film maker, costume designer, stage designer, writer, gardener and gay rights activist. Biography Jarman was born at the Royal Victoria Nursing Home ...

Alan Parker Sir Alan William Parker (14 February 1944 – 31 July 2020) was an English filmmaker. His early career, beginning in his late teens, was spent as a copywriter and director of television advertisements. After about ten years of filming adverts ...

Films and television programmes are acquired mainly by donation or, in the case of independent television, via funding direct from the TV companies. Emphasis is placed on British productions but whenever possible important and popular movies from overseas are also acquired. Films from the Archive have also acted as material for the BFI's programme of artists' moving image commissions, most notably through the programme of the BFI Gallery, the contemporary art space dedicated to artists' moving image active at

BFI Southbank BFI Southbank (from 1951 to 2007, known as the National Film Theatre) is the leading repertory cinema in the UK, specialising in seasons of classic, independent and non-English language films. It is operated by the British Film Institute. His ...

between 2007 and 2011, including

Patrick Keiller Patrick Keiller (born 1950) is a British film-maker, writer and lecturer. Biography Keiller was born in 1950, in Blackpool and studied at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London. In 1979 he joined the Royal College of Art ...

Deimantas Narkevicious Deimantas is a Lithuanian masculine given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that perso ...

, Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard,

Susan Pui San Lok Susan is a feminine given name, from Persian "Susan" (lily flower), from Egyptian ''c:Lotus flower (hieroglyph), sšn'' and Coptic ''shoshen'' meaning "lotus flower", from Hebrew ''Shoshana'' meaning "lily" (in modern Hebrew this also means "ros ...

.Fabrizi, Elisabetta, 'Is This Cinema?', in Balsom, E., Perks, S., Reynolds, L., (Ed.), 'Artists' Moving Image in Britain from 1989', Paul Mellon Foundation/Yale University Press, 2019.

References

External links

British Film InstituteBFI National ArchiveEuropean Film archives
{{Authority control 1935 establishments in the United Kingdom Archives in the United Kingdom Berkhamsted National Archive Film archives in the United Kingdom Film organisations in the United Kingdom History of television in the United Kingdom Television organisations in the United Kingdom Television archives in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1935 The National Archives (United Kingdom)

Preservation

Collections

See also

References

External links