The online retrospectives of Filmarchiv Austria

Ever since the first lockdown, the Filmarchiv Austria responded with the offer of a curated online program. A concept with a future, as it turned out, because the digital Home theater has meanwhile established itself as an opportunity for broad access to Austria’s film heritage and has since regularly accompanied the retrospectives shown in the METRO Kinokulturhaus.

There are still a few days left to watch the retrospective celebrating the 25 years of Amour Fou, available free of charge. The production company, while being relatively young, has a portfolio of over 100 works (as of September 2020) that showcases a special passion and great artistic visions.

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A Season of Classic Films: online premiere with the newly restored ‘Sinner without a sin’

The second edition of A Season of Classic Films will premiere on Friday 4 December at 19:00 CET with a free online worldwide streaming of the newly restored 1930 film Sinner without a sin. Yugoslovenska Kinoteka will provide the streaming service via its YouTube channel, while the screening at its premises in Belgrade, Serbia, will take place at a later date based on the latest COVID-19 measures.

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Official opening of the new building of the Montenegrin Cinematheque


News from our colleagues  in Montenegro:

Montenegrin Cinematheque and Music Centre of Montenegro have officially started their work at the new building on the 3rd November, the day of opening ceremony which was attended by the President of Montenegro, the Mayor of Podgorica and the Minister of Culture.

After two decades of waiting, we can say with great pleasure that the Cinematheque met all the needs for starting  its activities in conditions that fulfill the standards of modern film archives.

In its new space, the Cinematheque has at its disposal adequate depots for preserving copies of film negatives and  positives, as well as editing rooms which serve for working with digital and analogue materials.

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A brief report from the November ACE executive committee’s meeting

The ACE executive committee met via Zoom on Wednesday November 11. The committee discussed the results of the ‘Survey on Future Digital Services’ sent to the Associates. 33 archives answered and this gave a good snapshot of the digital activities and needs of ACE members right now. The two main subjects that have emerged from the survey: the capacities and limitations in the archives for working with their own assets, and the common desire of the members for external collaboration and the future growth of their own platforms. The clear takeaway is the need for a common platform to bring people into closer communication with their colleagues from other institutions. It was also discussed the need to use the best practices developed for i-Media Cities for EFG. It was suggested the possibility of creating a digital task force for the project. EC has two different tasks: to ensure the sustainability and development of EFG and IMC, and the second one is to discuss the requests/wishes coming out from the survey.

The creation of a technical experts working group is necessary to draft a project for the further development of these ideas and platforms. The Romanian Film archive expressed a desire to join the EFG platform but four more members are needed to fulfill our obligation under the new DSI-4 grant to continue to grow the number of contributors.

During the future months, it’s vital to follow the associates in different countries facing the adoption of the Directive (EU) 2019/790 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market.

World Day for Audiovisual Heritage: A report of the initiatives organised by ACE members

The 27th of October saw the celebration of the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage, a key initiative for both UNESCO and the Coordinating Council of Audiovisual Archives Associations (CCAAA) to honor audiovisual preservation professionals and institutions that safeguard our heritage for future generations. Around the world audiovisual archives join together annually on this day to celebrate their work with events that not only highlight the vulnerability of these valuable materials, but also to celebrate the often, unheralded work of the institutions that provide protection and preservation, ensuring their availability in the future. This year the theme of the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage was“Your Window to the World”.

Here you can find the initiatives organised by ACE members for the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage:

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A Season of Classic Films – Programme Catalogue

This publication presents the film titles selected for the second edition of A Season of Classic Films. It provides a colourful palette of European cinema history which aims to be a source of inspiration for cinemagoers and film programmers around the world. The films are presented by 22 members of the Association of European Cinematheques (Association des Cinémathèques Européennes – ACE).

The 22 partner institutions selected a total of over 50 short and long-feature films, showcasing distinguished titles and less known treasures. Most of the films are new digital restorations and some screenings include exciting elements such as live performances and experimental electronic music.

 

Download: A Season of Classic Films – programme catalogue

 

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Film Restored 2020 – A celebration of European film heritage

The fifth edition of the festival Film Restored, organized by the Deutsche Kinemathek, will welcome films and guests from all over Europe to celebrate film heritage from October 27 through November 1. The Festival will take place on location in Berlin in compliance with sanitary restrictions. Film Restored is pleased to present 21 films from 15 countries, films that have been produced, passed down and restored thanks to European cooperation. The events at Arsenal Cinema will be complemented by digital offers such as film screenings with introductions in order to make them accessible to a broader audience.

The program features new restorations, such as the opening night feature film “Kuhle Wape” (Slatan Dudow, 1932), the original version of “Ekstase” (Gustav Machatý, 1933) and “Love, Life and Laughter” (George Pearson, 1923), long thought to be lost. These new restorations include a number of movies from the silent era which will be shown for the first time in decades with live music to accompany them. The program will be completed with a series of lectures about restoration work, lectures and panel discussions.

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The new Season of Classic Films to be presented at Festival Lumière

After the success in 2019 with more than 15.000 people participating, ‘A Season of Classic Films’ is back for its second edition in December.

Led this year by the Association des Cinémathèques Européennes (ACE) with the funding of the European Commission under the cross-sectoral strand of Creative Europe programme, this initiative will be presented on 15 October at the Festival Lumière in Lyon. The festival, focusing on the history of cinema, will host a special afternoon around ‘Europe and Heritage’ where Sandra den Hamer, ACE president and Eye Filmmuseum director, and Maria Silvia Gatta, representative from the European Commission DG CNECT, will explain the details of the outreach project and other policies and trends to keep supporting and modernising European film heritage.

The second edition of the Season of Classic Films will consist of a series of free screenings planned between December 2020 and June 2021 across Europe to raise awareness of the work of European national and regional film archives, especially among young adults. Most of the films are new digital restorations and some screenings include exciting elements such as live performances and experimental electronic music. With 22 participating institutions, this initiative particularly aims to support the reopening of European film archives, all affected by the Covid19 crisis.

A map including the list of cities and films will be soon available via this page.

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A big closing event for Le Giornate del Cinema Muto

Le Giornate del Cinema Muto festival from Pordenone (Italy) will close with a big event via streaming and in presence. Thanks to Lobster Films from Paris and to the American Library of Congress, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy will be the protagonists of the special closing event “Laurel o Hardy” available on streaming at 8:30 PM CEST Saturday 10th October with a live musical accompaniment by Neil Brand. The event will be repeated the following day in presence at 4.30 PM CEST at the Verdi Theatre in Pordenone with a live musical accompaniment by the Zerorchestra.

The films screened during this event want to highlight the genius of Laurel and Hardy that was evident even before they first teamed up. Le Giornate del Muto have decided to present 5 riotous shorts that precede their legendary partnership, each one joyfully showcasing their individual talents.

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‘A Season of Classic Films’ to be presented on Monday 31 August at Il Cinema Ritrovato


Gian Luca Farinelli, on behalf of Sandra Den Hamer (ACE’s President), will announce on Monday the Season of Classic Films initiative at Il Cinema Ritrovato festival.

This will happen during the conversation between Thierry Frémaux and Gian Luca Farinelli on Monday 31st at twelve o’clock at Cinema Lumiere (Sala Officinema/Mastroianni). At the end of the conversation Gian Luca Farinelli will present the trailer of the project.

It’s possible to follow the event online on the Festival’s streaming website:
https://www.mymovies.it/ondemand/cinema-ritrovato/

and also on ACE’s FB page:
https://www.facebook.com/AssociationdesCinemathequesEuropeennes/

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