Since the FIAF General Assembly is approaching, we would like to share with the ACE members and the general public a brief report of what the film archives that compose ACE have accomplished in the past six months and our plans for the future.
The ACE Executive Committee has continued its regular meeting schedule. Our communication tools are growing, and other networking meetings are planned for the near future to further strengthen them. We also hope to showcase our Members by posting their trailers and other promotional materials, such as virtual tours and digital offers, and perhaps filmed interviews with key staff members.
Since March 2020, film archives from all over Europe have been mostly closed because of the pandemic. Many of them have continued to offer a digital program to stay connected to their audiences at home. From online screenings to digital platforms and exhibitions, ACE members have adapted quickly and with creative solutions to the current situation. You can find on our website a selection of the online offer from our ACE members.
On behalf of ACE two representatives, from the Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique and Eye Filmmuseum, participated to the Technical Expert Group Meeting on the Establishment of the Out-of-commerce Works Portal (EUIPO) pursuant to Article 10 of the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market.
ACE has decided to award 5 (one more than last year) deserving participants of the 2020 FIAF Film Restoration Summer School with a scholarship in the amount of 750€: Katarzyna Balcerowska (Poland), Paulo Cartaxo (Portugal), Markus Maicher (Austria), Sophie Tupholme (United Kingdom) and Marko Turkus (Slovenia).
At the ACE General Assembly on Zoom on June 24th a new Executive Committee was elected as follows:
- Sandra den Hamer, Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam; president
- Mikko Kuutti, National Audiovisual Institute, Helsinki; secretary general
- Michal Bregant, Narodní filmový archiv – Czech National Film Archive, Prague; treasurer
- Thomas C. Christensen, Det Danske Filminstitut, Copenhagen
- Anna Fiaccarini, Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna
- Ellen Harrington, DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum, Frankfurt
- Tomas Leyers, Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique, Brussels
- Rui Machado, Cinemateca Portuguesa / Museu do Cinema, Lisbon
- Jugoslav Pantelić, Jugoslovenska Kinoteka, Belgrade
The international research project “ViCTOR-E – Visual Culture of Trauma, Obliteration and Reconstruction in Post-WW II Europe” in which ACE acts as an associated partner, has been presented at this year’s Annual Visible Evidence Conference. ViCTOR-E is part of the HERA research programme “Public Spaces: Culture and Integration in Europe”. More information is available on the ACE website.
Our ACE film series ‘A Season of Classics’ has begun with a series of online screenings Europe-wide during this time of theater closings, and 22 Archives are participating this year. For the project, a trailer and a catalogue have been produced. The funding for this growing and highly visible film series will be extended for another round next year, and we hope that even more of the ACE Member Archives will join the project. We have also made progress in the discussions with ARTE and Nina Goslar, and we hope to be able to offer an online version of the Season of Classics series in 2022 on both ARTE’s television channel and their website.
An in-person edition of Il Cinema Ritrovato will take place this summer, from the 20th to the 27th of July, and we are actively planning an in-person Workshop. The topics for the program include: ‘Reopening Our Cinemas Post-Pandemic,’ ‘New Platforms, VOD and Rights Clearance,’ and a panel of the impact and future of Film Education on a European scale.
ACE asked their members to participate in a survey with two main objectives: giving a general sense of where the film archives generally stand with regards to their publication efforts and finding out what they would expect from a digital service, should ACE decide to offer one. ACE posted the completed survey report on the ACE website and also initiated a “Digital Services Task Force” with several experts from different archives.
As a next step, an ACE Digital Services Task Force, led by Julia Welter and Kerstin Herlt, will host its first meeting in early May, with a report expected by the end of 2021. They are tasked with reviewing the results and developing recommendations, based on the wishes of the ACE Members:
- for a community platform for ACE members to improve collaboration and share knowledge;
- for possible other digital services that ACE can offer its members based on the survey results.
We are also very excited to announce that the European Film Gateway (EFG), which is maintained by ACE, has fifteen new contributing film archives. Seven of these Archives are joining as part of the VICTOR-E project, so a new thematic collection of Post-WWII film material will be available soon.
Our Annual General Assembly must take place before the end of June, so we will prepare an invitation for a virtual meeting again this year.