8 June 2011 – More than 10,000 titles of dossiers relating to films, personalities and other categories can now be researched online. Within the next years, this number will increase to over 50,000 dossiers.  The database allows he materials themselves cannot be displayed or downloaded. Detailed information about the content of each individual dossier can be obtained by an online request. The “results list” represents the materials held by the Museum, which can then be viewed on-site with requests made in advance.

Please visit our website to explore the collection:

http://www.filmmuseum.at/en/collections/ephemeral_paper_and_documents_collection

Acquisition of film-related materials and documents by the Film Museum dates back to the founding of the institution in 1964.

The collection contains materials and documents produced throughout the process of making movies, such as treatments, scripts, promotional materials, press kits, screening invitations, advertisements, reviews, distribution catalogs, magazines, newspaper articles and clippings, as well as unbound documents which may contain brief film descriptions or production-related information. These documents include filmmaker bios and filmographies, interviews, obituaries, and correspondence including letters, postcards and greeting cards. Another aspect of the collection is focused on film festivals, exhibitions and retrospectives, as well as technical developments in cinema and film projection, represented through materials such as program notes, exhibition catalogs, brochures and manuals.

These materials are stored in acid-free paper envelopes (numbered consecutively) in files separated into categories: Film, Personalities, Institutions, Companies, Film Festivals, Exhibitions/Retrospectives, and Technical. The file titles and groups are searchable via the database. Screenplays, along with festival and rental catalogs are stored separately.

It is the Museum’s policy to make as many materials as possible available to students as well as scholars. Open and “barrier-free” access to the collections via online search helps create transparency as well as a connection to both academics and researchers.