Meet the Archive, a EYE Filmmuseum initiative, showcases exceptional stories about (early) film history, highlights forgotten filmmakers, reports on new cooperations and shows what often remains hidden: the behind the scenes of the day-to-day programming.

Because of the coronavirus measures, this year Meet the Archive will not take place in Eye Filmmuseum itself. However since this year  marks the 75th anniversary of Eye, the collection specialists have created eight online installments of Meet the Archive to celebrate this milestone. The collection specialists will discuss the history of the collection, major conservation projects, and innovations in the area of restoration and screening practice.

The first two installments are already available on EYE’s Youtube channel:

Meet the Archive #1 | Innovation in film archiving: collecting, restoring and presenting by Rommy Albers

As part of the 75th anniversary of Eye Filmmuseum, this instalment deals with the history of what used to be the Nederlands Filmmuseum – now Eye Filmmuseum.

Drawing on three key Eye collections – the Uitkijk Archive, the Desmet Collection, and the films from the Biograph & Mutoscope Company – it showcases the development of Eye Filmmuseum highlighting the international breadth of the collection, research, and conservation practice and changes in terms of presentation.

We will then take a tour of the ‘milestones’ in restoration and digitalisation since the late 1980s: the first analogue colour conservation projects, the international workshops, and Bits and Pieces

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovyIdwG5myU

Meet the Archive #2 | Innovation in film archiving: restoration, digitization, research and access by Giovanna Fossati

This instalment illustrates some of Eye’s milestones in film restoration and digitization, and discusses Eye’s role in promoting research and innovative ways to engage with and access film collections. In particular, it explores: Eye’s work in the field of colour restoration from the late 1980s on; its first steps in digital restoration in the late 1990s; its pioneering role in large-scale digitization and access in the 2010s; and some of its innovative work in digital presentation (online and on-site).

The instalment ends with testimonies by five international colleagues who have worked closely with the museum throughout the years, inspired by Eye’s collection and activities: Joshua Yumibe (Michigan State University), Grazie Ingravalle (Brunel University London), Ulrich Ruedel (University of Applied Sciences, Berlin), Aki Kung and Gladys Lau (Reel to Reel Institute, Hong Kong).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNNqSa9UmSY

This is the planning for the next installments of Meet the Archive:

• #3 – 7 October: Reuse of archival films: new contexts, new meanings 
• #4 – 21 October: Reuse of archival films: the materiality of film & film and other media 
• #5  – 4 November: From Scopitone to 3D; apparatus collection, stereo-photograph and 8mm film on 3D
• #6 – 18 November: The Filmliga and the Origins of the Eye Collection
• #7 – 2 December: Archiving the legacy of Women in film: preserving and sharing
• #8 – 16 December: Archiving the legacy of Women in film: collaborations and networks