Flemish film heritage mapped out in detail
27 Oct 2022From reportage to amateur film, Flemish collections contain a wealth of motion pictures, which is why we’ve teamed up with CINEMATEK to save and preserve these insights into our past – so that we can still watch them tomorrow and 100 years from now. And we’ve already reached a first milestone, with more than 15,000 films from 61 Flemish heritage institutions registered already. This has given us, for the first time, a much clearer overview of our very fragmented film landscape – with new content still appearing on the radar all the time.
In 2013, we carried out an investigation into the state of Flanders’ film heritage and discovered that lots of heritage libraries, archives, museums, arts organisations and government bodies are sitting on a mountain of film stock, which isn’t always in very good condition. That’s why – since 2015 – we’ve been working together with CINEMATEK to rescue this valuable heritage.
At least 15,000 films from 61 content partners have already passed through CINEMATEK’s capable hands already, but our work here isn’t done yet. So what does the registration entail, exactly? Why is it so important? What does it all mean for collection managers? And what should be prioritised for digitisation? Find out in this mini documentary.
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Read more about film
Film registration finesse
How many film spools does each organisation have? What is the ratio between black-and-white and colour films? And what about threatened film? Project manager Céline shares details about the film project in a detailed whitepaper.
VRT collection
The public broadcaster has its own extensive film collection. Last year, together with our support, they completed the technical registration of their 53,221 film and audio spools.
There is life after registration
Registration isn’t the final destination, of course. We repackage and digitise our content partners’ films in various stages, starting with those most threatened. This year, that includes nitrate film.