This year we are delighted to host the 2023 FOCAL Awards at the De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms on June 15th, we hope you can join us. Congratulations to all the shortlisted nominees.
2023 shortlisted nominations
R3store Studios
Archival highlights
Established in 2016, we have become a leading company for scanning, grading, and restoration services. With clients worldwide, including the UK and Ireland, we specialize in fast turnaround scans for feature films and TV shows. Our recent upgrades in storage and computers enable real-time 4K working and HDR grading, resulting in faster turnaround times and a broader range of services. We collaborate closely with Archive Researchers and Producers to understand their exact requirements, making them an integral part of our team for long-term projects. Additionally, we provide training and support to non-technical team members, and we encourage clients to visit us to ensure technical specifications are met. Our experienced team works with diverse clients, such as archives, museums, brands, and feature films. Notable recent projects include music documentaries and the digitization and restoration of the Guinness archive, including over 500 global adverts. We have also launched a podcast in collaboration with our sister company, featuring interviews with clients discussing their careers and projects.
Huntley Film Archives
Archival highlights
Huntley Film Archives had a productive year, now housing over 100,000 film elements. With a new film scanner, they accelerated the availability of films, listing 78,000 titles on their website by mid-April 2023, including 12,500 HD scans for immediate purchase. The website expands daily, offering 10 to 20 new HD films for researchers to search by keyword, decade, category, and color. Specialist areas like 1960s U.S. Civil Rights footage and Gulf area films were made available in HD. The company attended trade shows and visited film archives worldwide, expanding into overseas markets. They prioritize preserving and scanning rare 28mm prints and offer amateur films as a unique resource. The company also provides work placements and recently expanded their archive into a neighboring building to accommodate new prints.
Getty Images
Archival highlights
Getty Images, founded in 1995, is a renowned provider of visual assets with a library of 520 million assets and partnerships with 70 editorial content partners. Their video collection boasts over 23 million clips, including content from top editorial video producers. They pioneered the content partner model, facilitating the commercialization of digital content and serving as a distribution channel for non-digitized video content from iconic collections like BBC and NBC News Archives. Getty Images supports the TV and film production industry, assisting over 2,000 productions in 2022 across various genres. They offer services such as Proof of Concept, personalized account management, and improved response times. Getty Images invests in teams, processes, and customer feedback to enhance their offerings and continues to prioritize authenticity and accurate visual representation.
Graham Relton
Job Title::
Archive Manager
Company::
Yorkshire Film Archive
Archival highlights
In 2022 Graham celebrated 15 years at the Yorkshire and North East Film Archives. During this time, he has grown and shapeshifted into many different roles, from project and team management to film show presenter, footage salesperson, marketing/PR, curator to producer; however, at the heart of what he does is create access to the moving image collections of Yorkshire and the North East that he is so passionate about. His flexibility is crucial to the Archive’s success, but he is the first to say he couldn’t do his ‘bit’ without the whole team's hard work and the rich and diverse collections held in the vaults.
His knowledge of the collections is vast, but his willingness to help sets him apart. Graham endeavours to unlock the archives for you whether you’re a student, artist, museum curator, independent filmmaker, archive researcher or production company. This year alone, he’s supported hundreds of productions and archive producers representing the BBC, ITV, 72 Films, Wall to Wall Media, 35 Yard Development, Viacom, Les Films d'Ici and Florentine Films, to name a few.
Graham understands the power of the collections and how they can be repurposed and repackaged to engage traditional and non-traditional audiences. In 2022 Graham sourced, supplied and cleared an abundance of material for the StoryTrails AR/VR experiences and spectacular outdoor multimedia events in Bradford, Hull and Newcastle.
Graham’s ethos is ‘It’s not a vault full of films, it’s a vault full of stories’. He’s dedicated to supplying footage to clients efficiently and enthusiastically and uncovering and revealing the stories himself. In 2022 he conceived and executed ‘Seen to be Believed’: a standalone production booked by over 80 community and film groups (over 5000 people) screened as part of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations. He has been instrumental in the Archive’s TV Time Machine project, charting the history of television in the North, orchestrating events and presenting locality-based screenings. He has kickstarted the Archive’s Nature Matters project.
He was the lead Archive Producer on a cross-archive production, ‘Echoes of the North’, that brought early moving image heritage together with a new brass composition. Graham’s skill in this production was identifying and overseeing the archive content and having the vision to see a narrative that experienced editor Andy Burns could shape into this unique production.
That vision is a huge asset, perfectly demonstrated in a timely short film produced by Graham: ‘Cost of Living’. From the initial concept to supporting/securing funding, research and sourcing hundreds of clips, to curatorial support to filmmaker Andy Burns, managing donors and clearing rights, to project management, promotion and advocacy for the production, without Graham’s determination and drive this powerful and affecting film wouldn’t have come to fruition.
Graham is a proud champion of the Archive, its collections, its team and the industry. He goes above and beyond to make this rich film heritage accessible to all. He sometimes says, ‘don’t see the Archive as a service; see us as an extension of your team’.
Martin Lisius
Job Title:
Producer/Director/Founder
Company:
Prairie Pictures StormStock
Archival highlights
Martin Lisius continues to innovate and break new ground in the production of new footage content produced specifically for licensing. He carefully plans his shoots employing the same production techniques utilized by big budget feature films and commercials. The final product is sought out by top directors and producers worldwide. Lisius became the first-ever to offer 16K video footage for license thanks to a custom designed camera system he developed. He believes that licensable footage can be state-of-the-art and should always exceed what some in the market expect from "stock footage." His 30-year effort has had a positive impact on the industry by proving that stock footage can be among the best motion picture imagery ever captured.
Notable content produced and shot specifically for stock footage use by Martin Lisius: First-ever violent-class tornado on Super 35.
Only 4K footage of Hurricane Katrina making landfall in the world (2005).
One of the world's largest collections of storm and climate footage, beginning in 1993. Only 16K video footage in the world available for license.
Jo Griffin
Job Title:
Chief Operating Officer
Company:
R3store Studios
Archival highlights
I'm working on an archive heavy feature documentary that requires the handling and transfer of many precious, unique and fragile films. Jo Griffin at R3Store has been absolutely outstanding in accommodating the very particular and complex needs our project requires. Her patience and professionalism in handling the myriad of material we have sent has been truly impressive. All the archival material needs to be of the highest specification possible and the end results have far exceeded our expectations. Time and time again she has gone above and beyond the call of duty to give us exactly what we need. When COVID sent us all into a tailspin, Jo somehow managed to keep all our film-reels spinning! Jo has personally taken calls from me at ungodly hours to handle last minute and urgent requests and I have felt in the safest of hands throughout the entire project. On the rare occasion where R3Store couldn't accommodate our request, Jo was able to recommend an alternative - truly amazing client service! Jo's helpful nature, expertise, enthusiasm and laugh-in-the-face of challenges attitude fully deserves to be recognised and appreciated.
Pasolini's Project
Production Company:
L'Immagine Ritrovata Group
Synopsis
Accattone seems to be four decades away from his last film Salò; in between there are the Roman suburbs, the rewriting of the documentary, the films on the bourgeoisie, the reinvention of classicism, the Trilogy of life… the discovery of Citti and Davoli, and then Totò, Magnani and Mangano, to whom he offers unique and unedited roles, a new way of using music, places that cinema had never been able to look, from Matera to Cappadocia, from Sana'a to the remains of the classicism, a cinema of poetry that is also, always, a political, civil cinema that confronts the greats nodes of modernity.
Archival highlights
To celebrate the centenary of the birth of Pier Paolo Pasolini the Cineteca di Bologna as well as having shown Pasolini's main masterpieces to Italian cinemas with its Il Cinema Ritrovato al Cinema project has organized a series of insights on the director as the exhibition 'Folgorazioni figurative' as well as conferences, debates, retrospectives and publications dedicated to the poet-director.
A filmmaker condemned, insulted, smeared from the first to the last film today unanimously recognized as the artist who understood, decades in advance, the cultural genocide that was taking place in the face of everyone's silence. We are therefore proud to submit part of his restored films in the prestigious context of the FOCAL awards 2023.
Thamp̄
Production Company:
L'Immagine Ritrovata Group
Synopsis
Aravindan Govindan’s Thamp̄ is a poetic, allegorical film, that gently explores the transience of human relationships and the rootlessness of the marginalized through the ripples created in the bucolic existence of a village on the banks of a river by the arrival of a roving circus troupe. In cinéma-vérité style, Aravindan rounded up a troupe of actual circus artistes and travelled with them to the village of Thirunavaya on the banks of the Bharathapuzha river. For three days, the circus is the centre of attention of village life, but soon the villagers lose interest and move on to the preparation for a local festival and the circus troupe packs up and trundles away leaving no trace. Alienated from his own milieu, a young man from the village clambers on to the departing truck, hoping to escape his discontent by joining the circus troupe in their drifting existence.
Archival highlights
Aravindan Govindan was one of India’s most extraordinary filmmakers and a leading light of the New Indian Malayalam cinema of the 1970s and ‘80s. This film takes part in the group of films that mark the evolution of Malayalam New Wave cinema and is a landmark film.
The Draughtman's Contract
Production Company:
Dragon Post Production (Wales)
Synopsis
In 2022 BFI celebrated Peter Greenaway’s 80 birthday and the 40th anniversary of THE DRAUGHTSMAN’S CONTRACT (1982), Greenaway’s first major feature, originally funded and released by the BFI. As a key British work of the last 40 years, the film’s continuing visibility and availability to future audiences had been endangered by the limited nature of optical blow-up 35mm internegatives and for this reason, restoration was deemed necessary to allow director-approved 4K masters from the original camera negative and a final mix master to be produced in time for the celebrations, ensuring reproduction of the film’s exquisite vision in the highest quality. Original film elements are preserved by the BFI National Archive. The 4K remaster premiered in Venice Classics in the Venice International Film Festival 2022 and was then subsequently presented at the London Film Festival, before being released in UK cinemas and on Blu-ray to resounding critical acclaim.
Archival highlights
As a key British work of the last 40 years, the film’s continuing visibility and availability to future audiences had been endangered by the limited nature of optical blow-up 35mm internegatives. The remastering allowed director-approved 4K masters from the original camera negative and a final mix master to be produced in time for the celebrations, ensuring reproduction of the film’s exquisite vision in the highest quality. Considering that ‘visually, the film is one of the most elegant that’s ever been made in Britain’ according to Alexander Walker, the doyen of UK film criticism, we believe the restoration to have been of the utmost importance in terms of preserving British cinema.
Barbara Gregson for Meltdown: Three Mile Island
Synopsis
Meltdown tells the story (previously unexplored in documentary format) of three engineers who, in 1983, risked everything to blow the whistle about a looming nuclear apocalypse during the cleanup at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant. Their actions, which cost the men their careers, likely spared the eastern seaboard from calamity.
Archival highlights
Dealing with archival research is a challenge on any film or series. This one in particular was a very daunting project, as the event took place 42 years ago - and even though it was a national and global story, the coverage of it was at a very local level being that it took place in central Pennsylvania. On top of all of that, we began production just when the pandemic hit, so the archival research was a Herculean task, being that most services were closed and had limited access for many months. What was uncovered were hours of material that no one really had seen, and we were able to provide a context to a story that many new very little about. News was delivered quite differently in 1980, and we had the challenge of needing to provide great depth to the story and the controversy we were able to unravel. Barbara's diligence, skill and resourcefulness enabled us to create a very compelling and complete retelling of the event. The archival was invaluable and the depth of it was applauded by all that were involved.
Vanessa Gonzalez-Block for The U.S. and the Holocaust
Synopsis
THE U.S. AND THE HOLOCAUST is a three-part, six hour series directed by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein that examines America’s response to one of the greatest humanitarian tragedies of the twentieth century. With successful broadcasts in the United States and Europe, it is set to become a generational moment for viewers of all kinds, similar to Schindler’s List and Shoah.
Americans consider themselves a “nation of immigrants,” but as the Holocaust unfolded in Europe, the American government proved unwilling to open its doors to more than a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of desperate people seeking refuge. Combining first-person accounts of Holocaust survivors with interviews of leading historians and writers, this series delves deeply into the human consequences of public indifference, bureaucratic red tape and restrictive quota laws in the United States.
Inspired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s “Americans and the Holocaust” exhibition and supported by its historical resources, the film tackles urgent questions that confront democracies around the world today: what are our obligations to refugees seeking help, how should governments and individuals respond to regimes that manipulate the truth, and how do immigration policies reflect deep rooted tensions over national identity?
Archival highlights
A documentary film about the Holocaust presented unique problems of representation, which have been foregrounded by recent scholarly approaches to ways of seeing and understanding. As THE U.S. AND THE HOLOCAUST begins in Episode One, home movie footage made by a Jewish family in Europe shows scenes of daily life. A woman (secular or religious, we do not know), barely pregnant, smiles at the camera and looks out a window, while the narrator provides numbers and statistics – two very different, but equally essential – means of quantifying the enormity of loss wrought by Nazi terror.
The use of home movie footage, prevalent throughout the series and made possible through our extensive research in archives and personal collections in the United States and Europe, serves not only to humanize the victims, but to establish the primacy of perspective as a mode of understanding. The erasure of Jewish life can be measured only if we come to understand this absence as a presence, one that cannot be replaced but only reimagined through film.
Later in the series, in a much different scene, we see Jewish victims being forced to walk to a pit in Libau, Latvia and unceremoniously shot. A dog scampers and barks but few of the participants in the murders register any reaction. This is the only known documentary footage to depict taking of life during the so-called Holocaust by bullets, when Nazi agents and local collaborators murdered two million Jews as Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. But what haunts us about the footage is not merely the documentary evidence that it provides, but the type of knowledge that it obscures. Who filmed this horrific scene and what were their intentions? Were they participants in the murder or mere passersby? Were they documenting atrocities or celebrating them? Each possibility presents its own horrific implications. There is no space for moral comfort.
As viewers, we, too, become complicit as we witness these scenes. How do we watch such moments without contemplating our own passivity in response to terrible moments in the present? Would we have behaved differently than the murderers or the person doing the filming? In this sense, the visual language of the film pushes us to complete a circle, imagining events of the past as if we were participants. The purpose is not one of judgment but to allow us to contemplate the responsibility that comes with our knowledge, in the past and in the present.
Rich Remsberg & Gideon C. Kennedy for Light & Magic
Synopsis
The six-part series tells the story of the characters and techniques that began as a ragtag group of misfits assembled to work on George Lucas’ Star Wars and went on to build Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and the visual effects industry as we know it.
Archival highlights
I had the pleasure of working with Archival Producers Rich Remsberg and Gideon Kennedy on the 6-part Disney series Light & Magic. The show explores the formation and early days of Industrial Light & Magic, the ragtag VFX shop originally put together to create the special effects for Stars Wars that then went on to have an outsized influence on the film industry. Having worked with Rich in the past, I knew from the very start that I wanted him on the team for what we knew would be a massive archival lift.
From the beginning, Director Lawrence Kasdan envisioned this series to be closely focused on the people behind the story, not just the technology involved in these iconic moments in movie history. This actually made gathering archival a significantly bigger job, because it broadened the scope of our series and took it outside the realm of the “officially” documented, often sending it into the esoteric. Rich and his team recovered piles of home movies, photo albums, hometown news coverage, student films, and more. To give just a small example of their success, George Lucas, only one of our dozen+ main characters, has been rather well documented… That didn’t stop Rich from uncovering long unseen footage of Lucas before he was famous, a wonderful interview with his high school English teacher, and BTS of Lucas serving as Francis Ford Coppola’s “assistant” on The Rain People. And this was all on top of his delicate handling of childhood archive provided directly by the Lucas family.
In my own experience, the sheer volume of archival sources set this series apart. The show was fortunate enough to have Lucasfilm as a partner, so from the jump we had access to their archive which, while amazing, was woefully disorganized and frequently undigitized. But we were also intent on building a world larger than the studio lot, so there was an enormous amount of contextual archive to find, something for which Rich has a special knack. From industrial archives to local historical societies, no stone was left unturned. Additionally, our main story spanned decades, primarily from the mid-70s to the mid-90s, but with forays further into the past and present to dig into the lives of our characters and to explore the origins of VFX and the directions in which they are going today. Aside from original interviews and some finished film clips, the entire series was built and scripted from archive. It was a truly heavy lift, and done with grace and good humor.
For more than a year, Rich and crew would update the story and production team at least once a week on new finds and ongoing searches. At first, much of this search was self-guided or only loosely bound by general topics. These early results helped shape editorial and Rich showed a knack for thinking creatively and laterally, with constructive suggestions for the creative team. As the show took shape, our archive requests became increasingly specific, sometimes to the point of absurdity. Rich and Gideon always delivered. If anything, they left our director with the impression that all one had to do was imagine the perfect piece of archive, say it aloud in front of Rich Remsberg, and it would exist.
Along with this volume of archive comes a lot of clearance work, and there too they were methodical and extremely reliable, working with editorial down to the last minute when replacements were needed, and making sure everything was up to Disney’s exacting standards. He was truly an integral member of the team; without him the series would not be what it is.
Much more could be said about Rich and Gideon. I haven’t even gotten into the details of Rich’s nationwide quest to find original prints of the Star Wars trilogy (which he did, of course). Suffice it to say that I’ll be working with him again. He is an excellent archive producer, with a true joy for the calling and for the material. I highly recommend them for the Jane Mercer award.
Sincerely,
Christopher St. John
Jessica Berman-Bogdan for Moonage Daydream
Synopsis
MOONAGE DAYDREAM: A cinematic odyssey exploring Bowie's creative, spiritual and musical journey. From the visionary mind of Brett Morgen, Moonage Daydream features captivating, never-before-seen footage and performances spanning David Bowie's 54-year career.
Archival highlights
Moonage Daydeam was a five year, forensic, audio-visual research odyssey that included hundreds of research sources ranging from record company archives to private collections. Not only did Jessica locate a significant amount of never-before-seen material, she also supervised the technical aspects of transferring a great deal of this material to a digital medium.
Jessica established and maintained the production database which organized a few thousand elements and made it convenient for Brett to understand the array of material he had to work with.
Moonage Daydream is narrated completely in David Bowie's own words. Sourcing all of this narration was a feat in itself.
Moonage Daydream is a two hour and fifteen minute film comprised solely of third-party material. Not only did Jessica locate new Bowie-centric material, she brought in all of the tangential audio-visual storytelling elements which were considerable.
Unraveling an EDL is challenging on a good day. The dedication and focus Jessica exhibited in securing the master material deserves it's own level of recognition.
Making a critically acclaimed and financially successful experiential film about a rock and roll icon is a serious undertaking. Being the Archival Producer on that film deserves recognition of the highest honors, which is why I'm nominating Jessica Berman-Bogdan for FOCAL Researcher of the Year.
It is a honor to submit to you, Jessica Berman- Bogdan, for consideration as Researcher of the year. Jessica Berman Bogdan was the first person hired onto Moonage Daydream in 2016, and was the last person working on the film in 2022. Jessica was asked to organize and source the entirety of the David Bowie archives, possibly the largest collection of materials from any solo artist, with well over a million assets. The Bowie archive had amassed this collection without any source information. In addition, I asked Jessica to seek out every piece of media related to David Bowie not housed in the archive. This of course, was an impossible task that could never be fully realized. But Jessica approached it as a winnable challenge, as she always does, and found every know piece of media.
We did not have a staff of researchers and producers assisting Jessica. Jessica did all the research and archive work herself. Moonage Daydream was arguably one of the most challenging research assignments an archivist could be handed, and for her to have successfully completed the work by herself in a feat worth celebrating.
In addition to the inherent challenges with sourcing all known media, Moonage Daydream is the first archival film completed in Imax. After finding an element, Jessica had to search the globe for the most pristine masters, and oversee all transfers to 4k.
I have worked with Jessica for over twenty years. She is the only person to have worked on every film I have made starting with The Kid Stays in The Picture. We have collaborated in such groundbreaking archival films as Chicago 10, Crossfire Hurricane, Cobain:Montage of Heck, and Jane. I have witnessed and observed Jessica’s work and worth ethic over the years and she always delivers. But Moonage Daydream was something else. She told me on day one that this would be the most challenging job of her career, and the film she would be remembered for. And she approached it with more passion and integrity than I thought possible. She worked selflessly for years when we ran out of funds and was by my side every step of the way.
The work Jessica performed on Moonage Daydream was the most successful work of our 20 year collaboration. The film has been praised by audiences and critics around the world for its treatment of archival materials. Moonage Daydream was the first documentary to be released around the globe on the same day in IMAX…in over 40 countries, making this the biggest and most successful archival film of the year.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely, Brett Morgen
Lizzy McGlynn for Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power
Synopsis
The passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 represented not the culmination of the Civil Rights Movement, but the beginning of a new, crucial chapter. Nowhere was this next battle better epitomized than in Lowndes County, Alabama, a rural, impoverished town with a vicious history of racist terrorism. In a town that was eighty percent Black but had zero Black voters, laws were just paper without power. This isn’t a story of hope but of action. Through first person accounts and searing archival footage, LOWNDES COUNTY AND THE ROAD TO BLACK POWER tells the story of the local movement and young Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organizers who fought not just for voting rights, but for Black Power in Lowndes County.
Archival highlights
When we first embarked on the journey of crafting Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power with director Sam Pollard, he was very eager to work with archival producer Lizzy McGlynn. Through their previous collaboration on Sam’s film, CITIZEN ASHE, and from Lizzy’s extensive and impressive work on SUMMER OF SOUL, Sam knew that if there was anyone who could tackle the seemingly impossible task of finding pertinent material for the film, it was her.
When we developed this film alongside Dema Paxton Fofang, we expected the film would have to be almost fully animated to account for what we assumed would be the lack of available material. As soon as Lizzy came onto the project, she embarked on an immediate deep-dive on relevant material, ranging from the freedom struggle, Kwame Ture/Stokley Carmichael, and the SNCC. When Lizzy then found unreleased footage that Jack Willis had documented, particularly about tenant farmers in Selma, Alabama shortly after the Voting Rights Act of 1965, we discovered a treasure of material that immediately transported the team in that time. Our editor Viri Leiberman was blown away with the successive troves of material that Lizzy unearthed from this project, and it unlocked an understanding of the context that put image to words of the powerful testimony and insight of the lived experience of our interviewees, informing a roadmap to crafting the film. Because of the wealth and specificity of the material, we were able to create an intimacy in the film that evokes a verite of an untold story that immediately becomes proximate and undeniable.
As we’ve shown the film around the country, our audiences frequently comment that the material brought them into a historic context that felt personal, transformative, and unforgettable.
One key example of this was when Lizzy unlocked the footage of Ruby Sales’ powerful and arresting testimony of the murder of Jonathan Daniels. This was the ticket to unlocking this pivotal scene in the film, and we cannot imagine the film’s gravity without it.
Lizzy’s unrelenting drive for digging deeper and finding the right materials was singular— but it was also her experience in cultivating relationships that allowed the possibility of negotiating clearances. Her methodology and ability to organize complicated logging systems made accessible our understanding of the material and ever a teacher and mentor, she generously trained up our emerging associate producers to support every aspect of the archival process - from research to organization to negotiation in an effective and streamlined way.
Lizzy has consistently stunned us and our audiences with the fruits of her labor, and we could not recommend her more highly for this well deserved recognition.
Apache Drums
Production Company:
NBCUniversal
Synopsis
The film follows the fast-talking gambler and gunman Sam Leeds (Stephen McNally) after being kicked out of a mining town in the New Mexico desert that is on the verge of becoming respectable. Sent into exile, Sam comes across the bodies of the dance hall girls massacred by a band of Mescalero warriors. He reluctantly returns to town to warn the residents of the impending threat.
Archival highlights
As part of Universal Pictures’ Centennial celebration in 2012, the studio announced an expanded effort to preserve and restore the Universal Film Library. Since then, the studio has restored over 100 feature films to help preserve the studio’s history.
The Apache Drums 4K restoration was made in collaboration with The Film Foundation, using the Nitrate 3-Strip (YCM) Original Negative as the primary source. Due to red layer registration issues, specifically seen in the whites of eyes, which appeared red, a black and white version of each reel was created and the YCM layers were painted out to remove the red, and retain the white color. This was the first time we used this methodology, and after experimenting with a few potential solutions, we found this gave us the best result. The picture and audio also underwent significant cleanup, due to the age of the elements used, but all of the challenges were surmounted using modern digital restoration tools and skilled technicians.
StoryTrails - The People's Metaverse
Director:
James Bennett
Producer(s):
Will Saunders, Amanda Murphy, Madeline Bates, Sarah Smyth, Kylie Bryant, Claire Cook
Archive Producer/ Researchers:
Rebecca Thompson, Nessa Dundon, Holly Elson, Vici Evans, Madeline Bates
Archival Sources:
BBC, BFI, National Library of Scotland (NLS), National Library of Wales (NLW), Media Archive Central England, North West Film Archive, Wessex Archive, Film London - London Screen Archives, Yorkshire Film Archive/North East Film Archive (YFA/NEFA)
Production Company:
StoryFutures, Nexus Studios, ISO Design, Produce UK, The Reading Agency, BFI, BBC, Uplands
Country of Production:
United Kingdom
Synopsis
StoryTrails was the UK’s largest immersive storytelling project to date. A unique touring experience of VR/AR and mixed reality experiences in 15 different towns and cities across the UK. National and hyper-local in equal measure from Swansea to Slough and from Bradford to Bristol, StoryTrails invited audiences to see their hometown differently.
Hidden histories were explored in augmented reality walking trails, immersive films about each town were experienced on giant cylcoramic screens installed into public libraries, and pop up VR hubs appeared that re-imagined film and tv archive to share new stories about Britain’s relationship with itself and its past.
StoryTrails brought together some of the UK’s most established media names alongside companies at the cutting edge of spatial storytelling. The lead partner was StoryFutures, the UK’s National Centre for Immersive Storytelling, working with the BBC, the British Film Institute, Niantic, Nexus Studios, Uplands Television, ISODesign, Produce UK and The Reading Agency. StoryTrails was funded by the UK government as part of a nationwide festival of creativity and innovation, Unboxed 2022.
The following is a case study that reflects how one of the project’s technical partners designed the augmented reality walking trails and activated archive in innovative ways:
StoryTrails uniquely unlocked our shared screen heritage by opening up access to over 50 archive sources from across all UK regions and nations as well as BFI and BBC national collections.
By re-situating 2D collections within 3D spatial storytelling, StoryTrails made archive available to creatives and communities to reinterpret, reanimate and reconnect with the heritage these collections represent.
StoryTrails made archive resonate with communities by blending archive with cutting-edge immersive technology and brilliant storytelling:
“I liked how it the virtual reality stuff made it feel like a game but then the archival footage made it feel like real life. It made it feel like this was for adults and children. Without the footage it would have felt more like a game and less like reality.” – (25 year old male, survey respondent, Blackpool)
89% of people rated the VR experiences 4* or higher (out of 5*).
The stories shared in StoryTrails surfaced lesser-known histories brought to life in 3D interactive dioramas, virtual reality experiences and augmented reality walking trails. In Blackpool you could explore the LGBT+ history of the town and its legendary club scene, whilst in Lambeth you could strut Winifred Attwell’s honky tonk walk and celebrate the first Black British artist to have a number 1 hit single.
ERA BBC Shakespeare Archive Resource
Archival Sources:
BBC Archive
Production Company:
ERA
Country of Production:
United Kingdom
Synopsis
The ERA BBC Shakespeare Archive Resource on the ERA website provides online access to a vast and diverse collection of over 1000 programmes, perfect for enhancing understanding of the Bard and his work. This comprehensive educational resource, which includes numerous productions of Shakespeare’s plays, as well as documentaries, comedies and interviews relating to this towering literary figure, offers educators and students easy access to the highest quality audio-visual content to support teaching, learning and research. The Archive is presented via a streamlined, searchable platform from which educators can easily find and access the specific Shakespeare content they need to support teaching, learning and research.
From Tony Richardson's classic 1955 production of Othello (the first ever to be televised) to contemporary interpretations such as Polly Findlay’s The Merchant of Venice, first broadcast in 2020, alongside insightful and enlightening critical analyses of Shakespeare’s work, the BBC Shakespeare Archive illustrates the immense educational value of broadcast recordings to the education sector.
The comprehensive range of productions available offers students access to diverse interpretations of the plays, from versions that recreate what are believed to be Shakespeare’s intended stagings, to modern re-imaginings with revolutionary approaches to staging and characterisation.
Archival highlights
The BBC Shakespeare Archive Resource supports educators and students examining Shakespeare and his works at all levels of education, bringing the archive collection to new audiences. For Anna Porter, an English teacher at a comprehensive in inner London, “having such an innovative and flexible resource to hand in the classroom helps to guide and encourage a more sophisticated and nuanced discussion amongst my pupils. I’ve used the Shakespeare Archive extensively teaching English at GCSE and A Level - it’s so helpful being able to show different productions and talk about differing performances and directors’ interpretations with a class.”
Using archive material outside of the traditional broadcast sphere adds great value to teaching and learning and can also be used to support teacher planning. The collection has been carefully curated to enable users to find the most appropriate content for their needs, using the platform’s advanced search tools and filters.
The depth and range of the available programming facilitates a fresh and diverse approach to understanding Shakespeare’s works. The sheer volume and variation of content provides an archive collection unrivalled by any other educational platform.
BBC Rewind
Director:
Peter Rippon, Helen Toland, Jake Berger
Producer(s):
Warren Bell, Ciaran Daly, Noel McCartney, Gordon Adair, Mark Macey
Archive Researchers/ Producer:
Darren McLarkey, Patricia Buller, Áine Quinn, Rónán Breathnach-Cashell, Kathy Wilford
Archival Sources:
BBC Archive
Production Company:
BBC
Country of Production:
United Kingdom
Synopsis
BBC Rewind fulfils a long-held BBC public service ambition to allow access to thousands of films from our news and current affairs archive, putting decades of social history at the fingertips of every UK citizen.
The project grew from a desire to maximise and optimise the burgeoning pool of digitised content available as a result of BBC Archive's future-leaning strategy. A fully-hybrid technology and editorial team was convened to develop best practice across the project, allowing exploration and utilisation of new and emerging technologies.
The team adopted an agile, iterative approach, launching initially as a pilot project to a small user base in public libraries. Live user data helped refine the site and a limited public launch followed, to allow for further user analysis and feedback.
The final product, launched summer 2022, includes significant new and enhanced features and film assets from across the UK. These 33,000+ archive clips are now interrogable via intelligent search of freshly enriched metadata, both editorially-driven, manual refinement (e.g. locations, categories), and innovative machine-learning tools (e.g. searchable speech-to-text transcripts). The addition of Rewind’s popular interactive map, as well as an overhaul of the original UX, resulted in a transformed website to mark BBC 100 celebrations.
Archival highlights
The BBC’s audio-visual archive is one of the richest worldwide, and a prized asset for the corporation. It has been built up over decades, thanks to the dedication, foresight and innovation of generations of archivists. This archive is the foundation stone for BBC Rewind, which itself is the culmination of years of dovetailing technical innovation and editorial experience in the BBC’s content, media management and software development teams.
Rewind was born out of an objective to establish increased value from archive digitisation work, to think beyond traditional platforms for exploitation, and to extend availability of the rich social history captured by BBC cameras.
Rewind gives access to content largely unseen by the general public since original transmission. Previously, access was limited to those working for the BBC, reaching audiences only through edited, usually brief, excerpts used within programmes, or through social media.
Rather than curating archive into narratives to present to audiences, Rewind innovates by offering audiences the ability to create their own personal journeys through the broadcast archive going back decades, at a scale previously impossible. As a by-product of this, it is now inspiring rich editorial seams and commercial opportunities, by dint of its very public availability.
In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats
Director:
Darren Emerson
Producer(s):
Ashley Cowan, Dan Tucker, Darren Emerson
Footage Archive Producer:
Darren Emerson
Archival Sources:
BBC Archives, Getty Archives, ITV Archives, Kinolibrary
Production Company:
East City Films
Country of Production:
United Kingdom
Synopsis
In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats is a fully immersive, room scale multi-sensory VR experience that takes audiences into one night in 1989, where they play the role of someone on the search for an illegal Acid House party.
Archival highlights
East City Films have been working in VR since 2015 and our focus has been very much around documentary story telling in this medium. As a creator of VR Darren Emerson has often explored ways of including archive imagery, video and audio into the worlds he is building. The aim is to seamlessly interweave archive within the environment that the audience inhabit, and to allow them to participate in a deeper documentary journey by finding joy and deeper contextual meaning through interaction and game mechanics. He uses projection mapping within VR environments, creates materials that can be picked up and examined, and finds ways of integrating archive sound sources that can be engaged with physically and aurally.
Chevron
Director:
Adam McKay
Producer(s):
Staci Robertsa
Footage Archive Producer:
Colleen Cavanaugh
Archival Sources:
Getty, FilmSupply, Shutterstock
Production Company:
STALKR, Hyper Object Inustries
Country of Production:
United States
Synopsis
A biting, satarical take-down of Big Oil, this spot juxtaposes upbeat, lifestyle-orientated stock footage with a voiceover that describes the terrifying reality of climate change and the indifference of the oil giants to the devastating effects of their industry.
BAFTA "Behind Every BAFTA"
Archive Researcher/ Producer:
Marina Sánchez, Katarina Stankovic, Alexandra Duxbury
Director:
Ali Dickinson, Jack Walker
Producer:
Bridie Scriven Brand
Archival Sources:
Getty, FilmSupply, Pond5
Production Company:
STALKR LTD, DCM Studios
Country of Production:
United Kingdom
Synopsis
In this dynamic film, BAFTA explore the power of cinema and celebrate the countless crew-members and artists who work tirelessly behind the scenes to create the films, TV shows and games that we love.
Narrated by the one and only Big Zuu, and featuring excerpts from Skyfall, Get Out and 1917, the unique narrative explores how BAFTA works to support, inspire and nurture the next generation of storytellers.
Victoria's Secret "Undefinable"
Archive Researcher/ Producer:
Alexis Everhart, Aaron Sharper, Brandi Self, Jeffrey Harland, Mike Kho, Matt Gee, Chelsea Zerbe, Itzel Sarabia, Jen Tam, Kadie Spinks
Director:
Harley Weir
Producer:
Georgia Rose
Archival Sources:
Getty, Filmsupply, UFC, Redbull
Production Company:
STALKR, AP Studio
Country of Production:
United States
Synopsis
The Victoria's Secret “Undefinable” campaign asks the question “Can you provide a definition for the word woman?” Their inspiring and diverse spokeswomen; Eileen Gu, Paloma Elsesser, Femita Ayanbeku, Rose Namajunas and Bella Hadid, among others answered through footage and photos of joy, achievement, strength, vulnerability, movement, struggle, pain, creativity, love, tenderness, power, beauty, fierceness and community and told us they are undefinable.
Shouting Down Midnight
Director:
Gretchen Stoeltje
Producer(s):
Richard Linklater
Footage Archive Producer:
Susanne Mason
Archival Sources:
The Texas Senate, The Texas Tribune, Dorothy Fadiman / Concentric Media, Amy Bench, Kind Motion Pictures
Production Company:
TIME Studios, Day Zero, Sugar23, Mainstay, MSNBC Films
Country of Production:
United States
Synopsis
In 2013, women shared real stories to help Texas State Senator Wendy Davis filibuster in defense of Texas women’s access to reproductive healthcare. As the capitol filled to capacity for the first time in its history, and people all over the world tuned in, Sen. Davis read testimony from women strongly opposed to the bill which would effectively force draconian, pre-Roe v. Wade conditions on women again. The bill ultimately passed, but not before Texas women - and the men who love them - made it clear that day that the Texas legislature had gone too far.
Forcing debate on the bill provided citizens a view of the process and a role in demanding accountability from their elected representatives. People were activated. Lives were transformed. History was made.
SHOUTING DOWN MIDNIGHT is a standalone production acquired for THE TURNING POINT series.
La Generazione Perduta
Director:
Marco Turco
Producer(s):
Francesco Virga
Archive Producer/ Researcher:
Marco Turco, Romilda Boffano, Laura Demetri
Archival Sources:
Home Movies, Studio Azzurro, Radiotelevisione Svizzera, CSC - Archivio Nazionale Cinema D'Impresa, Istituto Luce Cinecittà
Production Company:
MIR Cinematografica, Luce Cinecittà
Country of Production:
Italy
Synopsis
In the 70’s Italy is submerged by heroin. Carlo Rivolta, journalist among the most receptive of his generation, is among the first to describe this phenomenon from a new newspaper’s columns, “Repubblica”. He catches on the dynamics regulating the traffic. Puts the use in relation to the decline of the collective movements born from the revolution of 68’. He’s the voice of a free-falling generation. But awareness does not spare him.
Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story
Director:
Rowan Deacon
Producer(s):
Katie Hindley
Footage Archive Producer:
Peter Scott
Archival Sources:
BBC Motion Gallery / Getty Images, ITV Archive, Channel 4 / Screenocean, STV, Yorkshire Film Archive
Production Company:
72 Films
Country of Production:
United Kingdom
Synopsis
Jimmy Savile, a hugely famous British television and radio personality who rose to prominence in a career spanning decades in the entertainment industry. He had raised millions for charity, been knighted by the Queen and achieved national treasure status by the time he died on the 29th October 2011. His funeral was broadcast live on the BBC.
Since his death, independent investigations and those made by Scotland Yard uncovered that Savile had been a prolific and predatory sex offender, abusing hundreds of people, some as young as 5. To date, more than 450 allegations of sexual assault and abuse have been made against him.
From award winning company 72 films, the documentary examines, through extensive archive footage, Savile’s relationship with the British people, the establishment, the Royal Family and the media to understand how he managed to fool an entire nation for so long.
The Princess
Director:
Ed Perkins
Producer(s):
Simon Chinn, Jonathan Chinn
Archive Researcher/ Producer:
Sam Dywer, Gordon King
Archival Sources:
Getty (included BBC, ITN News, Sky News and NBC), ITV, AP Archive, Screenocean, ABC News
Production Company:
Lightbox
Country of Production:
United Kingdom
Synopsis
The Princess tells the story of Diana, Princess of Wales, exclusively through contemporaneous archival material.
The fractured relationship that followed Charles and Diana’s seemingly fairy-tale public
courtship and wedding in the early 1980s, the birth of two heirs to the throne, and Diana’s tragic and untimely death in 1997, were tabloid fodder for nearly two decades and made daily headlines. THE PRINCESS aims to reframe this story by drawing solely from archival audio and video footage to take audiences back to these era-defining events as they happened, and in doing so, allows the narrative to unfold as if it were in the present. THE PRINCESS offers an account of Diana’s story and the public response to it. The film stands as both a factual reckoning and a visceral submersion into Diana’s life in the constant, overpowering, and often intrusive glare of the media spotlight.
Through archival material, including audio of the public response to these events, the film also provides a reflection of society at the time. Audiences see how the overwhelming adoration, but also intense scrutiny of Diana’s every move and the constant judgement of her character, reveal the public’s own preoccupations, fears, aspirations and desires.
Solus
Director:
Jonathan Brooks
Producer(s):
Jonathan Brooks
Footage Archive Producer:
Jonathan Brooks
Archival Sources:
NASA
Production Company:
United Magic Studios
Country of Production:
United Kingdom
Synopsis
A lone astronaut aboard the ISS suddenly loses communication with Earth. He soon begins to experience a series of strange events that put him and the entire station at risk…
The Looking Glass Anthology
Director:
Sam Kwan, Eoin O'Callaghan, Paul McClintock
Producer(s):
Paul McClintock, Bronagh McAtasney
Archive Researcher/ Producer:
Paul McClintock, Bronagh McAtasney
Archival Sources:
UTV, BFI
Production Company:
Northern Ireland Screen, PRONI, BAI, DFC
Country of Production:
United Kingdom, Ireland
Synopsis
The Looking Glass Anthology is a collection of beautiful, thought-provoking, audio-visual works by a range of musicians and poets that capture what the archives mean to them on a personal level.
The four works in the collection include pieces from Matt McGinn, Rachael Boyd, Stephen Sexton and Eoin O'Callaghan. Each film is different in its own way, yet also complimentary of the whole.
The project challenges us to put ourselves in the shoes of those from the past and imagine what the future may be like, as well as to look within ourselves for answers, in this way being both retrospective and introspective. The pieces are thought provoking, uplifting, bittersweet, challenging, sentimental, heart breaking and inspiring.
Cost of Living
Producer(s):
Graham Relton
Editor(s):
Andy Burns
Film maker:
Andy Burns
Executive Producer:
Martin Hall, Lauren Stephenson, Steve Rawle
Research and Curatorial:
Graham Relton
Research Support:
David Parsons
Digitisation Support:
Montserrat Rovira Prieto
Archival Sources:
Yorkshire and North East Film Archives
Production Company:
Yorkshire and North East Film Archive, York St John University
Country of Production:
United Kingdom
Synopsis
“We have cut down. We have!”
“I'll make do without during the week, in order to be able to get three square meals at the weekends when the bairns are home.”
“When you look at the conditions…they're not fit for animals, never mind human beings.”
These are the words of those on the front line of a cost-of-living crisis, but this isn’t 2023, these are the voices of everyday people facing the tough choices fifty years ago, and now revealed as part of a timely short film that reflects on the pandemic cycles of boom and bust that continue to affect us.
The film expresses the fury and anger of generations whose essential needs for safe housing, secure work and full bellies go unfulfilled. With an uncanny sense of déjà vu, these found voices and images from the Yorkshire and North East Film Archives, evoke a past that feels uncomfortably contemporary.
Commissioned by York St John University’s Cinema and Social Justice Project the film exposes our collective memories of past crises, and the cries for social and economic justice that continue to ring so loudly in our ears today.
A History Of The World According To Getty Images
Director:
Richard Misek
Producer(s):
Thorvald Nilsen
Footage Archive Producer:
Richard Misek
Archival Sources:
Getty Images, Critical Past, NASA
Production Company:
Once Aurora
Country of Production:
Norway
Synopsis
Getty Images is one of the largest commercial image banks in the world. Many defining images of the last century – images that form a part of our collective memory – only exist behind Getty’s paywall. This film forms a meticulously crafted journey through some of the most significant moments of historical change caught on camera, and an impassioned commentary on how commercial image banks influence what we see. Through an intervention revealed at the end of the narrative, the film also forms a small but direct act of resistance to Getty’s privatization of the past.
Janet Jackson
Director:
Benjamin Hirsch
Producer(s):
Kevin Macdonald, Rick Murray, Janet Jackson, Randy Jackson, Brie Miranda Bryant
Archive Researchers/ Producer:
Hoe Swindells, Catalina Curbishley, Archie Carlisle, Gordon King, Sam Dwyer, Paul Bell, Camilla Wheeler
Archival Sources:
JDJ Entertainment, CBS Media Ventures, BBC Motion Gallery / Getty Images, ABCNews Videosource, Universal Music Group
Production Company:
Workerbee Documentary Films, AEC
Country of Production:
United Kingdom, United States
Synopsis
This is the intimate, no-holds-barred story of Janet Jackson. With a career that spans five decades, she is one of the best-selling, highest-earning female artists in history. But as the youngest member of one of the most famous musical dynasties, Janet’s story is laced with tragedy, controversy and upset. Now at the age of 55, as she returns to the limelight after becoming a mother for the first time, she is looking for answers. From the Superbowl to her brother Michael, no stone will be left unturned as she speaks openly and honestly, about life as a Jackson.
God Said Give 'Em Drum Machines
Director:
Kristian R. Hill
Producer(s):
Jennifer Washington
Archive Researcher/ Producer:
Nyeri Adolphus, Masha Mikhailova
Archival Sources:
Retro Video, Inc. and Nathaniel Morris, Detroit Historical Society, Kinolibrary, Norman "Normski" Anderson, Bell Media
Production Company:
Washington Hill Pictures, XTR
Country of Production:
United States
Synopsis
'God Said Give 'Em Drum Machines' is the story behind one of Detroit’s great contributions to world culture: Techno, the electronic music phenomenon created by Black artists in the 1980s that transformed dance music internationally and blossomed into the multi-billion dollar industry of EDM today.
Meet Me In The Bathroom
Director:
Will Lovelace, Dylan Southern
Producer(s):
Sam Bridger, Vivienne Perry, Marisa Clifford, Thomas Benski, Danny Gabai, Suroosh Alvi, Will Lovelace, Dylan Southern
Archive Researcher/ Producer:
Wyatt Stone, James McDonald
Archival Sources:
Nanci Sarrouf, Piper Ferguson, Andrew Einhorn, Joly Macfie, Patrick Daughters
Production Company:
Pulse Films, XTR, Vice, Utopia, Universal
Country of Production:
United States, United Kingdom
Synopsis
An immersive archival journey through the explosive New York music scene of the early 2000s. Meet Me in the Bathroom, tells the story of the last great romantic age of Rock’n’Roll through the prism of a handful of era defining bands; THE STROKES, LCD SOUNDSYSTEM, YEAH YEAH YEAHs, INTERPOL.
Nothing Compares
Director:
Kathryn Ferguson
Footage Archive Producer:
Jo Stones
Executive Producer:
John Reynolds, Charlotte Cook, Lesley McKimm, Lucy Pullin, Lisa Marie Russo
Produced by:
Eleanor Emptage, Michael Mallie
Archival Sources:
RTE Archive, BBC Motion Gallery and NBC News archives (via Getty), Blue Raincoat, INA/Rapido, AP Archives
Production Company:
SHOWTIME Documentary Films Presents, Tara Films and Ard Mhacha Productions Co-Production
Country of Production:
United States, Ireland
Synopsis
An exploration of Sinead O'Connor's rise and fall and her enduring cultural impact. By the age of 20, O'Connor was one of Ireland's brightest rising stars but her decision to use her fame as a platform to speak out on a number of controversial issues shifted her narrative from global stardom to worldwide condemnation. In a new interview, O'Connor reveals the abusive upbringing that left her feeling betrayed by both church and community and ultimately led her to find the therapeutic power of music.
Echoes of the North: Four Chapters in Time
Producer(s):
Jonny Best (Yorkshire Silent Film Festival)
Editor(s):
Andy Burns
Footage Archive Researcher:
Bob Geoghegan, Geoff Senior
Footage Archive Producer:
Graham Relton
Composer:
Neil Brand
Archival Sources:
Yorkshire and North East Film Archives, North West Film Archive, Archive Film Agency
Production Company:
Yorkshire and North East Film Archive, Yorkshire Silent Film Festival, Neil Brand
Country of Production:
United Kingdom,
Synopsis
Echoes of the North: Four Chapters in Time is a non-narrative film which brings together hundreds of archive clips from the 1890s to the 1920s.
Audiences are transported down the highways and byways of northern life in the early twentieth century - its industries, its wartime and festivals, holidays, family excursions, and huge, city-wide occasions. The production is set to new music for brass band, composed by Neil Brand and performed in its premiere performance (and audio recording) by Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band.
Echoes of the North consists of four impressionistic, flowing chapters, each structured around a thematic idea:
Chapter One: Rebuild, focuses on the industrial north and rebuilding of a nation after WWI, a period of great change in working life.
Chapter Two: Recharge, reflects the human desire to escape the grime and industry to reconnect with the land, sea, and nature.
Chapter Three: Remembrance, remembers the fallen of WWI, their bravery and sacrifice for their nation.
Chapter Four: Rejoice, sings of hope and joy, as people celebrate together as couples, families and communities.
1979 The Year of the Islamist Revolution
Director:
Jonathan Hacker
Producer(s):
Jonathan Hacker
Archive Researcher/ Producer:
Mungo Drake, Diana Sedgwick, Alex Kandauroy, Raphael Lefevre
Archival Sources:
AP, NBC, CBS, Getty Images, Reuters
Production Company:
OR Media Ltd
Country of Production:
United Kingdom
Synopsis
1979 The Year of the Islamist Revolution:
This is the gripping story of the cascade of momentous events that in just 12 months changed the Middle East and launched political Islam onto the world stage.
Episode 1 - January to June
The year began with the earthquake that was the Iranian Revolution, and its impact was soon felt across the region. In Afghanistan, rebels against the Communist government took courage from its success, as did Muslim Brotherhood members in Syria who launched their own uprising. Meanwhile, the success of President Sadat of Egypt at making peace with Israel also caused many on the left in his country to find inspiration in political Islam.
Episode 2 - June to December
Discontent at the pace of modernisation in Saudi Arabia would have momentous consequences. For over two weeks a group of extremists occupied the Grand Mosque of Mecca awaiting the arrival of the Mahdi. Meanwhile, discontented Shias rose in revolt. Over in Afghanistan, the success of rebels prompted a Soviet invasion. Together these events were laying the groundwork for the birth of al Qaeda and other Islamist organisations across the region. For many, Islam would soon become a byword for terrorism.
Normandie Will Not Sail Tonight (Normandie ne partira pas ce soir)
Director:
Tal Zana
Producer(s):
Julie Meigniez, Song Pham
Archive Researcher/ Producer:
Tal Zana, Julie Meigniez, Michael Dolan
Archival Sources:
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Atelier des Archives, Gaumont-Pathé Archives, Lobster Films, French Lines & Cie
Production Company:
Talweg
Country of Production:
France
Synopsis
Normandie, built in Saint-Nazaire in 1932, was the pride of France; the most beautiful, largest and fastest liner in the world. In the chaos of World War II, this grandiose dream is reduced to ashes in a matter of hours.
The destruction of Normandie stuns America. The official investigation finds it was a catastrophic accident. But in a paranoid atmosphere where fear of foreigners, spies, and saboteurs blurs the line between reality and fantasy, the shipwreck becomes the focal point of a whole nation’s dread.
Eighty years later, the myth of an attack refuses to die. Through unseen archives and personal documents, Normandie Will Not Sail Tonight revisits New York at the dawn of war — a New York inhabited by Hitchcock, real and fake spies, and a drifting French crew. It is an original exploration of America, in a time when conspiracy theories and rumors were not yet called “fake news”.
Meltdown: Three Mile Island
Director:
Kief Davidson
Producer(s):
Carla Shamberg, Michael Shamberg, Kief Davidson, Dan Levinson, Robert Fernandez
Footage Archive Producer:
Barbara Gregson
Archival Sources:
Veritone, Getty, WHP, US Department of Energy, WITF
Production Company:
Moxie Pictures, MAS Production
Country of Production:
United States
Synopsis
Meltdown tells the story (previously unexplored in documentary format) of three engineers who, in 1983, risked everything to blow the whistle about a looming nuclear apocalypse during the cleanup at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant. Their actions, which cost the men their careers, likely spared the eastern seaboard from calamity.
Gladbeck: The Hostage Crisis
Director:
Volker Heise
Producer(s):
Yan Schoenefeld
Archive Researcher/ Producer:
Janne Gärtner, Monika Preischl, Mona El-Bira
Archival Sources:
DFA, ZDF, RTL, ARD Aktuell, WDR/ Radio Bremen
Production Company:
Film Five GmbH
Country of Production:
Germany
Synopsis
Gladbeck, Germany, August 1988: Two gangsters rob a bank, take two hostages and embark on an odyssey across West Germany. They hijack a bus carrying 32 passengers. The police lose control of the situation as reporters get whiff of spectacle and inject themselves into a crime that blossoms into a media sensation. For three days, the eyes and ears of the entire country are glued to live television, live radio and newspapers – and before it’s all over, two innocent people are dead.
GLADBECK: THE HOSTAGE CRISIS tells an abysmal story exclusively using archive materials, including news, live reports, telephone recordings and amateur recordings made over the three days of the hostage rampage. The film is an unsparing look at the moment when news became merchandise and crime became spectacle – it was the beginning of an era that persists until today.
American Experience: Taken Hostage
Director:
Robert Stone
Producer(s):
Robert Stone
Executive Producer:
Cameo George
Co-Producer:
Nariman Hamed
Senior Series Producer:
Susan Bellows
Archive Researcher/ Producer:
Richard Lewit, Robert Stone, Nariman Hamid, Alan Andres, Elizabeth Klinck, Jeff Krulik
Archival Sources:
ABC News Video Source, Associated Press, Getty Images, Rush Media, National Archives (NARA)
Production Company:
A Robert Stone Productions Film for American Experience.
Synopsis
Unfolding like a political thriller, Taken Hostage tells the story of the Iran hostage crisis, when 52 American diplomats, Marines and civilians were held hostage at the American Embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979. For the next 444 days, the world watched as the United States received a daily barrage of humiliation, vitriol and hatred from a country that had long been one of our closest allies. Told through the candid, personal testimony of those whose lives were upended by the action, the crisis would transform both the U.S. and Iran and forever upend the focus and direction of American foreign policy.
Taken Hostage, written directed and produced by Robert Stone, uses candid, eyewitness testimonies to tell the story of these dramatic, history-making events.
The Natural History of Destruction
Director:
Sergei Loznitsa
Producer(s):
Gunnar Dedio, Regina Bouchehri, Uljana Kim, Sergei Loznitsa, Maria Choustova
Footage Archive Producer:
Manuel Heller
Archival Sources:
German Federal Archives, PROGRESS.film, Imperial War Museums, AP Archive, British Pathé
Production Company:
LOOKS Filmproduktionen GmbH, Studio Uljana Kim, ATOMS & VOID
Country of Production:
Germany, Lithuania, Netherlands
Synopsis
Inspired by W. G. Sebald's book "Air War and Literature” and using only archival footage, the Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa explores the extent of the destruction of German cities in World War II and raises crucial ethical issues: Is it morally justifiable to use the civilian population as a tool in war? Is it possible to justify mass destruction with higher "moral" ideals? These questions are as relevant today as they were 80 years ago and their urgency is tragically evident in current political events.
Non-Aligned: Scenes from the Labudović Reels
Director:
Mila Turajlić
Producer(s):
Carine Chichkowsky, Mila Turajlić
Footage Archive Producer:
Mila Turajlić
Archival Sources:
Filmske Novosti, Radio-Televizija Srbije, United Nations Audiovisual Library
Production Company:
Poppy Pictures, Survivance, Restart, Kino
Country of Production:
Serbia, France, Croatia, Montenegro
Synopsis
Non-Aligned & Ciné-Guerrillas is a documentary diptych of two feature-length films that take us on an archival road trip through the birth of the Third World project, based on unseen 35mm materials filmed by Stevan Labudović, the cameraman of Yugoslav President Tito.
Non-Aligned re-traces the birth of the Non-Aligned movement, examining how a global project of political emancipation was constituted by the cinematic image.
Elizabeth: The Unseen Queen
Director:
Simon Finch
Producer(s):
Simon Finch
Archive Researcher/ Producer:
Briony Clark, Jo St Mart
Archival Sources:
AP Archive, British Movietone; British Pathe/ Reuters, Imperial War Museums, BBC, The Royal Collection Trust
Production Company:
BBC Studios
Country of Production:
United Kingdom
Synopsis
Throughout her life The Queen has always been in the public eye. But ever since she was a young girl the Royal Family have also filmed each other. These home movies were never intended to be seen by a wider audience, but for this unique collaboration between the British Film Institute and the BBC, all of that footage, much of it unseen and over 80 years old, was painstakingly restored and digitised. Together with the other largely unseen elements of The Royal Collection – rare newsreels and privately-commissioned films– this material formed the core of a BBC1 feature documentary to mark the Platinum Jubilee. Added to the mix were excerpts from the Queen’s previously unreleased letters, an original score, and innovative graphic sequences that helped integrate the archive. Furthermore, the film featured no interviews and instead used Elizabeth’s voice to carry us through the story, taken from speeches, interviews and an exclusive last recording session at Windsor Castle in May 2022. A rare feat of filmmaking which allowed us to get close to the subject using entirely archive content, this valedictory documentary on the late Queen’s early life forms the nearest we will ever come to her filmed autobiography.
Queen of the Deuce
Director:
Valerie Kontakos
Producer(s):
Ed Barreveld, Valerie Kontakos, Despina Pavlaki
Footage Archive Producer:
Erin Chisholm
Archival Sources:
Bondi and Don Walters, Something Weird Video, DistribPix, National Archives and Records Administration, Net-Film
Production Company:
Storyline Entertainment Inc., Exile Films
Country of Production:
Canada, Greece
Synopsis
From pre-WWII Greece to her meteoric rise through the Times Square pornography circuit in the 1970s, “Queen of the Deuce” tells the story of Chelly Wilson, trailblazing entrepreneur, unconventional matriarch and Holocaust escapist, who built an empire based on desire.
Seeds of Hunger - Ukraine 1933
Director:
Guillaume Ribot
Producer(s):
Estelle Fialon
Footage Archive Producer:
Vladilen Vierny
Archival Sources:
Agentur Karl Hoeffkes, British Film Institute, Kinolibrary, Getty Images, Lobster Films
Production Company:
Les Films du Poisson, Lobster Films
Country of Production:
France
Synopsis
Gareth Jones, a young Welsh journalist, smuggled into Ukraine in March 1933. The region then experienced a completely unprecedented famine, both in terms of its scale and its causes. This famine kept secret and decided by Stalin is political. On his return, the journalist alerts the world but lies and Soviet manipulation triumph. This is the story of the power of inquiry and speech against the state apparatus. This is the story of a mass lie and crime.
Nelly & Nadine
Director:
Magnus Gertten
Producer(s):
Ove Rishøj Jensen
Archive Researcher/ Producer:
Sebastian Claesson, Philippe van Meerbeeck
Archival Sources:
The Mousset Vos Family Archive, SVT - Swedish Television, The Henri Storck Foundation, BBC, Bundesarchiv Deutschland
Production Company:
Auto Images AB, Associate Directors, UpNorth Film
Country of Production:
Sewden, Belgium, Norway
Synopsis
Nelly & Nadine is the unlikely love story between two women falling in love on Christmas Eve, 1944, in the Ravensbrück concentration camp. Despite being separated in the last months of the war, Nelly and Nadine manage to later reunite and spend the rest of their life together. For many years their love story was kept a secret, even to some of their closest family. Now Nelly’s grandchild, Sylvie, has decided to open Nelly and Nadine’s unseen personal archives and uncover their remarkable story.
Moonage Daydream
Director:
Brett Morgen
Producer(s):
Brett Morgen
Footage Archive Producer:
Jessica Berman-Bogdan
Archival Sources:
The Bowie Estate, BBC, Canal +, Reelin in the Years, Getty Images
Production Company:
Public Road Productions Inc.
Country of Production:
United States
Synopsis
Moonage Daydream illuminates the life and genius of David Bowie, one of the most prolific and influential artists of our time.
Told through sublime, kaleidoscopic, never-before-seen footage, performances and music, Brett Morgen’s (The Kid Stays in the Picture, Cobain: Montage of Heck, Jane) feature length experiential cinematic odyssey explores David Bowie’s creative, musical and spiritual journey. The film is guided by David Bowie’s own narration and is the first officially sanctioned film on the artist.
Fire of Love
Director:
Sara Dosa
Producer(s):
Sara Dosa, Shane Boris, Ina Fichman
Footage Archive Producer:
Nancy Marcotte
Archival Sources:
Images de L’Est, l’INA, Sonuma, RTS, NBC Japanese Broadcaster
Production Company:
National Geographic Documentary Films, Sandbox Films Production, Intuitive Pictures, Cottage M Production
Country of Production:
United States
Synopsis
From National Geographic Documentary Films comes the extraordinary love story of intrepid
French scientists Katia and Maurice Krafft, who died just as explosively as they lived —
capturing the most spectacular imagery ever recorded of their greatest passion: volcanoes.
The story of the Chernobyl nuclear accident is told through archive shot by multiple Eastern Block camera crews at the time of the disaster. Interviews of those who were there at the time were laid under the archive.
The archive was shot at great risk in the hours, days, weeks and months after the accident by cameramen positioned inside the plant. These cameramen lived side by side with the “liquidators” who went to incredible and often fatal lengths to try to prevent another explosion. We also show footage of the liquidators in hospital where many suffered horrific deaths caused by exposure to radiation. Though many of the rescue workers died, a surprising number who appear prominently in the footage are still alive today. We used interviews with people involved in the original key moments of the footage. A lot of the interviews were freshly recorded, others from archive.
We also feature archive of the town of Pripyat, the closest to the nuclear plant, both before and after the disaster. Through the archive and interview we will tell the tale of the people moved and the effects on their lives.
The Andy Warhol Diaries
Director:
Andrew Rossi
Producer(s):
Maya Rudolph, Ryan Murphy, Alexis Martin Woodall, Scott Robertson, Andrew Rossi, Josh Braun, Dan Braun, Stanley F. Buchthal, Adam Sylvan McGill, Stacey Reiss
Archive Researchers/ Producer:
Lisa Janssen, Gabriella Ortega Rickets, Jane E. Tucker
Archival Sources:
Andy Warhol Foundation, Individual photographers' estates, Numerous living individual photographers, Independent filmmakers and artists
Production Company:
Abstract Submarine LLC
Country of Production:
United States
Synopsis
The Andy Warhol Diaries is an American documentary streaming television limited series from executive producer Ryan Murphy, based on the 1989 non-fiction book of the same name by Andy Warhol, as edited by Pat Hackett. The series features the famed pop artist narrating his own diary entries through the employment of AI (voiced by Bill Irwin).
Written and directed by Andrew Rossi the series unfolds in a collage of found and recreated footage, based primarily on diary entries expressing Warhol’s great love for three main protagonists: the interior designer Jed Johnson, with whom he spent 12 years; the Paramount Pictures vice-president Jon Gould; and the painter Jean-Michel Basquiat.
The series utilized a stunning amount of archival materials, over 5000s individual clips and photographs ranging from the artist's personal archive to major photographer's estates.
A Czechoslovak Fairy Tale (Un conte de fée tchécoslovaque)
Director:
Christian Paigneau
Producer(s):
Julie Meigniez, Vincent Gazaigne, Simona Kadrnková, Václav Kadrnka
Archive Researcher/ Producer:
Christian Paigneau, Julie Meigniez
Archival Sources:
NFA (Prague National Film Archive), SFU (Slovak Film Institute), SVT (Swedish Television), Ceska Televize, INA
Production Company:
Talweg, Sirius Films, ARTE G.E.I.E., Slovenský filmový ústav
Country of Production:
France, Czech Republic, France, Slovakia
Synopsis
The Czechoslovak New Wave was born in the early 1960's out of the dream of communist authorities to develop their own Hollywood in Central Europe. But soon the creature escaped its master’s control. The New Wave would invent a cinema obsessed with reality, as poetic as critical, reveal great filmmakers (Věra Chytilová, Jiří Menzel, Jan Němec, Jaromil Jireš, Milos Forman), and claim freedom that would resonate well beyond the country’s borders.
Meanwhile, Jan Procházka, a young communist writer, became in no time scriptwriter and producer of films. Soon, Jan Procházka’s impressive ascension merged with the New Wave dynamics, which changed his artistic destiny.
"A Czechoslovak Fairy Tale" recounts how this man and this cinematic movement each tried to speak out.
Sidney
Director:
Reginald Hudlin
Producer(s):
Oprah Winfrey, Derik Murray, Reginald Hudlin
Senior Archive Producer:
Bianca Cervantes
Archive Executive:
Charles Hannah
Archive Producer:
Matthew Van Deventer
Archival Sources:
Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, HARPO, Stud Terkel Archive, WNET: SOUL! / The Great American Dream Machine (Belafonte Enterprises), Global Image Works / Dick Cavett Show
Production Company:
Apple Original Films, Harpo Productions, Network Entertainment
Country of Production:
United States, Canada
Synopsis
From producer Oprah Winfrey and directed by Reginald Hudlin, this revealing documentary honors the legendary Sidney Poitier and his legacy as an iconic actor, filmmaker and activist at the center of Hollywood and the Civil Rights Movement. Featuring candid interviews with Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Robert Redford, Lenny Kravitz, Barbra Streisand, Spike Lee and many more, the film is also produced by Derik Murray, in close collaboration with the Poitier family.
Cesária Évora
Director:
Ana Sofia Fonseca
Producer(s):
Ana Sofia Fonseca
Archive Producer/ Researcher:
Ana Sofia Fonseca Rosa, Teixeira da Silva
Archival Sources:
RTCV – Rádio Televisão de Cabo Verde, Videoteca Municipal de Lisboa, RTP – Radiotelevisão de Portugal, Institute Marquês de Valle Flor, Archive of Lusafrica
Production Company:
Carrossel Produções
Country of Production:
Portugal
Synopsis
World renowned performer Cesária Évora in a new and intimate documentary. With previously unseen footage and insights into the singer's life, the film follows her struggles and success. Cesária's voice took her from poverty to stardom but her only dream was to be free.
The Figo Affair: The Transfer that Changed Football
Luís Figo was the most coveted player in world football when he took to the balcony of the gothic Palau de la Generalitat, the home of Catalonia’s president, on a balmy summer’s evening in 1998. Wearing his club suit, with his hair dyed blue and red, he celebrated Barcelona’s latest league title in front of a delirious crowd by grabbing the microphone and chanting: “blancos, llorones; felicita las campeones!” “Real Madrid, you cry- babies, hail the champions!” Two years later he took to the field at the Camp Nou, Barcelona’s stadium, wearing the white of Real Madrid. He was the first player to join Real’s fabled “Galácticos” revolution under Florentino Pérez. He was the most expensive and best-paid footballer in the world. He was the most hated man in Catalonia.
With access to Luís Figo and the men who brokered the deal that shattered the transfer record, divided a nation and shaped modern football; The Figo Affair reveals the engrossing story of how his move came to pass, a twisting tale of backroom deals, a truly historic sporting rivalry, a deep cultural divide, and a pig’s head.
Gazza
Director:
Sampson Collins
Producer(s):
Gareth Dodds, Will Kane, Tom Wood, Vaughan Sivell
Archive Researchers/ Producer:
Sampson Collins, James RM Hunt, Paula Desiderio, Richard Wiseman, Ollie Duffin
Archival Sources:
Getty/ BBC, ITV, North One, BBC, Kinolibrary
Production Company:
Haviland Digital, Mark Stewart Productions, Western Edge Pictures
Country of Production:
United Kingdom
Synopsis
GAZZA is a deeply personal portrait of Paul Gascoigne, one football's most famous tragic heroes. It is also an insight into 20 years of modern British history as it charts the creation of the media's lust for celebrity news stories.
Told solely with contemporaneous archive, GAZZA gives a startling new perspective on the profoundly immoral and illegal lengths the tabloid press went to in order to gain access to Paul's private life and manipulate it for their own gain.
37 Words
Director:
Dawn Porter, Nicole Newnham
Producer(s):
Clare Smith Marash, Nicole Newnham, Dawn Porter, Camille Servan-Schreiber, Alexandria Cooper, Spencer Barry, Chantre Camack, Scott Siebers, Sharee Stephens
Archive Researcher/ Producer:
Rachel Antell, Jennifer Petrucelli
Archival Sources:
Getty Images, NBC News Archives, Associated Press, ABC News Videosource, CBS News Archives, Veritone, Historic Films Archive LLC
Production Company:
ESPN Films, Trilogy Films, Industrial Media
Country of Production:
United States
Synopsis
“37 Words” tells the inspiring story of Title IX – the hard-fought battle to push for equal rights in education and athletics; the decades-spanning effort to nullify its impact; and the rippling impacts of the landmark civil rights law that continue to resonate today. Featuring Billie Jean King, Gloria Steinem, Abby Wambach, Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, Barack Obama and legendary figures in sports and politics that played a critical role in passing and maintaining the legislation.
The four-part series charts the spectacular transformation that 37 words have inspired in American culture and the lives of women, as well as the many ways in which the spirit of this bold law has yet to be fully realized.
Rai Teche, GettyImages / BBC Sport, Kinolibrary, British Pathé / Reuters, Archivio Luce
Production Company:
Sky Italia, Luce Cinecittà, Fandango
Country of Production:
Italy
Synopsis
We are talking about the years from 1976 to 1980. The sport is tennis. We are in Italy and the trophy we are battling for is the Davis Cup. The team is made up of four players: Adriano Panatta, the rockstar, Corrado Barazzutti, Mr. Second Best, Paolo Bertolucci, the sidekick and Tonino Zugarelli, the working-class hothead.
During this 5-year period they reached the final four times, only winning once, in 1976 against Chile. A political storm swirled around that final, with enormous controversy over the opportunity to go and play with the colors of Italy in Chile under the dictator Pinochet. The finals reached but eventually lost are in 1977 against Australia, in 1979 against the USA and in 1980 against Czechoslovakia. In the first two outings, 1976 and 1977, the team has as their non-player captain an Italian tennis legend, Nicola Pietrangeli, who only a few years earlier retired from competitive activity. He would be sacked by his own team after the 1977 defeat, and he still speaks of it as the greatest betrayal of his life. He is the fifth protagonist in our story. Above all, we talk about a team.
Villeneuve Pironi
Director:
Torquil Jones
Producer(s):
John McKenna, Torquil Jones
Archive Producer/ Researcher:
Richard Wiseman, Cristina Miro, Paola Desiderio, Beba Gabanelli
Archival Sources:
Formula 1, Fiat Ferrari, Motorsport Images, Andrew Mariott, Various Sourced Private Individuals' Archive Materials
Production Company:
Noah Media Group, Sky Studios
Synopsis
Villeneuve Pironi tells the astonishing story of Canadian legend Gilles Villeneuve and French star Didier Pironi, two fearless Ferrari Formula 1 racing drivers, forever torn apart by a historic and hugely controversial moment in time.
Forty years on from the infamous and tragic 1982 Formula One season, the families of Canadian icon Gilles Villeneuve & French superstar Didier Pironi unite for the first time to reveal one of sport’s greatest untold stories.
In the midst of modern racing’s most dangerous era, two daring Ferrari teammates were battling for the world championship, but at the San Marino Grand Prix Pironi broke an unwritten agreement, “stealing” victory from his close friend Villeneuve on the final lap.
This act of “betrayal” broke a sacred bond and their relationship soon spiralled into a vengeful rivalry. Villeneuve and Pironi would never speak to each other again, and within a matter of weeks tragedy would strike.
In a plot laden with mystery and intrigue, each compelling twist and turn is revealed as the film uncovers the truth behind that unwritten agreement on the last fateful lap.
Charlie Chaplin, the genius of liberty
Director:
Yves Jeuland
Producer(s):
Michel Rotman, Marie-Hélène Ranc
Footage Archive Producer:
Aude Vassallo
Archival Sources:
Pathé Gaumont, Lobster film, Roy Export, British Pathe, Library of Congress of USA
Production Company:
Kuiv Productions
Country of Production:
France
Synopsis
Everyone knows and everyone loves Charlie Chaplin. Everyone, all over the world. For over a century, unalterable success. A genius of burlesque, Chaplin put all his talent at the service of an ideal of justice and freedom. His best screenplay was that of his own destiny, a destiny that is inscribed in the political and artistic history of the 20th century. Charlie Chaplin, the genius of freedom: the first all-archival documentary dedicated to Charlot, nourished with anthology scenes from his most popular masterpieces and more surprising sequences, sometimes unknown, but just as pleasing. The combined pleasure of discovery and reunion. For the first time, an all-archival documentary traces the fate of Charles Chaplin, a complete artist and public figure, the most popular man in the world.
Latin Noir
Director:
Andreas Apostolidis
Producer(s):
Rea Apostolidi, Yuri Anerof, Sergio Munoz, Estelle Robin You
Footage Archive Producer:
Justine Moreau
Archival Sources:
Filmoteca Unam Mexico, INA, Penn Museum, Enrique Metinides Mexico
Production Company:
Anemon Productions, Point Du Joir - Les Films Du Balibari
Country of Production:
Greece, France
Synopsis
Latin Noir travels to five Latin American cities, meeting famous crime novelists Leonardo Padura (Havana), Luis Sepulveda (Santiago), Paco Ignacio Taibo II (Mexico City), Santiago Roncagliolo (Lima) and Claudia Pineiro (Buenos Aires). Through their stories and heroes, we discover a unique genre of flourishing literature, strikingly different from its North American or Nordic counterparts: it’s political, dark and crimes are committed by the state itself.
Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street
Director:
Marilyn Agrelo
Producer(s):
Trevor Crafts, Ellen Scherer Crafts, Lisa Diamond, Seth Needle, Mike Messina, Brian O'Shea/Nat McCormick, Matthew Helderman, Luke Taylor, Mark Myers, Heather Kenyon, Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller
Footage Archive Producer:
Rich Remsberg
Archival Sources:
ABC, CBC, Streamline Films, Temple University, Kino Library
Production Company:
HBO Documentary Films, Screen Media, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Macrocosm Entertainment
Country of Production:
United States
Synopsis
Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street is a rare window into the early days of “Sesame Street,” revealing the creators, artists, writers and educators who together established one of the most influential and enduring children’s programs in television history. The documentary focuses on the first two experimental and groundbreaking decades of “Sesame Street,” highlighting this visionary “gang” that audaciously interpreted radical changes in society and engaged children in ways that entertained and educated in new and innovative ways.
This revealing documentary explores how the team incorporated groundbreaking puppetry, clever animation, short films, music, humour and cultural references into each episode, ensuring it was engaging enough to keep children and parents coming back, and never shying away from difficult conversations with children.
Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street, inspired by the New York Times’ bestselling book “Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street” by Michael Davis, features exclusive behind-the-scenes footage and over 20 original cast and creator interviews. They tell us in their own words about how “the gang” came together, staying committed to their original mission through decades of political and social change, and through it all maintaining a wicked sense of humour and joy.
Nicole Wilkinson and Misbah Ullah (Job Share)
Job Title:
Senior Product Specialist
Company:
Getty
Archival highlights
Misbah and Nicole job share at BBC Motion Gallery/Getty dealing with hundreds of requests at the same time and have been nominated for their unenviable task of keeping the avalanche of archive requests flowing through the many and various departments and checks required before footage can be delivered. While dealing with numerous requests they are always cheerful while keeping in touch with clients regularly.
Vicky Turner
Job Title:
Director of Sales EMEA/APAC
Company:
Nimia
Archival highlights
Vicky Turner has worked for Framepool since 2008, ‘she IS Framepool/Nimia UK’ as quoted in her nomination. Moving from Head of Global Sales Strategy to her current role as Director of Sales EMEA/ APAC Nimia is a testament to her talent within the archive industry. Vicky knows pretty much everyone in the business, and she will always go that extra mile to work with budgets of all sizes.
Richard Watson
Job Title:
Head of Film and Digital Restoration
Company:
R3store Studios
Archival highlights
Rich is in that group of unsung heroes who hide all day in the dark. Along with colourists he is amongst the people that are always hiding away in their dark rooms, working extremely patiently frame by frame on projects. Rich constantly exceeds expetations for our clients ensuring they receive the highest quality materials back for their budget. During COVID Rich moved to the night shift for quite a few weeks as he needed a dark room to be able to work; again going above and beyond for the team and to ensure we met all our deadlines still.
Aurélia Charrier
Job Title:
Sales Executive International
Company:
Ina - Institut national de l'audiovisuel
Archival highlights
Aurelia has been acknowledged for her extensive knowledge of the INA archive helping clients to navigate INA's inner workings and complexities as well as French copyright rules. She has been noted as being extremely accommodating to requests as well as helpful when it comes to 3rd party issues and necessary permissions, quick to respond and finds the most amazing archive.
James West
Job Title:
Footage Research and Clearance Manager EMEA/APAC
Company:
Nimia
Archival highlights
James has been quoted as being ‘like a bloodhound’ when searching out the best content and always goes the extra mile for our customers. In June 2020, Nimia took over Framepool and launched a sister company in Europe, Kurator, a complete clearance service. James has been a critical player in many of the projects, his knowledge of third party rights is immense, dealing with multiple requests in a very professional way.
Yorkshire and North East Film Archives:
Synopsis
A small charity with a team passionate about finding, preserving, and sharing the rich moving image collections for which they care; connecting productions and audiences to footage is at the heart of what they do. In their vaults are thousands of films, and in every can, thousands more stories to be revealed.
R3store Studios
Synopsis
Established in 2016, R3store Studios is a London-based restoration house with a mission to restore film to its former glory. The team’s unique combination of passion, technology, and craftsmanship ensures the digital preservation and restoration of analogue content for generations to come.
LOLA Clips
Synopsis
LOLA Clips is a boutique video content sales agency. With offices in London and Los Angeles. LOLA has created a new footage option specifically for Feature Film and TV clients globally. LOLA offers professionally shot content that has never been sold as clips before. Our exec team has run divisions of some of the largest libraries in the world and its two founders have over 40 years of experience licensing footage to productions in Hollywood and London.
Frames Dealer is a premium catalogue of exclusive shots sourced from hundreds of talented filmmakers all over the world. Its innovative platform offers unique creative tools for a relevant and inspiring user experience.
Kate Griffiths and Tess McNally-Watson for The Sparks Brothers
Production Company:
Complete Fiction Pictures Limited
Synopsis
How can one rock band be successful, underrated, hugely influential, and criminally overlooked all at the same time? From acclaimed director Edgar Wright comes THE SPARKS BROTHERS, a musical odyssey through five weird and wonderful decades with brothers/bandmates Ron and Russell Mael, celebrating the inspiring legacy of your favourite band’s favourite band.
Archival highlights
It was a herculean task condensing a 50 year career into a feature length documentary, which features over 80 studio interviews, 84 minutes of archive and over 100 music tracks.
The original budget was for a 90 minute film with an allowance for 25 minutes of archive, so the fact that our Archive Producer Kate Griffiths managed to more than treble the amount of archive for the same budget is nothing short of magic, and indeed testament to her hard work and dedication. She negotiated deals with over 50 archives world-wide and tracked down archive that had been missing for many years and in some cases deemed lost forever.
The Documentary is almost wall to wall of incredible archive which brings colour and humour and pathos to 5 decades of storytelling and music making.
Kate brought so much passion to the project and worked tirelessly over a 3 year period despite illness in her family, a global pandemic, constantly shifting goal posts and some very tricky archive owners, one of which she personally went to his house in LA to help him scan all of his transparencies!
We couldn't have made this movie without Kate and she absolutely deserves the recognition for her amazing work.
Stephanie Jenkins for Muhammad Ali
Production Company:
Florentine Films
Synopsis
Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. is born in Louisville, Kentucky and takes up boxing at the age of 12. Hard-working and determined, Clay rises through the amateur ranks and at eighteen years old wins the light-heavyweight gold medal at the 1960 Olympics. He turns professional and moves to Miami, where he trains with Angelo Dundee, sharpening his boxing skills and honing his genius for self-promotion. Meanwhile, he quietly begins attending meetings of a separatist religious sect called the Nation of Islam and becomes a close confidant of the charismatic minister Malcolm X. In 1964, at just 22 years old, he shocks the world by upsetting the heavily favored Sonny Liston to win the heavyweight championship.
Archival highlights
Stephanie Jenkins is a dogged researcher who has developed relationships with hundreds of archives and has found never-before-seen footage in attics and warehouses. Muhammad Ali was her most ambitious archival project yet. Stephanie managed a team that pulled in over 1000 hours of footage from more than 100 archives throughout the world. In spite of the vast trove of known archival material on our subject, Stephanie turned up plenty of never-before-seen gems that lent a remarkable depth and dimension to our portrait of Muhammad Ali.
For example, Stephanie was determined to find early footage of Louisville, Kentucky, where Cassius Clay was born. Over two years, she formed a connection with local television station WHAS and discovered they had a film morgue. This station had never allowed an outside researcher into their collection. They agreed to let her make two trips into the archive, which yielded a lot of the visual imagery in Episode 1 of our series. Most excitingly, she found what we believe is the earliest extant moving image material of young Cassius Clay, which shows him signing up for an amateur boxing tournament at age 13. We’re proud to have Stephanie represent our company as an archivist. Her love and appreciation of archival materials is clear in her work and the care she takes in cultivating relationships and seeking out unique and beautiful materials.
Sports can provide some difficulty in licensing, as well as a great expense. The per-second licensing cost for Muhammad Ali was the highest of any Florentine Films (Ken Burns) production. We went to great lengths to secure the funding to make exactly the film we wanted to make, despite the high cost of sports footage. Faced with a far more substantial budget need for the archival footage than we had originally anticipated, Stephanie approached us with an appeal, and great efforts were then made to raise the additional funds.
As this is a Researcher award, we want to note that Stephanie’s passion about archival research extends beyond our edit room. She founded and runs ArchiveNYC, an email listserv that includes 200+ New York-based archival researchers. This is a vibrant resource for researchers, and a way to foster community amongst many who are often isolated on individual projects. Stephanie has also lectured at and participated in panels at DOCNYC, ACSIL, Iowa University, UGA Brown Media Archives, The New School and others.
Mridu Chandra and Lewanne Jones for CURED
Production Company:
Story Center Films, LLC and Singer & Deschamps Productions, Inc.
Synopsis
Mentally ill. Deviant. Diseased. And in need of a cure.
These were among the terms psychiatrists used to describe lesbians and gay men in the 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s. According to the medical establishment, every gay person—no matter how well-adjusted—suffered from a mental disorder. And as long as lesbians and gay men were “sick,” progress toward equality was impossible.
CURED chronicles the battle waged by a small group of activists who declared war against a formidable institution—and won a crucial victory in the movement for LGBTQ equality. This award-winning documentary takes viewers inside the David-versus-Goliath struggle that led the American Psychiatric Association (APA) to remove homosexuality from its manual of mental illnesses in 1973. Combining newly unearthed archival material with incisive eyewitness testimony, the film reveals how a small group of impassioned activists achieved this unexpected victory.
While CURED is indisputably about science, medicine, and politics, at its core this is a film about the process of social change. It features a diverse group of activists who came together at a crossroads in LGBTQ history. Their tenacity brought about a change that transformed not only LGBTQ people’s perceptions of themselves, but also the social fabric of America.
Archival highlights
We are humbled that CURED has received numerous accolades, including the American Historical Association’s John E. O’Connor Film Award for best historical documentary of 2021. We feel certain that the archive research undertaken by Mridu Chandra and Lewanne Jones is a central reason for this recognition. In February 2022, the AHA hosted a screening and discussion of CURED as part of its annual conference. We would like to share remarks that Professor Dagmar Herzog presented during the post-screening discussion. Herzog is Distinguished Professor of History at the Graduate Center, City University of New York, and the author of seven books, including Cold War Freud: Psychoanalysis in an Age of Catastrophes. She is recognized as one of the world’s foremost experts on the histories of gender and sexuality. She offered the following comments on CURED:
“Among the film’s numerous distinctive strengths is its reliance entirely on the voices of its protagonists. There are no academic talking heads describing events from afar, nor is there a generic authorial voice-over. At every point, the story is carried along by a blend of—quite brilliantly juxtaposed—clips and footage from the 1950s-1970s (from cassette tapes to television shows) and retrospective interviews conducted with the main actors, some from the more immediate aftermath and culled from archival sources (1980s-1990s) and some conducted by filmmakers Sammon and Singer themselves in the 2000s.
“The thoroughness of the archival research in CURED is staggering. The service to historians of American society and culture is immense. Through their persistence and ingenuity, the film team has unearthed a mountain of material—much of it long believed lost, or sitting in dusty boxes no one had opened for decades, including audio and video recordings, revelatory photographs, handwritten notes, old typescript texts, diary entries, newspaper and magazine clippings, and much else. The feel of the spaces, the fashions of the eras as times changed, the tone people took in their discussions of homosexuality as expert opinion began to be contested, the energy of ‘zaps’ and demonstrations, the doggedness of careful planning, the noxious authoritative certitude of the opponents that needed convincing or outmaneuvering: all of this is captured beautifully.
“The film manages to communicate, more compellingly and clearly than I have ever seen before, just how horrendous, how stunningly sadistic, the cultural climate of the pre-sexual revolution, pre-civil rights era was for Americans with same-sex desires. As one of the main characters in the film notes, if an individual’s homosexuality was revealed, ‘You couldn’t keep your children, you couldn’t be a teacher, banker, judge, or head of an industry.’ The film begins by conveying potently the emotional damage done in the name of psychotherapy, as well as the terrors of physical torments, including whole-body electroshock, genital shocking, hysterectomies and castrations. These are all facts that are hard—but essential—to imagine and remember now…. Among the several incredibly powerful messages conveyed by the film is the remarkable revelation that a truly tiny handful of determined individuals can change an entire society.”
Rosemary Rotondi for ATTICA
Production Company:
Firelight Films
Synopsis
In the fall of 1971, tensions between inmates and guards at the Attica Correctional Facility were at an all-time high due to worsening prison conditions. On the morning of September 9, it all came to a head when inmates erupted into one of the largest, deadliest prison riots ever witnessed. On Sept. 9, 1971, over 1,200 inmates at the Attica correctional facility in Attica, NY, seized the yard at the maximum-security prison, took more than three dozen guards and civilian employees hostage, and demanded more humane treatment and better conditions. For five days, the world watched as TV news cameras covered the story from both outside and inside the prison, as journalists and a team of negotiators converged at the scene. But when law enforcement was ordered by New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller to retake Attica, the resulting massacre by state police left 29 inmates and 10 hostages dead. Before the smoke from the tear gas cleared, police tortured inmates behind the walls. No charges were ever brought against authorities for the killings of inmates and guards. It was the largest prison rebellion in U.S. history.
Archival highlights
The word “Attica” today most often conjures up vague notions of a violent incident. The specific and horrifying details of the Attica Prison Uprising are in danger of being lost. We wanted to make Attica in order to represent the complex events that took place over the course of the five fateful days of the Attica prison uprising, while also giving audiences a broader understanding of the tragedy within the context of politics, race, power, and punishment.
Our aim was to create an accurate account of this critical moment in history using the firsthand accounts of the people who lived it – the inmates, hostages and their families, reporters, and invited negotiators. The presence of national and local media during the rebellion became an important part of the story, as inmates held press conferences inside the yard in hopes that inviting the media into the prison would provide some level of protection. This was the first time the country heard directly from prisoners about their lives. Prisons are purposely located in remote places where no one sees them, so that no one knows what happens inside. The media’s role in documenting the rebellion was transformative, because it allowed people to see and hear the experiences these men were having.
There’s unbelievable footage in Attica that has never been put together before. ABC, CBS, and NBC all sent crews up to Attica during the rebellion, which is 250 miles from New York City — so if crews were there, they stayed and shot footage for days, using these giant portapacks. It was the first era in which they could shoot on the go, and they shot all the time. Plus, local stations sent their own crews, mainly from Buffalo.
Our archival researcher Rosemary Rotondi scraped the corners of the earth to find footage and photographs of anybody that was even marginally related to Attica in some way. Rosemary also conducted all licensing for the film.
There are moments in the film where the inmates are talking to Russell Oswald, who was then New York Commissioner of Corrections under Governor Nelson Rockefeller, and they’re saying, “We’ve seen you on the news, we know how you’re talking about us” — then Rosemary was able to find footage of Oswald saying it! As a filmmaker, to find those serendipitous moments is terrific. We also uncovered New York state prison surveillance footage that is quite amazing, much of it from cameras up in the towers over the prison. All of this footage has never been put together before.
Adrian Wood for Film, the Living Record of Our Memory
Production Company:
El Grifilm Productions, Filmoption International
Synopsis
Why are we still able to watch moving images captured over 125 years ago?
As we move ever further into the digital age, our audiovisual heritage seems to be taken increasingly for granted. However, much of our filmed history and cinema has already been lost forever.
Film archivists, curators, technicians and filmmakers from around the world explain what film preservation is and why it is needed. Our protagonists are custodians of film whose work behind the scenes safeguards the survival of motion pictures. It is a task they undertake based on their closely held belief in the artistic and cultural value of the moving image, in tune with a shared mantra that a film might one day transform someone’s life. This documentary is a homage to them all and sheds some light on their critical undertaking.
Archival highlights
In our film footage plays a crucial role. We wanted to highlight the importance of moving images and of those who work in the field of film preservation by showing a wide variety of films. In order to achieve this, we needed a professional and seasoned archival consultant in our team. Adrian Wood is exactly that. He has been working with archival footage since the 1970s, and he is deeply involved in the work of international film archives and in film preservation. His work, experience, knowledge, advice, and kind spirit have been key in managing to have access to the footage we needed - which, at times, was quite rare footage. Having him on our team has made the lengthy and challenging process of locating and accessing moving images highly enjoyable, where we all discovered new things as we progressed. The film has highly benefitted from Adrian Wood's involvement and expertise, and it has exceeded our expectations. These years working together in such a demanding project have not only resulted in managing to secure amazing images for the film, but it has also gifted us with an unexpected long-lasting friendship and a professional bond that will bring us together again for our next film project.
L’Avventura
Production Company:
Cinematographique Lyre
Synopsis
Michelangelo Antonioni broke many codes and invented a new film grammar with L’AVVENTURA, which is today recognised as a masterpiece worldwide. Presented at the height of European cinema’s « golden age », it was, and still is, a very provocative and iconic film.
Its gripping and unconventional narrative revolves around the enigmatic disappearance of a young woman (Lea Massari) during a yachting trip off the coast of Sicily and the search that ensues, which throws together her fiancé, a failed architect (Gabriele Ferzetti) and her best friend (Monica Vitti, unforgettable in what is her debut film). From the haunting landscapes of the Aeolian islands to the corridors of the Taormina Domenico hotel, the journey will take them on a gorgeously shot tale of modern ennui and spiritual isolation.
Archival highlights
In our opinion, restoration is as collaborative a work as the original production of a Film may have been. Thus we were very keen and happy to reproduce, with our technical partners, the spirit of collaboration between France and Italy that gave birth to L’AVVENTURA in 1960.
The evolution of technology in the very last few years and the level of expertise reached by each of our technical partners – three of the very best in the world, coming from France and Italy – ensured that the project would result in a truly unique, never-before-seen quality rendition of the full Cannes Version of Antonioni’s work of art.
To this day, L’AVVENTURA remains one of Cinema’s most outstanding films and it is a pleasure to present to all audiences, young and not so young, this 4K restoration which captures like never before the beauty of the images and the haunted quality of the soundtrack.
Sambizanga
Production Company:
L'Immagine Ritrovata
Synopsis
This restoration is part of the African Film Heritage Project, an initiative created by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project, the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers and UNESCO – in collaboration with Cineteca di Bologna – to help locate, restore, and disseminate African cinema.
Archival highlights
Trapped in a web of legal disputes that made it inaccessible for almost two decades, the restoration of Sambizanga took three years to be completed. During this time we tragically lost Sarah Maldoror, one of the very first woman pioneers in the history of cinema, a poet and a free filmmaker. In the words of her daughter, Annouchka De Andrade :"This film is also the story of a political awakening. The protagonist's continual displacement is also Sarah’s, and it defines women in the African diaspora".
Restoring Sambizanga entailed making sure that the beauty but also the fragility of this film was respected, that the film was not overrestored, that the grading could bring back the lights, the colors and the tragedy of the battle.
Finally, thanks to this restoration project the film was "morally restituted" to Maldoror's and to her audience. And to the audience that will discover her.
Celestial's Shaw Brothers Collection Project
Production Company:
L'Immagine Ritrovata SRL
Synopsis
Arrow Video released a Blu-ray Collection called ShawScope Volume One and Two which includes classic Kung Fu movies.
The restored films are released within the 1970s and the 1980s, kicking off in 1972 with Korean director Jeong Chang-hwa’s King Boxer, the film that established kung fu cinema as an international box office powerhouse when it hit Stateside cinemas under the title Five Fingers of Death. Chang Cheh (arguably Shaw’s most prolific director) helm the blood-soaked brutality of The Boxer from Shantung and two self-produced films in his ‘Shaolin Cycle’ series, Five Shaolin Masters and its prequel Shaolin Temple, before taking a detour into Ho Meng Hua’s King Kong-inspired Mighty Peking Man, one of the most unmissably insane giant monster films ever made. Chang’s action choreographer Lau Kar-leung then becomes a director in his own right, propelling his adoptive brother Gordon Liu to stardom in Challenge of the Masters and Executioners from Shaolin.
Archival highlights
All the materials were digitized 2K and restored in 2K.
Each film restored was sourced from the original camera negatives held at the National Film Archive in Hong Kong. The soundtracks were sourced from the original sound negatives (the vast majority of these titles included soundtracks recorded for Mandarin, Cantonese, and English), with separate main and end title picture sections for each, altogether a lot of material to assemble and keep track of.
The restoration was made by L'Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in Hong Kong and Bologna. The restoration of this project took 2 years.
Camera Tripod Bicycle
Director:
Nuala O'Connor, Philip King, Tina O'Reilly
Producer(s):
Tina O'Reilly, Ashleigh Carton
Footage Archive Producer:
Nuala O'Connor
Archival Sources:
Crowe family archive, Pathé News
Production Company:
South Wind Blows
Country of Production:
Ireland
Synopsis
Camera Tripod Bicycle celebrates the work of Dubliner and fireman Leslie Crowe who spent 25 years filming his city and family on his 8mm Brownie camera .On his death in 1989 his cans of film were stored in biscuit tins and put away in an attic for 30 years . Some poor quality digital copies were made of some of the material but now the entire collection of over 11 hours of footage has be professionally restored and digitised . A one hour documentary from television was made in 2021 using some of the footage . The fillm 'Camera Tripod Bicycle was broadcast on New Years Eve by RTE television .
In this film Leslie’s beautifully composed and restored footage documents the everyday life of a city undergoing radical modernisation : the demolition of the old city and the development of semi rural villages into the Dublin suburbs of Coolock Raheny and Santry in the 1960’s and 70's.
His two surviving daughters speak about their father’s short film dramas based around everyday events providing us with a unique glimpse of family life in Ireland in across three landmark decades.
Film, the Living Record of Our Memory
Director:
Inés Toharia
Producer(s):
Isaac Garcia, Paul Cadieux
Footage Archive Producer:
Adrian Wood
Archival Sources:
Eye Filmmuseum, George Eastman Museum, INA, British Pathé, BFI National Archive
Production Company:
El Grifilm Productions, Filmoption International
Country of Production:
Spain, Canada
Synopsis
Why are we still able to watch moving images captured over 125 years ago?
As we move ever further into the digital age, our audiovisual heritage seems to be taken increasingly for granted. However, much of our filmed history and cinema has already been lost forever.
Film archivists, curators, technicians and filmmakers from around the world explain what film preservation is and why it is needed. Our protagonists are custodians of film whose work behind the scenes safeguards the survival of motion pictures. It is a task they undertake based on their closely held belief in the artistic and cultural value of the moving image, in tune with a shared mantra that a film might one day transform someone’s life. This documentary is a homage to them all and sheds some light on their critical undertaking.
Latin Noir
Director:
Andreas Apostolidis
Producer(s):
Rea Apostolidi, Yuri Anerof, Sergio Munoz, Estelle Robin You
Footage Archive Producer:
Justine Moreau
Archival Sources:
Filmoteca Unam Mexico, INA, Penn Museum, Enrique Metinides Mexico
Production Company:
Anemon Productions, Point Du Joir - Les Films Du Balibari
Country of Production:
Greece, France
Synopsis
Latin Noir travels to five Latin American cities, meeting famous crime novelists Leonardo Padura (Havana), Luis Sepulveda (Santiago), Paco Ignacio Taibo II (Mexico City), Santiago Roncagliolo (Lima) and Claudia Pineiro (Buenos Aires). Through their stories and heroes, we discover a unique genre of flourishing literature, strikingly different from its North American or Nordic counterparts: it’s political, dark and crimes are committed by the state itself.
HBO Max 'Celebrating Devoted Fans'
Footage Archive Producer:
Spring McCoy
Footage Archive Researchers:
Matt Gee, Itzel Sarabia, Craig Phillips, Jeffrey Harland, Kadie Spinks, Mike Kho, Lauren Wackell, Anna Weltner, Jen Van Horn, Chelly Zerbe, Aaron Sharper, Nathalie Dortonne, Miles Brandenstein, Rachel Saxby, Brandi Self
Producer:
Scotty Schuckies
Archival Sources:
Tik Tok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter
Production Company:
STALKR, BBDO NY
Synopsis
A love letter to the fans marking the one-year anniversary of HBO Max’s launch, this spot features user-generated content from fans of HBO Max properties, highlighting the symbiotic bond between storyteller and audience, and celebrating the exuberant global fandoms who are co-creating culture.
Google 'It Starts With Summer'
Footage Archive Producer:
Marina Sanchez
Footage Archive Researchers:
Alexandra Duxbury, Jimmy Dunne, Marijana Radovic, Pepito Morán, Marija Perisic, Morgan Foye, Joe Bowler, Jelena Markovic, Dragana Jovanovic, Fer Tome
Director:
Josh Tenser
Producer:
Charlie Balmer
Archival Sources:
Independent Filmmakers, Social Media Platforms, STALKRFILM, Getty Images, Film Supply
Production Company:
STALKR, Uncommon Creative Studio
Country of Production:
United Kingdom
Synopsis
2021. A landmark year around the world. A time of change, reflection, opportunity and hope.
Google and Uncommon Creative London, working with STALKR, celebrate our return to ordinary life by exploring the diverse yet shared culture of the UK. This campaign has got it all; Marriage, friendship, family, love, hugs, clubs, pubs, soccer and naturally, the famed British weather.
Sandy Hook 'The Kids Are Not Alright - Disappearing Act'
Footage Archive Producer:
George Alvarez
Footage Archive Researchers:
Aaron Sharper, Jen Van Horn, Jeffrey Harland, Itzel Sarabia, Matt Gee, Nathalie Dortonne
Director:
Jakob Marky
Producer:
Alex Gianni
Archival Sources:
STALKRFILM, Pond5, FilmPac, Nimia, Social Media Platforms
Production Company:
STALKR, BBDO NY
Country of Production:
United States
Synopsis
Teenagers are in crisis right now more than most of us are even aware. This campaign sparks conversation and raises awareness about the signs of distress and how we can recognize them before something terrible happens.
Broadway League 'This Is Broadway'
Footage Archive Producer:
Brandon Hardin, Colleen Cavanaugh Anthony
Footage Archive Researcher:
Jeffrey Harland
Producer:
Lucky Generals, Jolly Banerjee
Archival Sources:
Spotco, The Tony Awards, HMS Media, Getty Images, Film Archive
Production Company:
STALKR, Lucky Generals
Country of Production:
United States
Synopsis
After the longest hiatus in its history, New York City welcomed the return of live theatre to Broadway in the fall of 2021! The “Broadway’s Back” campaign that played to the tri-state area television audience, on Subway platforms and in taxicabs across the city and most iconically on a jumbotron in the heart of the Broadway Theatre District, Times Square, reminds us how much we need and missed the incredible artistry and energy that is part of what makes NYC the world-class city that it is. Voiced by the one and only Oprah, the film is a whirlwind of music, dance, emotion and excitement that leaves you with goosebumps every time, just like a great Broadway show.
Queen of Speed
Director:
Barbie MacLaurin
Producer(s):
Andy Holland
Footage Archive Producer:
Jo Stones
Archival Sources:
Helmut Deimel, INA, ZDF, BP Video Library, Smoke and Rubber
Production Company:
Sky Studios, Drum Studios
Country of Production:
United Kingdom
Synopsis
Queen of Speed tells the story of Michèle Mouton, the most successful female rally driver of all time. It is a biographical and historical documentary set predominantly in the 1970s and 80s and centres on the rallying world.
From the roads of Monte Carlo to the deserts of Africa and the Rocky Mountains in the USA, Michèle Mouton defied the odds as she broke her way into the world of motorsport at a time when rallying was at its fastest and most dangerous. She made history as the first and only woman to win rounds of the FIA World Rally Championship and the last woman to compete in top-level rallying, cementing her reputation as one of the greatest motorsport drivers of all time.
Directed by award-winning Barbie MacLaurin, and produced by Drum Studios, Queen of Speed is driven by compelling interviews with Michèle, her co-driver, her family, her teammates and her rivals. Featuring spectacular footage of some of the most dangerous races on earth, as well as previously unseen cinematic archive shot by an embedded cameraman who captured the behind-the-scenes politics and pressures facing Michèle, this film takes viewers on a white-knuckle ride through this exciting time in sporting history.
Dettori is the story of the dramatic and emotional life of superstar jockey, Frankie Dettori. Far more than a simple sports story, the film covers the rollercoaster career of racings undoubted rock star. Underpinning the film is an extraordinary love/hate relationship between father and son. Burdened with massive expectations and packed off from his native Italy to England on his own at 14, Dettori overcame numerous hurdles to become Champion Jockey, leading to huge success, but trouble lay ahead in the form of a brush with death in a plane crash, fall outs and sackings and a drugs ban. Written off at 42, Dettori has fought back to enjoy a wonderful Indian summer to his career and at 51, remains at the very top of the jockey tree. The film is driven by the most charismatic, open and emotional central character; truly a documentarian's dream. Sports documentaries can be bland and formulaic but with Dettori as the subject that was never a danger. The appeal of the film stretches far beyond the core racing audience. It is packed full of universal themes, rich and colourful characters and illustrated by the stunning visuals that racing invariably delivers.
SEVE; Artist, Fighter, Legend
Director:
David White, Joss Holmes
Producer(s):
Malcolm Booth, Danny Fenton, Matt Graff, Caroline Rowland
Footage Archive Producer:
Denis Karam, Mark Harrowell
Archival Sources:
The R&A, CBS, ITV Sport, N.F.S.A, IMG
Production Company:
Zig Zag Productions, Rakuten TV, R&A, Egoli and North Ridge Films
Country of Production:
United Kingdom
Synopsis
SEVE was an artist, a golfing Picasso, a fighter, against injury, his rivals and cancer. He remains a LEGEND. This is his story told by those closest to him, sporting greats and in his own words via newly unearthed material.
The film covers everything from his humble beginnings in Pedreña to his major championship successes and revolutionary Ryder Cup moments.
Muhammad Ali
Director:
Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, David McMahon
Producer(s):
Sarah Burns, David McMahon, Stephanie Jenkins, Ken Burns
Footage Archive Producer:
Stephanie Jenkins
Archival Sources:
ESPN, Top Rank, BBC & BBC Sport (via Getty Images), NBC News (via Getty Images), AP
Production Company:
Florentine Films
Country of Production:
United States
Synopsis
Muhammad Ali brings to life one of the best-known and most indelible figures of the 20th century, a three-time heavyweight boxing champion who captivated millions of fans with his mesmerizing combination of speed, grace, and power in the ring, and charm and playful boasting outside of it. Ali insisted on being himself unconditionally and became a global icon and inspiration to people everywhere.
Lost Connections
Producer(s):
Graham Relton, Sue Howard, Frank Gray
Editor(s):
Andrew Burns
Footage Archive Producer:
Curators at the nine English regional film archives and three Home Nation film archives (Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland)
Filmmaker:
Andrew Burns
Archival Sources:
East Anglia Film Archive, London’s Screen Archives, Media Archive for Central England, National Library of Scotland, National Library of Wales Screen and Sound Archive, North East Film Archive, North West Film Archive, Northern Ireland Screen’s Digital Film Archive, Screen Archive South East, South West Film & Television Archive, Wessex Film and Sound Archive, Yorkshire Film Archive
Production Company:
Yorkshire Film Archive
Country of Production:
United Kingdom
Synopsis
An echo of our own contemporary experiences, Lost Connections is an archive-based film which gives us hope for the future by connecting with the past. Comprising over a century of remarkable footage, the film responds to the unprecedented lockdown experience when many of us were forced to stop, reflect, question and re-assess what is most important. Lost Connections is not a film about the pandemic – it is about recovery, hope, renewal, the human character, sadness, joy, what we really value, and a collective desire for reconnection with each other, our communities, and the world around us. Lost Connections is a unique curatorial collaboration of all twelve regional and national UK film archives (RNAs), supported by Film Hub North on behalf of the BFI Film Audience Network through National Lottery funding and screened at cinemas across the UK, online and in schools. Andy Burns, Yorkshire Film Archive editor and filmmaker, meticulously crafted dialogue between the past and the present, using nearly 200 of the 500 films put forward by archive curators. Narrator Hussina Raja provided a connecting voice, responding to the imagery with a common and recurring thread that weaves through the film: “Can we always be connected?”
The Silent Pulse of the Universe
Director:
Ben Proudfoot
Producer(s):
Elizabeth Brooke, Abby Lynn Kang Davis, Gabriel Berk Godoi, Ben Proudfoot, Brandon Somerhalder, Sarah Stewart
Footage Archive Producer:
Sarah Stewart
Archival Sources:
Newspaper, BBC, Personal, Kino, Pond5
Production Company:
Breakwater Studios
Country of Production:
United States
Synopsis
Jocelyn Bell was a graduate student at Cambridge in 1967 when she pushed through the skepticism from her superiors to make one of the greatest astrophysical discoveries of the twentieth century. While Jocelyn was belittled and sexually harassed by the media, the Nobel Prize was awarded to her professor and his boss.
We Were There to Be There
Director:
Mike Plante, Jason Willis
Producer(s):
Mike Plante
Archival Sources:
Joe Target Rees/Target Video, Napa State Hospital, Napa County Historical Society, Berkeley Barb, Individuals: Jill Hoffman-Kowal, Ruby Ray, Jim Jocoy, Sam Edwards, Brad Lapin
Production Company:
Field of Vision
Country of Production:
United States
Synopsis
Taking place as cuts to crucial social services loom under Ronald Reagan, two legendary punk bands come together to perform a show for patients and staff at a psychiatric facility. Captured on tape by seminal video art collective Target Video, “We Were There Be There” threads moments from the Napa State Hospital set with commentary from band members and those who witnessed it firsthand, providing a crucial backstory for the recording of one of the most iconic shows in the history of music, at a critical moment in the future of mental health care in the US.
Lindisfarne's Geordie Genius: The Alan Hull Story
Director:
Ged Clarke
Producer(s):
Tony Parker, Malcolm Gerrie, Geoff Wonfor, Ray Laidlaw
Brit Award winner Sam Fender goes in search of a musical hero from another era - the late, great, Alan Hull of Lindisfarne.
Sam is amazed how few people outside of his native North East know much about his hero’s work. He’s now on a mission to win back Hull’s place in music history.
In this film he traces the career of the man whose words and music put Newcastle and supergroup Lindisfarne on the musical map in the 1970s. Alan continued to write classic songs until his early death in 1995.
He spoke of love and life, championed the underdog and the misunderstood, and celebrated working-class people and his hometown - both of which he loved with a passion. Alan lived and wrote through turbulent times - writing eloquently about the troubles in Northern Ireland, the Falklands War and the miners’ strike.
Sam digs out great archive interviews, performances and unseen footage, and meets friends, family and bandmates who knew Alan Hull best.
He also hears from top stars like Sting, Elvis Costello, Mark Knopfler, Dave Stewart and Peter Gabriel. All were huge fans of songs such as Lady Eleanor, Fog On The Tyne, Winter Song, Clear White Light and Run For Home. But Sam also finds that Alan inspired an entire new generation of musicians like Kay Greyson: a young rapper from Tyneside. To his surprise, Sam discovers “Hully” also took the lead role in an acclaimed BBC TV primetime drama.
He reveals a complex man - a political animal, a drinker and an agitator, beset with his own insecurities but one who could break hearts and inspire minds with his lyrics and melodies.
King Rocker
Director:
Michael Cumming
Producer(s):
James Nicholls
Footage Archive Producer:
Stewart Lee
Archival Sources:
BBC Motion Gallery (Getty), ITV, MACE, Warner Music, Music Convoy
Production Company:
Krocker Film Ltd
Country of Production:
United Kingdom
Synopsis
Comedian Stewart Lee and director Michael Cumming (Brass Eye, Toast of London), investigate a missing piece of punk history: Robert Lloyd, best known for fronting cult Birmingham bands The Prefects and The Nightingales, has survived under the radar for over four decades.But how, if at all, does Robert want to be remembered? The anti-rockumentary King Rocker weaves the story of Birmingham’s undervalued underdog autodidact into that of the city’s forgotten public sculpture of King Kong, eschewing the celebrity interview and archive-raid approach for a free-associating bricolage of Indian food, bewildered chefs, vegetable gardening, prescription medicines, pop stardom and pop art.
Blitzed: The 80s Blitz Kids Story
Director:
Bruce Ashley, Michael Donald
Producer(s):
Ian Penman, Andy Woodford, Celia Moore
Footage Archive Producer:
Kalbir Dhillon
Archival Sources:
Getty, BBC, Homer Sykes - My British Archive, Nicola Tyson - Sadie Coles Gallery, Sheila Rock Photography
Production Company:
Get Blitzed Ltd.
Country of Production:
United Kingdom
Synopsis
In strife-torn 1979 Britain, against a backdrop of strikes, blackouts, racism and homophobia, out of one small London venue called The Blitz came a generation of outrageous teenagers, working-class and art school kids, who would define the look, the sound, the style and the attitude of the ‘80s & beyond. Inspired by David Bowie and driven by a gender-bending, genre-busting desire to make it, these penniless superstars in the making from Boy George & Culture Club to Spandau Ballet, Visage, Ultravox & Sade would go on to change the face of fashion, music, sexual expression and culture across the world. This is their story.
The Sparks Brothers
Director:
Edgar Wright
Producer(s):
Edgar Wright, Nira Park, George Hencken, Laura Richardson
Footage Archive Producer:
Kate Griffiths, Tess McNally-Watson
Archival Sources:
Getty Images (BBC), INA, Comet Films, DCMA, Retro Video
Production Company:
Complete Fiction Pictures Limited
Country of Production:
United Kingdom
Synopsis
How can one rock band be successful, underrated, hugely influential, and criminally overlooked all at the same time? From acclaimed director Edgar Wright comes THE SPARKS BROTHERS, a musical odyssey through five weird and wonderful decades with brothers/bandmates Ron and Russell Mael, celebrating the inspiring legacy of your favourite band’s favourite band.
Σε γνωρίζω από την όψη (By the light of thine eyes)
ERT, Netherlands Eye Film Museum, ELIA (Greek Literary and Historical Archive), International Committee of the Red Cross, Benaki Museum Athens
Production Company:
Committee Greece 2021, Animasyros
Country of Production:
Greece
Synopsis
To mark the 200th anniversary of the founding of modern Greece, this celebratory documentary imaginatively narrates two centuries of Greek history from the Greek war of Independence in 1821 up to the present. Based on extensive archival research and expert historical evidence, the film highlights instances from Greece's military and political history, as was well as developments from the fields of science and arts, and the changes in everyday life across two centuries. In essence, it narrates how Greece reached its current form: how the country went from revolutionary general Makriyiannis's famous quote, "This is what we fought for," through successes, adversities and setbacks, to today: a modern, democratic and European state.
Cinecittà, de Mussolini à la Dolce vita - Cinecittà, making of History
Director:
Emmanuelle Nobécourt
Producer(s):
Martin Laurent
Footage Archive Producer:
Carlo Degli Esposti, Nicola Serra, Andrea Romeo
Archival Sources:
Atelier des archives, INA, Gaumont Pathé Archives, Archive.org, Getty Images
Production Company:
Temps Noir, Palomar, Cinecittà-Luce
Country of Production:
France, Italy
Synopsis
From 1937 until the 1960s, from Scipion to La Dolce Vitta, Cinecittà was the real political laboratory in Italy. As the country moved from fascism to economic miracle, Cinecittà became the symbolic epicentre of Italian society and the theatre of its representation. In Cinecittà, directors managed to bypass political pressures, survived the war and its destructions, and faced American competition. These challenges might have meant the end of Italian cinema. On the contrary, it is in these difficulties that the filmmakers found the strength to create a leading form of art. A new kind of cinema that has been able to witness the Italian reality and has become its ambassador throughout the world.
Antoine The Fortunate
Director:
Nefin Dinc
Producer(s):
Rea Apostolides, Yuri Averof, Clara Vuillermoz, Heinrich Mayer-Moroni, Nefin Dinç
Footage Archive Producer:
Charlotte de Luppé
Archival Sources:
Greek Film Library, Salt Turkey, Eye Institut - Holland, Antoine film archive, photographs, letters, diaries, sketches etc,
Production Company:
Anemon Productions, Les Films Du Balibari, EPO-Film
Country of Production:
Greece, France, Austria
Synopsis
Antoine the Fortunate tells the story of Antoine Köpe, a citizen of the Austro-Hungarian Empire born in 1897 in Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire. The film charts the rise and fall of the fortunes of this ordinary man and his family, who witnessed and survived the dramatic events leading to the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and creation of modern Turkey.
The documentary is based on Antoine’s personal memoirs. It also makes extensive use of his family archive, which he started as a child in the early 20th century and reveal an endlessly creative artist. This includes sketches, comic strips, newspaper clippings, family photographs, home movies, audio recordings, postcards and memorabilia he collected in an effort to capture snapshots of the changing world around him.
Colonia Dignidad: Eine deutsche Sekte in Chile [Colonia Dignidad: A Sinister Sect]
Director:
Wilfried Huismann, Annette Baumeister
Producer(s):
Gunnar Dedio, Regina Bouchehri, Daniela Bunster, Birgit Rasch
Footage Archive Producer:
Claudia Hentze
Archival Sources:
Archiv Colonia Dignidad / Villa Baviera, PROGRESS Film, AP Archive, Canal 13 (Chile), NBC
Production Company:
LOOKSfilm, Netflix, Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR), Südwestrundfunk (SWR), ARTE
Country of Production:
Germany, United States
Synopsis
This 6-part Netflix documentary series tells the rise of Paul Schäfer; from a poor German lay preacher to one of the most powerful men in Latin America. After 40 brutal years as leader of the sect Colonia Dignidad, he was finally taken down by a group of Chilean boys, who were members of his sect. It is the story of the German sect, Colonia Dignidad; told through the eyes of those who lived in it, who endured it, who fought it.
For the first time, the series uses never-before-seen footage to also tell the story of Chilean boys who were held captive by Schäfer and who succeeded in doing what neither the German nor the Chilean justice systems could do: they forced Paul Schäfer to flee in 1997 and freed the colonists from 40 years of slavery.
Lotte Eisner - A Place, Nowhere
Director:
Timon Koulmasis
Producer(s):
Ilona Grundmann, Christophe Gougeon, Yann Brolli
Footage Archive Producer:
Timon Koulmasis, Céline Le Roux-Vincent
Archival Sources:
Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, Det Danske Filminstitut, Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek, Cinémathéque Francaise, Mémorial de la Shoa
Production Company:
Ilona Grundmann Filmproduction, Acqua Alta
Country of Production:
Germany, France
Synopsis
Lotte Eisner - A Place, Nowehere. Lotte H. Eisner (1896-1983) was one of the most fascinating figures of the past century. Little known by the general public, the author of the celebrated essay L’Ecran démoniaque (The Demonic Screen) and curator in chief of the Cinémathèque Française was admired by Fritz Lang, Murnau, Stroheim, Sternberg, Chaplin, and Renoir, but also by Brecht, Man Ray and, later, Herzog and Wenders, Godard and Truffaut. Persecuted by the Nazis, living as a refugee in France, Lotte E. Eisner was an eternal exile. Or how History (of the twentieth century), the history of cinema and the life of a woman were aligned.
9/11: One Day in America: Told in Full
Director:
Daniel Bogado
Producer(s):
Caroline Marsden
Footage Archive Producer:
Peter Scott, Jack Penman, Fiammetta Luino, Anna Broadbent
Archival Sources:
CNN Collection / Naudet Brothers, Evan Fairbanks, Anthony Fioranelli, The Camera Planet Archive, Veritone / CBS News
Production Company:
72 Films
Country of Production:
United Kingdom
Synopsis
9/11: One Day in America tells the in-depth story of September 11th through the eyes of the witnesses, heroes and survivors. Made in collaboration with the 9/11 Memorial & Museum to mark the 20th anniversary, this major new series charts the tragic day in unprecedented detail – from the first plane hitting the north tower to the last survivors being rescued from the rubble.
Episode one; As a hijacked plane hits the North Tower, we follow the first firefighters on the scene and their race against time to rescue the civilians trapped above. We also witness a businessman trying to save the life of a badly injured stranger. And as a second plane hits the South tower, no doubt remains: America is under attack.
Charlie Chaplin, the genius of liberty
Director:
Yves Jeuland
Producer(s):
Michel Rotman, Marie-Hélène Ranc
Footage Archive Producer:
Aude Vassallo
Archival Sources:
Pathé Gaumont, Lobster film, Roy Export, British Pathe, Library of Congress of USA
Production Company:
Kuiv Productions
Country of Production:
France
Synopsis
Everyone knows and everyone loves Charlie Chaplin. Everyone, all over the world. For over a century, unalterable success. A genius of burlesque, Chaplin put all his talent at the service of an ideal of justice and freedom. His best screenplay was that of his own destiny, a destiny that is inscribed in the political and artistic history of the 20th century. Charlie Chaplin, the genius of freedom: the first all-archival documentary dedicated to Charlot, nourished with anthology scenes from his most popular masterpieces and more surprising sequences, sometimes unknown, but just as pleasing. The combined pleasure of discovery and reunion. For the first time, an all-archival documentary traces the fate of Charles Chaplin, a complete artist and public figure, the most popular man in the world.
Bruno v Tyson
Director:
Benjamin Hirsch, Kevin MacDonald
Producer(s):
Rick Murray
Footage Archive Producer:
James RM Hunt, Matthew Phillip Price, Benjamin Hirsch
Archival Sources:
BBC, Sky Sports, Fremantle, ESPN, ABC
Production Company:
Workerbee
Country of Production:
United Kingdom
Synopsis
The story of Iron Mike Tyson, as the friend and enemy of Britain’s Frank Bruno. Both bred on the mean streets, they both used boxing as a way out. But their lives couldn’t have been more different. This feature-length documentary charts the sensational highs and calamitous lows of two of the world’s most iconic black sportsmen, capped off with a reunion between the two foes; where they discuss life after the final bell. By award-winning director Kevin MacDonald and Benjamin Hirsch, we relive this legendary boxing rivalry, spanning two epic fights that were mired by vicious politics and volatile race relations. Bruno had a boyhood dream to become Champion Of The World, but he had to downplay his heritage to be accepted by the establishment. Despite being defeated by Tyson, Frank became a national treasure. Meanwhile, the once invincible Tyson crashed and burned, losing his title, jailed for the rape of a beauty pageant contestant and despised by his countrymen. With the Heavyweight king dethroned, Bruno seized his opportunity to finally grasp the title he had always dreamed of. But it was to be short lived, as Tyson was out of jail, and was gunning for Bruno and his title.
The Return: Life After Isis
Director:
Alba Sotorra Clua
Producer(s):
Alba Sotorra Clua, Vesna Cudic, Carles Torres
Footage Archive Producer:
Roxana Portase, Júlia Parés Fabrellas, Pau Galan Rosas
Archival Sources:
Anha TV, ABC News, A HBR, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Aerial Videography - Epic Drone Films CBS News
Production Company:
Alba Sotorra Productions, MetFilm, Sky
Country of Production:
United Kingdom
Synopsis
Alba Sotorra's exclusive access to Roj Camp in northeastern Syria brings us closer to the harsh reality of a group of Western women trapped by their past as members of ISIS.
Shamima Begum left the UK with two friends when she was only fifteen. American Hoda Muthana emigrated to Syria at nineteen, while inciting her Twitter followers to follow in her footsteps or commit attacks in the US. Alongside them, thousands of women who fell into the clutches of ISIS propaganda are crying out for a second chance at a fresh start in their home countries, while their governments remain impassive, blocking their repatriation. Their departure filled headlines around the world; now, their struggle for return has come back to haunt them, generating a debate that ignites passions in the West.
In an effort to observe without prejudice, Alba Sotorra portrays Shamima, Hoda, Hafida, Nawal and Kimberly with unprecedented closeness and intimacy as they tell their harrowing stories, revealing why they were drawn to ISIS, the horrors they experienced under its rule, their fears and their hopes for the future.
Memory Box: Echoes of 9/11
Director:
David Belton, Bjørn Johnson
Producer(s):
Hugo Godwin, Elizabeth Fischer
Footage Archive Producer:
James RM Hunt
Archival Sources:
Ruth Sergel – The personal testimonies of those affected by 9/11 collated in 2002/2003 in her project “Voices of 9.11.”, Dr Mark Heath footage from the bottom on the Tower after the collapse, Street level footage from Jameson Gong, The contributors personal archive, NBC News archive throughout the film
Production Company:
Dog and Duck, NBC News Studios, Yard 44, MSNBC Films
Country of Production:
United States, United Kingdom
Synopsis
“The Memory Box: Echoes of 9/11” is a feature documentary that tells the story of September 11th through a unique set of eyewitness testimonies, recorded in a small plywood video box in the months following the attacks. Twenty years later, the eyewitnesses return to the box to share their memories and reflect on America today. Bridging past and present, the film is a searingly emotional portrayal of hope, resilience and how to heal.
Launch! On the Sea with Scotland's Lifeboats
Director:
Shona Thomson
Producer(s):
Shona Thomson, Jen Skinner, Jack Lockhart
Footage Archive Producer:
Shona Thomson
Archival Sources:
RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution), National Library of Scotland Moving Image Archive
Production Company:
A Kind of Seeing, Screen Argyll
Country of Production:
United Kingdom
Synopsis
A new cinematic release of archive film and video with an original immersive 5.1 surround soundtrack celebrating volunteer RNLI crews, created as a 2021 big-screen tour of archive film and relevant in-cinema activity to coastal communities across Scotland. For one of the very few times in its 200-year history, the much-loved RNLI has opened up its moving image archives to a professional curator/filmmaker for this special project with archive footage at its heart: https://launchonthesea.com.
Shona Thomson – FOCAL award-winner for her work on innovative platforms – has directed, researched and edited Launch! in a co-production with island-based Screen Argyll. The creative interplay in Shona’s work of archive film inspiring music continues her collaboration with sound artist and nature beatboxer Jason Singh as he assembled some of UK’s best contemporary musicians to compose and record the soundtrack in lockdown.
Launch! has been two years in the making with unprecedented archival access. 1960s colour promotional RNLI films and breath-taking digital video captured by crews’ helmet cameras in the past ten years out on the wild sea is interwoven with rare 1920s footage sourced from the National Library of Scotland Moving Image Archive bringing home that it truly takes a community to launch a lifeboat.
Playing with Sharks
Director:
Sally Aitken
Producer(s):
Bettina Dalton
Footage Archive Producer:
Robyn Smith, Carl Reinecke, Lisa Savage, Natalia Mironova
Archival Sources:
Ron Taylor Film Productions, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, BBC Motion Gallery, The Footage Company Australia, NBC News Archives
Production Company:
A Wildbear Entertainment Production, National Geographic, Screen NSW, Dogwoof, TDOG
Country of Production:
Australia, United States, United Kingdom
Synopsis
A true pioneer in both underwater filmmaking and shark research, Valerie Taylor is a living legend and icon in the underwater world whose life’s work has become the basis for much of what we know about sharks today. Through remarkable underwater archival footage, along with interviews with Valerie herself, "Playing with Sharks," follows this daring ocean explorer’s trajectory from champion spearfisher to passionate shark protector.
Living Proof - A Climate Story
Director:
Emily Munro
Producer(s):
Emily Munro
Footage Archive Producer:
Emily Munro
Archival Sources:
National Library of Scotland
Production Company:
National Library of Scotland, Film Hub Scotland
Country of Production:
United Kingdom
Synopsis
In the year that Scotland hosts the UN’s climate change conference (COP26), curator and director Emily Munro searches for the roots of the climate crisis in our history. Archive footage from the National Library of Scotland evocatively portrays a country shaped by demands for energy and economic growth, while a dramatic soundtrack amplifies the voices of the past in powerful and unsettling ways.
The film reveals Scotland’s post-war history as seen through the lens of current debate, inviting audiences on a journey to revisit the promises of the past and consider how they relate to our future on this planet. Was climate change inevitable? Can we break free from a boom-and-bust mentality? Are we able to adapt to ensure a healthy and sustainable future for generations to come?
Featuring corporate voices, news reporters, protestors, and the general public, the footage spans the geography of Scotland, taking in the most treasured, contested and exploited parts of the country. Part found-footage mash-up and part archive collage, Living Proof features a soundtrack that traverses space and time, with contemporary Scottish artists Louise Connell, Brownbear and Post Coal Prom Queen sitting alongside music that appears in the archive itself.
Attica
Director:
Stanley Nelson, Traci A. Cur
Producer(s):
Marcia Smith, Vinnie Malhotra, Jihan Robinson
Footage Archive Producer:
Rosemary Rotondi
Archival Sources:
New York State Archive, Richard Nixon Presidential Library, major news network and affiliate news archives, college and university archives, stock footage archives such as Oddball Films in CA
Production Company:
Firelight Films, Showtime
Country of Production:
United States
Synopsis
In the fall of 1971, tensions between inmates and guards at the Attica Correctional Facility were at an all-time high due to worsening prison conditions. On the morning of September 9, it all came to a head when inmates erupted into one of the largest, deadliest prison riots ever witnessed. On Sept. 9, 1971, over 1,200 inmates at the Attica correctional facility in Attica, NY, seized the yard at the maximum-security prison, took more than three dozen guards and civilian employees hostage, and demanded more humane treatment and better conditions. For five days, the world watched as TV news cameras covered the story from both outside and inside the prison, as journalists and a team of negotiators converged at the scene. But when law enforcement was ordered by New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller to retake Attica, the resulting massacre by state police left 29 inmates and 10 hostages dead. Before the smoke from the tear gas cleared, police tortured inmates behind the walls. No charges were ever brought against authorities for the killings of inmates and guards. It was the largest prison rebellion in U.S. history.
Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street
Director:
Marilyn Agrelo
Producer(s):
Trevor Crafts, Ellen Scherer Crafts, Lisa Diamond, Seth Needle, Mike Messina, Brian O'Shea/Nat McCormick, Matthew Helderman, Luke Taylor, Mark Myers, Heather Kenyon, Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller
Footage Archive Producer:
Rich Remsberg
Archival Sources:
ABC, CBC, Streamline Films, Temple University, Kino Library
Production Company:
HBO Documentary Films, Screen Media, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Macrocosm Entertainment
Country of Production:
United States
Synopsis
Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street is a rare window into the early days of “Sesame Street,” revealing the creators, artists, writers and educators who together established one of the most influential and enduring children’s programs in television history. The documentary focuses on the first two experimental and groundbreaking decades of “Sesame Street,” highlighting this visionary “gang” that audaciously interpreted radical changes in society and engaged children in ways that entertained and educated in new and innovative ways.
This revealing documentary explores how the team incorporated groundbreaking puppetry, clever animation, short films, music, humour and cultural references into each episode, ensuring it was engaging enough to keep children and parents coming back, and never shying away from difficult conversations with children.
Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street, inspired by the New York Times’ bestselling book “Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street” by Michael Davis, features exclusive behind-the-scenes footage and over 20 original cast and creator interviews. They tell us in their own words about how “the gang” came together, staying committed to their original mission through decades of political and social change, and through it all maintaining a wicked sense of humour and joy.
Citizen Ashe
Director:
Rex Miller, Sam Pollard
Producer(s):
Steven Cantor, Anna Godas, Beth Hubbard, Rex Miller, Jamie Schutz
Footage Archive Producer:
Lizzy McGlynn, Hannah Shepard
Archival Sources:
John G. Zimmerman Archive, CBS/Veritone, Getty Images, USTA/Veritone, IMG/Wimbledon
Directors Rex Miller and Sam Pollard explore the enduring legacy of tennis great and humanitarian Arthur Ashe, tracing his personal evolution from sports legend to global activist. His own words, and those closest to him, reveal his quiet determination to ‘use what he had to do what he could.’
Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Director:
Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson
Producer(s):
Joseph Patel, Robert Fyvolent, David Dinerstein
Footage Archive Producer:
Lizzy McGlynn, Julia Lewis
Archival Sources:
Tulchin Estate
Production Company:
Searchlight Pictures, Onyx, Hulu,
Country of Production:
United States
Synopsis
In his acclaimed debut as a filmmaker, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson presents a powerful and transporting documentary—part music film, part historical record created around an epic event that celebrated Black history, culture and fashion. Over the course of six weeks in the summer of 1969, just one hundred miles south of Woodstock, The Harlem Cultural Festival was filmed in Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park). The footage was largely forgotten–until now. SUMMER OF SOUL shines a light on the importance of history to our spiritual well-being and stands as a testament to the healing power of music during times of unrest, both past and present. The feature includes concert performances by Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly & the Family Stone, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Mahalia Jackson, B.B. King, The 5th Dimension and more.
The Machine Room (Churchill: Eps 1 Destiny)
Director:
Lucy Carter
Producer(s):
Lucy Carter
Footage Archive Researcher:
Adrian Wood
Production Company:
A TWI & Carlton Production
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
This major three-part documentary series charts Winston Churchill's life from his boyhood days at Blenheim palace to his death in 1965.
Archival highlights
TWI would have liked to have shot on film to get that dramatic filmic quality. However, a documentary budget meant that DigiBeta was the only option. The Digi footage was imported into The Machine Room's Discreet Smoke to give it that 'filmic quality'. To restore the archive film footage, some of which dated back as far 1900, it was put through TMR's unique and specialised film treatments prior to telecine transfers. Smoke editor, John McLaren, blended archive footage with modern-day drama reconstructions shot on video. This entailed re-sizing all the archive footage to fit today's 16 x 9 television formats and treating the video with a film effect to match the archive shots. Time was spent conforming, cleaning, de-spotting and stabilising the original footage, removing film flicker and adding film effects and grain. Following this a full tape grade provided finishing touches in the 'Shadow Suite'.
Carlton International Media
Archival highlights
Carlton have undertaken a comprehensive programme of CRI restoration on their Rank and ITC Libraries. Colour Reversal Interneg was a process undertaken in the 1960's and 70's whereby the interpositive stage was missed out of the film process to reduce costs. It has subsequently been discovered that CRI's fade rapidly. The restoration involves going back to original negatives and re-making the film protection elements of the internegative and interpositive. During this process the film was regraded and picture stability re-gained. Sound was also restored and new optical track negatives created. In some cases they went back to original YCM negs and also transferred from original Techniscope negs. Following the film laboratory work a new high end telecine transfer was made using the latest digital technology to further enhance the material, removing scratches, dirt and sparkle. The result was a new digital video master up to DVD quality as well a having preserved and restored the original 35mm picture and sound elements. During 2003 they completed, To Paris With Love, Capricorn One, Cassandra Crossing, Doctor in the House, Deadlier Than the Male, Countess Dracula, Escape to Ethena, Farewell My Lovely and The Medusa Touch.
Blur
Director:
John Hardwick
Producer(s):
Mike Wells
Footage Archive Researcher:
Mike Wells
Production Company:
Silvergnome & Helen Langridge
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
A stunning emotive pop promo creating a sense of pathos exclusively from BBC Motion Content.
Archival highlights
Demonstrates the kind of innovative uses that creative producers put BBC Worldwide Library Sale's library footage to.
La Camera Stylo (Website Trailer)
Country of Production:
Germany
Synopsis
La Camera Stylo's Showreel on-line (http://www.stockfootage.com/company_profile.cmf?D=173&action=none)
Archival highlights
Winner of World Gold Medal for the Best Trailer at the New York Festival.
Renault Scenic: Park the TV
Director:
Joe Public
Producer(s):
Paul Ure
Production Company:
Publicis
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
Partizan's surreal vision of role reversal, in the indolent landscape of a summer time suburb, draws heavily on the visual aesthetic of 1950s Americana and "retro cool". We are led through a series of slow pans across driveways, Edward Hopper style alleyways and street scenes. Garage doors slowly close across vast television screens displaying an eclectic array of milestones from both the large and small screen. A drifting piano sets the leisurely pace as the television screens are closed in. The sense of conclusion leads us through a fade to the end of a family's day at the beach with their Renault Scenic. As they pack their belongings and the children sleep healthily through the journey home, we are urged by the tag line to Park the TV. Reason for Submission: Uses programme and feature film clips and stock footage to good effect.
The Imperial War Museum Film & Video Archive
Country of Production:
UK
Valerie Combard for Les Martin
Director:
Jean-Claude Guidicelli
Producer(s):
Alain Wieder, Arnaud Hantute
Footage Archive Researcher:
Valerie Combard
Production Company:
La Compagnie des Taxi-Brousse
Country of Production:
France
Synopsis
Les Martin - a 6 hour television series, tells the story of a French family from 1945 to 1975. Their personal life is fictitious, but their historical surrounding is genuine. Alain Wieder, the author, wrote his narrative through a carefully knitted chronological frame. The Martins could have existed. General de Gaulle visited their town of Saint-Précy!
Archival highlights
80% of this programme is made of archival material: home movies, newsreels, educational films, propaganda footage, industrial and promotional pictures, advertisements, television archives. Alain Wieder provided me with a first script, and off we went on an archival quest which lasted over 18 months. The family saga evolved as the footage came in. Characters were added because they looked so wonderful on film. For instance we found wide amounts of priests, and l'Abbé Ribière was born; he appears in each episode, organizing gymkhanas, marrying young couples, exercising in a forest. We used home movies from over 30 different families, and they all bring Les Martin to life, in a spirited and typical manner. The Martin clan is embodied by actors who appear in the series on a regular basis. In the family 'vault' (a set which was built in the production facility), main characters recall their experiences. They are thus personified throughout the programme. The experience was unlike any other. The research interplayed with the narration, and the Martin family became our own and when we saw a toddler walking, we thought 'these are Marie-Jeanne's first steps!' We designed a 'Martin' footage database comprising 3000 logs. This allowed us to search through different entries: character, location, episode, date, type of footage, type of event. Our footage providers (there were about 20) were incredibly resourceful; they came up with suggestions and reels galore! We ended up screening 800 hours of footage." Valerie Combard
Bodysong
Director:
Simon Pummell
Producer(s):
Janine Marmot
Footage Archive Researcher:
Anne Hummel & Aileen McAllister
Production Company:
Hot Property Films
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
A panoramic view of the experience of being human, from the microscopic elements of our very flesh and blood to the challenge of trying to understand ourselves as a fragment of the universe. The story of life itself! Reason for Submission: A truly unusual, even unique, use of archive footage - the story is told through conceivable, kind and moving images recorded in the last 100 years.
The 50s & 60s in Living Colour
Director:
Steve Humphries
Producer(s):
Steve Humphries
Footage Archive Researcher:
Neil Maddocks
Production Company:
Testimony Films
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
A fresh and entertaining look at the 1950s and 60s social revolution. The three part series uncovers spectacular and long forgotten colour archive from all over Britain. The footage is interwoven with memorable stories of everyday life, told by an extraordinary cast of characters. Reason for Submission: The series vividly brings to life a ground-breaking era that until now has usually been seen in black and white. Colour film was still thought of as an exciting novelty often described as 'living colour'. It draws on an array of beautifully shot documentaries, home movies, newsreels, advertisements and feature films most in glorious Technicolor. The aim is popular entertainment but also informative modern social history.
Reelin’ in the Years
Synopsis
David Peck and his team at Reelin’ in the Years have spent the last 30 years finding, preserving and cataloging unique and historically significant archival footage. They’ve built a world-class footage company from the ground up, and proven that an independent archive can thrive in today’s hyper-competitive footage marketplace. And they've done it by focusing on the fundamentals: dedication to the archival craft; a keen nose for relevant, in-demand content; a deep knowledge of their collections; and stellar customer service.
From the beginning, their love of music and entertainment footage has been the cornerstone of their archival work, and their passion and focus have made them a go- to source for licensing footage of musical artists, entertainers and history makers.
They care deeply about the collections they take on, and are willing to invest both time and money in the preservation of these irreplaceable archives. They’re known throughout the production industry for their dedication to and deep knowledge of the collections they represent, and have shown up time and again as a true partner to their clients, offering deep subject matter expertise in addition to world- class footage.
Their work in all these areas reached new heights in 2019, and the Reelin in the Years Archive (RITY) now includes over 30,000 hours of music footage and 10,000 hours of in-depth interviews with the 20th century’s most recognizable personalities.
Over the last few years, RITY has added four new collections to their portfolio, all of which were either lost or scattered across many locations, including The David Frost Show; Brian Linehan’s City Lights; Countdown, Europe’s legendary music show; and the footage archive of the seminal rock band the Doors. Prior to RITY taking them on, all four collections were for all intents and purposes unmarketable, either because they were completely uncatalogued or held on outdated formats. All four are now fully cataloged, preserved and available for licensing.
Their work on the Doors archive, which they took on in 2019, is a case study in their commitment to the preservation and cataloging of historically significant footage archives. Because the original film reels were spooled in no particular order when the Doors archive was transferred to HD in 2008, all the pertinent location info was lost, and the archive required a massive effort in historical sleuthing to catalog and prepare for licensing -- a project that Peck and his team took to with zeal. In 2017, RITY began exclusively representing ITV’s vast musical holdings, which were formerly handled by ITN, adding many thousands ofperformances and interviews with the world’s most influential artists to their footage inventory. Over the last two years, RITY has worked closely with ITV and co-financed a project to transfer and catalogue their unique music footage holdings, which yielded many new discoveries this past year.
Throughout their existence, Reelin’ in the Years has also directed and produced over 70 historical music documentaries and programs focused primarily on the giants of jazz, blues and rock & roll. This past August they took their production work to the next level, entering a non-exclusive production partnership with Nigel Sinclair of White Horse Pictures, whose production credits include The Beatles: Eight Days A Week – The Touring Years (directed by Ron Howard); Martin Scorsese’s George Harrison: Living in the Material World; No Direction Home: Bob Dylan; Undefeated; and Foo Fighters: Back and Forth.
RITY’s passion for music and entertainment footage, as well as their depth of subject matter expertise, were a big draw for Sinclair, who approached Peck and his team at RITY this past summer about collaborating on original productions, a meeting which ultimately led to a deal between White Horse and Reelin’ in the Years to develop and produce documentary feature film and television projects, relying heavily on the unique material housed within the RITY archive. This deal, the first of its kind, pairs a major, award-winning production company with a leading footage library to develop archive-based event documentary projects.
Lastly, David and his team at Reelin’ in the Years have always been huge supporters of our industry, and they’ve made many contributions to its health and well-being over the years. It would be a great honor to have their tireless work and dedication recognized by this prestigious award.
Nominated By:
David Seevers
Archival highlights
President - Artist Legacy Management Company:
The Doors chose David Peck and Reelin’ in the Years to represent The Doors archive for two reasons. First, they have a stellar reputation in the footage licensing business, especially in the area of music and entertainment footage. Second, they seemed up to the challenge of sorting out our archival collection and getting it ready for market. They did not disappoint us in either area, somewhat miraculously, if the truth be told.
A big chunk of the footage in The Doors archive comes from a film called “Feast of Friends,” which was shot by friends of the band members in 1968. The film crew consisted of one cameraman filming in 16mm and one person with a Nagra reel to capture audio, and they followed The Doors around on tour in America from April to September 1968, capturing snippets of the band in concert, backstage, in the studio, on vacation and in airports. We had all of the existing raw footage transferred to Hi- Def in 2008, and in the process the lab spooled the shorter film reels containing the location information in no particular order, thus losing all the pertinent location info. Ergo, we essentially gave RITY 50 hours of footage and told them to “figure it out”. And, almost unbelievably, they did.
The first thing they did was find out all of the dates that The Doors played on that tour, and which shows were filmed. RITY then had to figure out the rest, using whatever visual clues were available in the footage itself, including, so I am told, street signs and local advertising to identify particular cities, and even the tiles on the floor and ceiling at LAX to decipher what airport they were in. Their dedication to historical accuracy was maybe a bit insane, but that kind of authenticity & accuracy is what we require. And the results so far have been extremely impressive. As a result of their tenacity, for the first time in 52 years our archive is cataloged and ready for use by producers. Clips from our archive will appear in the upcoming Laurel Canyon documentary, which will be released in 2020.
We are more convinced than ever that RITY is the right home for this irreplaceable collection, and I cannot recommend them highly enough.
Freelance Researcher:
Working on an almost completely archival film about Laurel Canyon (Jigsaw Productions) was quite the challenge, but David Peck and Reelin' in the Years Productions made this daunting task so much easier. Not only was their library teeming with amazing, music-related archival footage and photos, but David was always just a phone call away if and when any new themes were introduced into the film. Usually, I was the one picking up the phone to call archive houses, but David never hesitated to let me know about new and exciting material that he found. When he discovered never- before-seen home movie footage of Joni Mitchell painting from 1969, I was the first person he called and we fell in love with the material so much that we added the footage directly into the film (even though we essentially had locked the cut). I am excited to work with Reelin' again on my next project.
Principle, Production Company:
Of course, David runs this amazing library, but he also brings to the table the passion and commitment of a true archivist who cares deeply about the historical importance of footage and the need to preserve it. His invaluable advice to us on projects has gone way beyond just curating the footage he represents, and this new partnership is a chance for us to utilize his extraordinary knowledge to create some very high-level, archive-driven projects on subjects we all love. The main benefits are that David Peck’s skill, which is normally available to his customers through his ability to supply high quality material and advice is now actually harnessed with us to develop high quality archive-heavy projects. David not only knows his own enormous archive like the back of his hand but he also has a producer and a storyteller’s point of view on how to use archive. When you look at the way Reelin’ in the Years is organized, the scope of its library, and its sense that these are treasures, that vision is David’s.
LOLA Clips
Synopsis
LOLA Clips is an exciting footage agency based in London and LA, founded in 2015, by industry executives Sandra Coelho and Dominic Dare, LOLA offers a transcontinental clip agency, with a personal touch. With over 25 media partners choosing LOLA Clips to represent their collections and Sandra and Dominic having over 40 years experience in the industry it’s no wonder that their customer base and fantastic reputation is growing rapidly.
LOLA is passionate about connecting creative businesses with amazing videos from some of the best global contributors, and 2019 was no exception.
2019 saw LOLA driving forward unique and interesting ways for their clients to use footage. With amazing aerial drone footage, filmed by the team at LOLA, being featured in the feature film Godzilla: King of Monsters, a fantastic placing of content from one of LOLA’s clients, ITV, in the 2019 series of Orange is the New Black and news footage being seen in SAG nominated The Morning Show (featuring Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston) showing that UK news content can travel across the pond, LOLA has pushed the boundaries on what a footage agency delivers. LOLA Clips is also co-founder of the amazing FootageFest, which launched in 2018, and brings together professional users and providers of third- party content together in Los Angeles to network, collaborate and break down any transatlantic barriers. 2019 was a bumper year for FootageFest, adding an additional day to the event, upping the number of participants and vendors and some amazing feedback from those who joined the event.
LOLA Clips is leading the way in making the entire process of buying and selling footage simple and fun and should be recognised for the significant role that they play in this industry.
Nominated By:
Kay Page, Co-Managing Director - Northbound TV
Archival highlights
Archive Research and Clearance Specialist:
I am delighted and honored to endorse the nomination for LOLA Clips to be considered for the FOCAL International Library of the Year Award. I have worked extensively with Dominic Dare and Sandra Coelho for many years as an archive researcher, and it’s been one of my greatest experiences. Dom and Sandra go the extra distance for their clients – their knowledge and connections with international archive resources is extraordinary, and they tirelessly work to connect us with those sources. In the last two years alone, for my projects, LOLA Clips have organized a drone shoot of Niagara Falls at dawn right before Christmas, worked out a package deal for several content heavy series for HBO and Apple TV, and tracked down elusive European and Middle East archive content. They provide unfailing support. The growth of the collections that LOLA Clips represent is quite impressive, and no small feat to secure.
LOLA Clips have also hosted as part of AMCUP the U.S. based FootageFest for the last two years – which involved an extraordinary amount of work, and resulted in two very successful, enjoyable and not-to-be-missed events attended by researchers and archives from several countries.
It would be a wonderful salute to this terrific, committed and hard-working team to award LOLA Clips the Footage Company of the Year.
Archive Producer:
LOLA Clips is an amazing international archive specializing in everything from the latest news footage to viral videos to breathtaking drone footage to historic stock footage. LOLA Clips is my go-to archive for news footage from the UK to Australia. And when I need footage from an area of the world where I have few or no contacts, I contact LOLA Clips’ Sandra Coelho and Dominic Dare to either broker footage or to provide me with an introduction to a new entity.
LOLA Clips is an ever-expanding archive. Sandra and Dominic have made me look good on multiple projects—from docuseries to TV specials to documentaries to clip shows. They both know how important each individual request is. If there’s a way to license/broker the footage, Sandra and Dominic will make things happen and they’ll do it quickly.
As a producer, the true value of an archive is its ability to add new material on a frequent basis. LOLA Clips features new gems each time I visit its website.
Furthermore, their database is easy to search. The results are always nicely targeted.
Another asset to using LOLA Clips is that they go the extra mile when it comes to licensing news footage—they make the effort to clear the talent. In other words, I can license news footage and know that I don’t need to clear the on-air talent on my own. This is a tremendous time saver for me. There are literally only a handful of archives I use on almost every project; LOLA Clips is one of them. Not only do I get the footage I need, but I also get the footage at reasonable prices and I get to work with two of the sharpest, most well-connected people in the footage archive business— Sandra Coelho and Dominic Dare.
Archive Producer:
It gives me great pleasure to endorse the nomination for LOLA Clips to be considered for FOCAL International’s Library of the Year. I have had the good fortune to work with both Dominic and Sandra over the many years I have been involved in the footage archive world. They both have a real in- depth grasp on our industry and handle themselves with the utmost professionalism. Understanding the needs and budgets of a range of productions, honouring deadlines and all the while doing so while being likeable, upbeat and extremely positive.
I have also been impressed by the massive number of hours that both Dominic and Sandra volunteered to run AMCUP’s Footage Fest for the past two years in September in Los Angeles. It was a first-rate industry event that I delighted in attending last year as part of the Visual Researchers’ of Canada delegation.
It would be a wonderful to be able to toast this hard-working team at this year’s FOCAL Awards....
Broadcaster:
We have been working together with Ms. Sandra Coelho and Mr. Dominic Dare at Lola Clips, since Lola Clips was established in 2015, and licensed a number of footage from them on behalf of a Japanese TV programme. Lola Clips offers various categories of footage which are provided by different partners from around the world, and we are very satisfied to have many selections in their large archive which can mostly cover our main interest categories (home video funny animal/kids footage, sports bloopers, CCTV, and dash cam footage).
Our sales contact, Sandra is always very helpful, a friendly, lovely person. I have been really enjoying working with her since we met first at MIPCOM several years before. Especially the production team in Japan appreciate her kind assistance, and always look forward to receiving her clip research results based on their research request. Added to this, she arranges all the necessary paper works and deliver the master materials promptly in a professional manner in order to meet our very tight delivery timeline.
We are truly delighted with their excellent and speedy service, and hope we would be also able to continue introducing their amazing footage to our Japanese viewers on upcoming future episode of our show.
Inamedia
Adrian Wood & Polly Pettit for Japan's War
Producer(s):
David Batty
Footage Archive Researcher:
Adrian Wood, Polly Pettit
Archival Sources:
NARA, NHK & Private Sources, IWM, Footage Farm, Technovoid
Production Company:
TWI/Carlton
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
Using unique colour film, combined with readings from letters and diaries, it tells the story of Japan's involvement in the Second World War. From China through to Pearl Harbor and the dropping of the atomic bomb, the programme shows remarkable film that gives an entirely new perspective on the events of the period.
Archival highlights
First, these researchers have provided an insight into the lesser known history of Japan by searching out material that has never been seen before. Secondly, that it is in colour makes it even more remarkable, particularly as it often required expertise and great perseverance to establish this. Finally, their researches encompassed libraries and archives throughout the world, which over a period of time have contributed to an altered perception - in a very positive way - of the archival film record of 20th century history.
Japan's War
Producer(s):
David Batty
Footage Archive Researcher:
Adrian Wood, Polly Petit
Archival Sources:
NARA, NHK + Private Japanese Collections, Imperial War Museum, Footage Farm, Technovid
Production Company:
TWI/Carlton Production
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
For eight years the Japanese fought what they believed was a Holy War that became a fight to the death. Using never-before-seen colour footage, Japan's War tells a previously untold story. It recounts the history of the Second World War from a Japanese perspective, combining original colour film with letters and diaries written by Japanese people. It tells the story of a nation at war from the diverse perspectives of those who lived through it: the leaders and the ordinary people, the oppressors and the victims, the guilty and the innocent.
Archival highlights
The 1,000 stitch belt is an army film shot during the occupation of China. Fragments from a rushes reel were found in a Russian archive. In a bad state of repair, the clips were comped together, hand cleaned, then wet gate telecined. A sequence was edited together, stabilised and speeds changed to give a more natural motion using Arid Symphony. It was passed through puritan to remove some of the vertical lines, and then hand painted on the MTI box to remove as many of the remaining lines, splats and marks as possible. Finally the sequence was graded. The 1937 Tokyo street scenes were shot with early Kodacolor, a 3 colour lenticular system which produces a high speed print containing vertical lines. The colour was first recovered using a system developed by Film Technology in Hollywood. The sequence was cut, slowed down and stabilised in avid, and was then graded on poggle with electric sunroof and finally de-spotted in smoke. The 1937 Prince Chichibu film was discovered mouldy and cracked. After extensive hand cleaning and re-sprocketing, some portions were able to be wet gate telecined. After a one pass grade, colour was brought back but the mould had left green marks. With a re-grade on the final programme and time in smoke painting out some of the larger splats, the results are a watchable colour film, never seen before on television.
The General - USA, 1927
Production Company:
Lobster Films
Country of Production:
France
Synopsis
To digitally restore this classic early film. Johnnie Gray is a Southern railway engineer who has "only two loves in his life'' -- his locomotive (The General) and the beautiful Annabelle Lee. As Civil War is declared in 1861, he is turned down by the Confederacy because the government believes he is more valuable as an engineer. 'I don't want you to speak to me again until you are in uniform,' Annabelle declares and leaves him. Soon Union spies steal The General. Annabelle who was a passenger on the stolen train, becomes a prisoner of the Union troops and is rescued by Johnnie.
Archival highlights
One of the first silent films to be completely digitally restored. Important for distribution in cinemas.
Immigration DVD
Director:
Paul Byrnes, Penelope McDonald
Producer(s):
Paul Byrnes, Penelope McDonald
Footage Archive Researcher:
Bev Dalgairns, Anna Nolan
Archival Sources:
Film Australia Library, Film World and Cinesound, Movietone Productions, UN High Commission for Refugees, ScreenSound Australia
Production Company:
Film Australia
Country of Production:
Australia
Synopsis
An exploration of immigration and Australia - the people, policies and propaganda.
Archival highlights
Film Australia has made more than 100 films relating to immigration since 1946 - the largest single archival source in Australia for films on this topic. The producers set out to make a DVD that looked at the intersection of film, migration and politics. In particular, they wanted to look at the way film was used to promote the government's migration schemes and to encourage the acceptance of new migrants to Australia. The aim was to bring the best of the rich source to light in a DVD for a general audience and for use in schools and tertiary colleges.
Fahrenheit 9/11
Director:
Michael Moore
Producer(s):
Michael Moore
Footage Archive Researcher:
Carl Deal
Production Company:
Westside Productions/Dog Eat Dog Films
Country of Production:
USA
Synopsis
Fahrenheit 9/11 is Michael Moore's expose of the Bush administration's actions following the 9/11 terror attacks in the US. With humour and commitment to uncovering facts, the film shows how President Bush exploited 9/11 to implement a radical right-wing agenda. It examines how -- and why -- Bush avoided pursuing the Saudi connection to 9/11, and shows a nation paralyzed by fear and lulled into accepting a legislative assault on civil rights, The USA Patriot Act. It is in this atmosphere that the Bush Administration makes a headlong rush to war in Iraq, without serious questions from the media. Fahrenheit 9/11 takes the viewer inside the lies to illustrate the awful human cost of war.
Archival highlights
Sixty percent of Fahrenheit 9/11 is made up of archive images from an unusually broad array of traditional and non-traditional sources. The use of archive footage to present facts, create emotion, debunk the political culture, and convey point of view was essential to the tremendous impact the film has had.
Forum Barcelona - Voices Exhibit
Director:
Simon Taylor
Producer(s):
Abi Hodson
Footage Archive Researcher:
Anne Hummel
Archival Sources:
BBC Motion Gallery, ITN Archive, Granada Collection, National Geographic Film Library, APTN Library, Moving Image Communications
Production Company:
Tomato Films
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
Audio visual content for Forum 2004 Voices exhibit, which ran from May 2004 for 5 months in Barcelona. Voices is dedicated to diversity, one of the core themes of the Forum. The objective of the exhibition is to celebrate human communication and linguistic and cultural diversity. The central dome structure comprised of 28 screens of various sizes positioned around an amphitheatre 32m in diameter. The film, directed by Simon Taylor, was programmed through a central server to incorporate the 28 screens. Multiple and single images along side typography were choreographed making the most of the three dimensional space creating an immersive environment. In addition a 100m wall, comprising of 24 screens, featuring 96 separate languages ran along side the central audio visual, resulting in a total of 52 different films shown simultaneously. Sometimes the screens showed the same image everywhere; other moments featured different images on every screen. The films were synchronized to merge in a moment of 'collapse' at one point in the ten minute show. Reasons for Submission: Combines specially shot with archive footage to make a linear film 52 mins in length, which when projected onto 28 screens has a screening duration of 10 mins. Technically this was a challenge when editing and programming server. Graphics and music are combined with footage to create a stimulating experience. The languages, images and graphics featured explore diversity through linguistics, The film includes diverse cultures from around the world, and shows how they communicate in their own individual ways. It looks at communication through gesture, facial expression, language, the written word, music, clothing, This exhibit proved to be both stimulating and informative, educating audiences in a non traditional way and promoting those languages nearing extinction.
Avril: Be Yourself
Director:
Patrick Volve
Producer(s):
Jeremy Rochigneux
Footage Archive Researcher:
Jeremy Rochigneux
Archival Sources:
Tele Images Nature, National Geographic, Getty Images, Film Images
Production Company:
Metronomic
Country of Production:
France
Synopsis
This music video is composed with documentary film archives about monkeys living in their natural environment. This is a rhythmic research, an ironic diversion of the text of Avril's song that evoke the area of fashion and its protagonists. .
Archival highlights
Usually Pop Music Videos show the artist singing. The use of Archive Footage is very rare in this field. The creative bias was to show wild and natural life in opposition to the lyrics evoking the trendy world of fashion. This unexpected Pop Music Video, largely broadcasted on M6, has contributed to the success of the title
Charal: The Race
Director:
Remy Belvaux
Producer(s):
Nicolas Duval
Footage Archive Researcher:
Valérie Massignon, XY Zebre
Archival Sources:
ITN Archive, Granada Wild Collection, Leo Production, Getty Images
Production Company:
Quad
Country of Production:
France
Synopsis
Charal meat product.
Archival highlights
Inventive and humorous.
The Fight - Eps. The Rules of the Ring
Director:
David Hutt
Producer(s):
Tom Ware
Footage Archive Researcher:
Lawrence Breen
Archival Sources:
ESNP, HBO Sports, Steve Lott, BBC Motion Gallery, UCLA
Production Company:
BBC
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
The Fight is the story of boxing, in and out of the ring, from the bare-knuckle era to the $ multi-million business of today. This first programme traces the brutal origins of professional boxing and shows that, even though the rules have changed, the sport's most popular champions have always been its most vicious fighters.
Archival highlights
This programme contains a wealth of archive footage dating from 1919 to 2002, putting the history of the sport of boxing in its social, cultural and political context.
Animal Games
Producer(s):
John Downer
Footage Archive Researcher:
Rob Pilley, Matthew Gordon
Archival Sources:
John Downer Productions, BBC Natural History Unit, ITN Archive, Granada Wild Collection, Getty Images, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet Archive
Production Company:
John Downer Productions
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
Competitors from the animal world gather to stage their greatest athletic contest. Animal athletes from the Mammals, Birds, Insects, Herptiles and the Fish nations are scaled to human size so everyone is on a level pegging as they compete in the 100m, high jump, long jump, shooting, weight lifting and swimming. State of the art digital graphic effects blend specially shot and archive material seamlessly. All the tricks of multi-camera shooting, action replays and photo finishes are used to analyse each event. On screen graphics impart facts and figures while commentators John Motson and Jonathan Pearce add to the excitement.
Archival highlights
Animal Games brought together archive material and digital effects in a totally innovative way, transforming traditional natural history library shots beyond recognition. By coupling archive with the latest in digital special effects, the programme has revolutionised the way that we can reuse natural history footage.
The Ultimate Film was a rundown of the 100 most popular films at the British box office based on stats provided by the British Film Institute. Presented by John Cleese, the list was revealed over two 3-hour episodes on Channel 4. It was the first time the BFI had publicized this list based on British audience attendances and it made for an interesting and eclectic journey through the history of cinema in this country.
Archival highlights
APTN suggested we submit our programme for this category and we thought it was a good opportunity to illustrate the quality of our archive based programming. The programme is a fascinating journey through the history of cinema in this country, which also provides an insight into our social history, all done through the use of archive from a wide range of sources. North One Television, formerly Chrysalis Television has a long history of producing quality archive based Entertainment and Factual Entertainment programming, which stretches back to the original Top Tens on Channel 4. The Ultimate Film has continued that tradition and managed to gain significant coverage in the printed media and an audience share that peaked at 30% with a figure of 4.9 million viewers.
Camarades, il était une fois les communistes français
Director:
Yves Jeuland
Producer(s):
Jean Labib
Footage Archive Researcher:
Marie France Pirotte
Archival Sources:
Cine Archives, INA Media, Gaumont Pathé Archives
Production Company:
La Compagnie des Phares et Balises
Country of Production:
France
Synopsis
One page in the history of French society seems to have been turned over for good with the advent of the 21st century, it is that of communism. The communist electorate collapsed, the Party lost its social bearing, and a whole universe broke down. However, it was not so long ago that French communists made up a counter-society. At that time PCF, the French communist party, was the biggest in France, with its own offices, departments, and cultural and sporting organizations: its own regional newspapers and its untouchable bastions, from the Greater Paris belt to the Red South, from the northern region of Lille to the southern one of Limoges. Going into the 'Party' was like going into religion. It had its own heroes, legends and myths. You were either for or against it.
Archival highlights
Sixty years of communist life in France is shown and illustrated in this documentary, supported by exceptional archive documents, militant films, songs, previously unseen reports from the famous faces of the time, and enriched with interviews of militant families - miners from the southern 'Gard' region, agricultural workers from northern 'Haute-Vienne' and railway workers from the Pas-de-Calais region bordering the English Channel, to name but a few. This is a collective and intimate adventure, it is the sum of many fates, by turns moving, funny and cruel, which helps to show the rites and values of France at a certain time, shedding light on the 'comrade' culture.
The Power of Nightmares: Baby It's Cold Outside
Producer(s):
Adam Curtis
Footage Archive Researcher:
Stuart Robertson
Archival Sources:
BBC Motion Gallery, APTN, CNN, Getty Images
Production Company:
BBC
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
In the past our politicians offered us dreams of a better world. Now they promise to protect us from nightmares. The most frightening of these is the threat of an international terror network. But just as the dreams weren't true - neither are these nightmares. This series shows dramatically how the threat of Islamist terrorism has been distorted and exaggerated by politicians. While there is a terrorist threat from radical Islamism, the idea that we are faced by a terrifying hidden organisation of unique power orchestrated by an evil mastermind Osama bin Laden is a fantasy. At the heart of the story are two groups: the American neoconservatives and the radical Islamists. Together they created today's nightmare vision of an organised terror network. A fantasy that politicians then found restored their power and authority in a disillusioned age.
Archival highlights
The aim of the Power of Nightmares was to use the past to look again at the present and cut through many of the myths that now surround the War on terror. Because of this archive film from a multitude of sources was central to the project. Archive was used in a creative and often surprising way not just to illustrate past events but also to imaginatively understand the present in a new way. It was a modern collage that showed the extent to which archive film can be used in new ways that allow the audience to step back and view the present day in a new and informative light.
British Movietonews
Nava Mizrahi for Israel and the Arabs, Elusive Peace
Director:
Dan Edge
Producer(s):
Norma Percy
Footage Archive Researcher:
Declan Smith, Nava Mizrahi
Archival Sources:
APTN Library, Israeli Government Press Office, BBC Motion Gallery, ITN Archive, Israeli Broadcasting Authority
Production Company:
Brook Lapping
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
Sharon (2003-2005) President Bush was determined to stay out of Middle East peace-making. But his war in Iraq forced him to court Arab allies. He needed to push Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon back toward peace - but then Sharon moved the goal posts. The final programme in a major three-part documentary series, Israel and the Arabs: Elusive Peace, in which Presidents and Prime Ministers, their generals and ministers - and those behind the suicide bombs and assassinations - tell what happened behind closed doors as they try to get the peace process up and running after two years of intifada. Reasons for Submission: Local Israeli researcher was Nava Mizrahi, whose persistence and knowledge of the Israeli archives was unique. Nava's masterpiece is in episode 3. She made so many demands the government archive finally left her to copy things herself. She discovered film from the Aqaba summit of the top Israeli and Palestinian security ministers discussing together how to deal with Hamas. They had no idea they were being filmed. It was the biggest scoop in the series. Nava spent weeks persuading the government press office to release film of Prime Minister Barak playing the piano. The director was scornful and 'we'll never use that' then we interviewed Barak, and he talked about how he played Chopin while waiting for his first meeting with Yasser Arafat. We built the whole opening sequence around it and used piano playing as the link between sections. Two days before the online, we heard that Barak needed to approve the use and and he denied it. The archive said Barak hated to be filmed playing, and no other shots existed. We rang Nava in panic. She said calmly 'I have seen some elsewhere, let me think.' The day of the online a tape arrived from Israel of 20 seconds of Barak playing the same piece and it fitted perfectly.
Declan Smith for Israel and the Arabs, Elusive Peace
Director:
Dan Edge
Producer(s):
Norma Percy
Footage Archive Researcher:
Declan Smith, Nava Mizrahi
Archival Sources:
APTN Library, Israeli Government Press Office, BBC Motion Gallery, ITN Archive, Israeli Broadcasting Authority
Production Company:
Brook Lapping
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
Arafat (2001/2002) US Secretary of State Colin Powell attempts to make peace between Israel and the Palestinians, but his efforts are derailed by his own hard-line colleagues - and Yasser Arafat himself. The second programme in a major three-part documentary series, Israel and the Arabs: ELUSIVE PEACE, in which Presidents and Prime Ministers, their generals and ministers - and those behind the suicide bombs and assassinations - tell what happened behind closed doors as the violence of the intifada exploded. Reasons for Submission: The thing about Declan is simply he delivers. Everything else is detail. You show him your first preliminary research script and he is away ' thinking up new sources of archive' 'you don't want to use that one, everyone uses that one.' And after every rough cut viewing he is there with suggestions and ideas. No problem is insurmountable. Declan has a secret weapon, his Irish charm. He has people all over the world doing favours for him. For example there was Clinton's Camp David summit, no archive film at all of the main event in programme 1. Stills? Well the interesting ones were property of the William Jefferson Clinton Presidential library, but Presidential libraries don't open till 5 years after the President leaves office - months after we were due to broadcast. Somehow hundreds of them came our way and saved the show. Then there was the amazing footage of Arafat under siege in his muqata. The interview said that Arafat wanted to run down to confront the Israeli troops and had to be restrained. And lo and behold, we have film of the event. Also the Gaza assassination aftermaths in Programme 3, the way you can see the building with its top floor destroyed. And the horrible bloody remains. But Aqaba was the big one - the credit for that Declan has to share with local researcher Nava Mizrahi. Sally Hilton editor of programme 2 and 3 of Elusive Peace writes about Declan So much of Israel and the Arabs centred around secret political meetings between visiting peace makers and lesser known Palestinian and Israeli politicians. The first cut was a series of talking heads and black holes that you can't imagine ever being illustrated.Then Declan came in like Father Christmas bearing gifts of footage of exactly the right guys at the right time and in the right place. Declan tapped into the chaotic Palestinian archive and found footage of top level Hamas meetings and remarkable footage of Arafat's bunker cabinet during the siege, including a meeting where Arafat's aides are trying to persuade him to accept a proposal. I particularly got excited by film showing Rajoub looking extremely grumpy just like it said in the interview. Declan's real genius is giving the viewer a ringside seat at these momentous and terrible episodes in our recent history. You see the wanton destruction of Arafats compound and Arafats terrified reaction. You see the bloody results moments after a suicide bomb in Jerusalem, a little girl sprawled on the pavement looking like a rag doll. You see the despair of an old man in Jenin as the Israeli soliders pick their way through the rubble littered with corpses that was once the town centre. You see a weary Colin Powell give up. Declan doesn't just rely on news footage. He is like an octopus with tentacles everywhere. If an event has been filmed or audio recorded, he will find it, however obscure the source. He makes my job as an editor extremely easy and a real pleasure.
Mitchell and Kenyon Collection (1900-1913)
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
Preservation project undertaken 2000-2005, on the Mitchell and Kenyon collection (800 Edwardian nitrate negatives): Film duplication of restored images from original, fragile materials (see Road to Restoration featurette on enclosed DVD; and enclosed published essay) Production of new master and intermediate film elements. Production of screening prints. Production of speed-corrected Digital Betacam of entire collection Production of Hi-Defintion masters of selected items, for theatrical distribution/DVD Made available through BBC series, DVDs, theatrical screenings and www.screenonline.org.uk
Archival highlights
A very ambitious, technically challenging, preservation project. Results of extraordinary, acclaimed, quality. Materials for all purposes: new 35mm preservation masters, prints and HD for screenings, Digibetas for broadcast. Caught the public imagination, drawing attention to complexity and importance of preservation. See: References within series The Lost World of Mitchell and Kenyon; Featurette The Road To Restoration on DVD Electric Edwardians; Presentations on archiving of the collection at National Film Theatre and elsewhere; Detailed study of process and implications in book The Lost World of Mitchell and Kenyon: Edwardian Britain on Film.
CBC Digital Archives
Production Company:
CBC Digital Archives / Les archives de Radio-Canada
Country of Production:
Canada
Synopsis
The CBC Digital Archives Website is a comprehensive collection of 10,000 online television and radio clips that highlights the events, issues and people who have shaped Canada. Drawn from 70 years of programming by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the bilingual (English and French) website is constantly updated by teams of journalists, archivists and technicians in Toronto and Montreal. The site - along with original educational tools - has become a leading source of history in classrooms across Canada. Special care has been made to make the site accessible to visitors with limited vision. The site requires no registration and access is free.
Archival highlights
The CBC Digital Archives Website is honoured to be able to enter the 2006 Focal Awards. This Submission is particularly gratifying coming from a grassroots supporter like Ontario's Rick Hansen Secondary School. Our ever-expanding site has become a leading historical resource that provides a uniquely Canadian perspective on the country's most intriguing personalities and events. By attracting over 500,000 unique visitors per month, the website proves history really is exciting - thanks to the CBC's priceless audio, video and film reports. With over 70,000 minutes of digitized material online, CBC is a world leader in allowing free access to its historic archives.
Good Night and Good Luck
Director:
George Clooney
Producer(s):
Grant Heslov
Footage Archive Researcher:
Kenn Rabin
Archival Sources:
BBC Motion Gallery/CBS New Archive
Production Company:
Warner Bros
Country of Production:
USA
Synopsis
This film is a no frills account of a period in American history that left visible scars but, as it happens, many have forgotten. David Strathairn - best actor at the Venice Film Festival - is chillingly perfect as Edward R Murrow, the broadcast journalist for the CBS News Show See It Now. Set in 1953, Senator Joseph McCarthy is attempting to rid the US of communist sympathisers while using suspect methods. As Murrow realises McCarthy is restricting civil liberties and sentencing people without trial he risks his job and his livelihood to tell the public the truth.
Archival highlights
BBC Motion Gallery's representation of the CBS News archive enabled us to work closely with Warner Bros on this recent project. Both Clooney and Heslov wanted to create an accurate portrayal of the time so a conscious effort was made to incorporate many key speeches. They decided to divert from the norm and portray McCarthy through the use of real footage from CBS News. The use of this footage accessed via BBC Motion Gallery adds a chilling depth to this award-winning feature film.
Sanyo LCD Television In-Store Demonstration
Director:
James Whiteley
Producer(s):
Joanna Urwin
Archival Sources:
National Geographic Digital Motion
Production Company:
Jay Film & Video
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
In-store demonstration of new LCD Television Reasons for Submission: Innovative use of footage.
A History of European Economic and Monetary Union
Director:
Robert Heitmann, Colin Stevens
Producer(s):
Robert Heitmann, Colin Stevens
Footage Archive Researcher:
Daphné Leveque, Robert Heitmann
Archival Sources:
European Commission, European Parliament, ZDF Enterprises, European Central Bank,Westend Film & TV Produktion
Production Company:
Westend Film & TV Produktion GmbH + Quadrant
Country of Production:
Germany
Synopsis
Since January 1st 2002, more than 300 million European citizens have been using the euro as a normal part of daily life. This film tells the history of Europe's Economic and Monetary Union, starting with the devastation after world war two and ending with the Euro cash change over - an operation that is unique in world history.
Archival highlights
The film is part of a DVD with 9 films used by the European Central Bank for lectures and presentations about the role and organisation of the ECB and other issues relating to Economic and Monetary Union. By illustrating the major milestones towards Europe's Economic and Monetary Union with archive footage, the viewer is taken on a exiting and enlightening journey through time.
Soulwax: NY Excuse
Footage Archive Researcher:
Nadia Marquard Otzen
Archival Sources:
Film Images
Production Company:
Gorgeous
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
Pop Video for band Soulwax. www.kevinenjoyce.com/soulwax/index.html Reasons for Submission: Fabulous use of archive footage.
Virgin Trains
Director:
Chris Hodgkiss & Pip Bishop
Producer(s):
Tim Page
Footage Archive Researcher:
Reid and Casement
Archival Sources:
The Railway Children, Some Like It Hot, North by Northwest, Murder on the Orient Express, The Lady Vanishes
Production Company:
Great Guns
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
Drawing inspiration from the golden era of rail travel, the film takes us on a romantic, cinematic journey onboard a brand new Virgin Train. But it isn't just the luxurious train that evokes the great days of rail travel, mixed with modern day passengers and staff are stars from iconic train films of the past. The wonders of the old are married with the marvels of the new to stunning effect. The greatest of service with the latest technology, heralding an exciting new day for train travel. The story features a star studded cast list, including Sir John Mills, Cary Grant, Jenny Agutter, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis.
Archival highlights
Virgin Trains TV advert features many artists from old films edited into the new Virgin Train. The old footage was fundamental focus of the advert and dictated the art directional look for the whole film. We had to light each modern day shot to compliment the old footage that would then be dropped into shot in post production. It was only made possible through the very latest digital technology, working with the production company Great Guns, taking 9 months to complete.
A Very British Olympics
Director:
Dominic Sutherland
Producer(s):
Dominic Sutherland
Footage Archive Researcher:
Angela Spindler-Brown
Archival Sources:
BBC Motion Gallery, Footage Farm, British Movietonews, Huntley Film Archives, OTAB
Production Company:
BBC
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
A documentary that tells the story of the last London Olympics in 1948. The world was a very different place then as it was recovering from the years of the WWII. London was under pressure but it did cope and staged glorious games. The British spirit and the sense of humour did help. The documentary and the archive footage manage to re-create the atmosphere and spirit of that time.
Archival highlights
The documentary is using archive material, mostly in colour, not see on our TV screens before. Although many productions make such claims, A Very British Olympics has footage which hasn't been seen on TV screens before. Thus the claim to fame: discovered colour footage used not for its own purposues but in the service of the story of London 1948 Olympics.
The Pet and the Beast - 100 Years of Natural History Perception
Director:
Gerhard Thiel
Producer(s):
Annette Scheurich
Footage Archive Researcher:
Peter Fera
Archival Sources:
Transit Film, Bild Archiv Okapia KG, MAVIS Prod. Gesellschaft, Prof. Dr. Hans Hass, BBC Motion Gellery, ITN Archive
Production Company:
Marco Polo Film AG
Country of Production:
Germany
Synopsis
From the silent era onwards, animals were always a cherished subject of filmmakers. In this film, director Gerhard Thiel explores the history of wildlife filmmaking using a selection of humorous, strange, bizarre, cruel, interesting and entertaining footage from the past 100 years. It is a journey of discovery, showing in detail how our present-day image of nature evolved.
Archival highlights
Without the vast experience and memory of Peter Fera, this film would not have been possible. It shows how important knowledgeable researchers are and how footage can be used to make entertaining films and at the same time learning a lot about history.
TV Makeovers That Changed the World
Director:
Pete Woods
Producer(s):
Jex Lindsay
Footage Archive Researcher:
Susan Huxley
Archival Sources:
BBC Motion Gallery, ITN Archive/C4, National Gas Archive, Film Images
Production Company:
North One Television
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
The programme explored our national obsession with improving our homes, cookery, gardening and eventually our complete self-image, via the people and programmes that showed us how. From 1945 to date, featuring pioneering DIY guru Barry Bucknell, via Fanny Craddock all the way through to Changing Rooms and the ultimate make-over madness, plastic surgery.
Archival highlights
The show pulled together an enormous, genuinely fascinating range of material old and new to show (both entertainingly and educationally) how our viewing habits have helped shape (as much as been shaped by) social, historical attitudes and concerns.
American Masters / Arena - No Direction Home: Bob Dylan
Director:
Martin Scorsese
Producer(s):
Jeff Rosen, Susan Lacy, Nigel Sinclair, Anthony Wall, Martin Scorsese
Footage Archive Researcher:
Jeff Rosen, Jessica Cohen, Tia Lessin, Chelsea Hoffman, Andrew Wright, Lewanne Jones, Mark McElhatten
Archival Sources:
D.A. Pennebaker, Murray Lerner, Historic Films Archive, The Estate of Ralph J. Gleason, The Alan Lomax Collection, Image Bank Film/Getty Images, J. Fred MacDonald, CBC TV Archive Sales, BBC Motion Gallery, Malcolm Leo and Global ImageWorks
Production Company:
American Masters, Thirteen/WNET New York, BBC: Arena, Spitfire
Country of Production:
USA
Synopsis
Bob Dylan gives his only interview in 20 years, participating for the very first time in an exclusive film biography. Directed by Martin Scorsese, with an archive of, literally, never before seen footage - from childhood, from the road, from back-stage and unreleased interviews conducted over the past 15 years with other seminal figures from those times, some of whom, like Allan Ginsberg, are long dead, the film is intimate and incomparable. And, Dylan brings the rights to his legendary music with him 'Blowin' in the Wind, Like a Rolling Stone, Don't Think Twice, Mr. Tambourine Man, It Ain't Me Babe, Just Like A Woman, Positively 4th Street, The Times They Are A-Changin' and infinitely on and on.
A Very British Olympics
Director:
Dominic Sutherland
Producer(s):
Dominic Sutherland
Footage Archive Researcher:
Angela Spindler-Brown
Archival Sources:
BBC Motion Gallery, Footage Farm, British Movietonews, Huntley Film Archives, OTAB
Production Company:
BBC
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
A documentary that tells the story of the last London Olympics in 1948. The world was a very different place then as it was recovering from the years of the WWII. London was under pressure but it did cope and staged glorious games. The British spirit and the sense of humour did help. The documentary and the archive footage manage to re-create the atmosphere and spirit of that time.
Archival highlights
The documentary is using archive material, mostly in colour, not see on our TV screens before. Although many productions make such claims, A Very British Olympics has footage which hasn't been seen on TV screens before. Thus the claim to fame: discovered colour footage used not for its own purposes but in the service of the story of London 1948 Olympics.
Israel and the Arab: Elusive Peace
Director:
Dan Edge
Producer(s):
Norma Percy
Footage Archive Researcher:
Declan Smith, Nava Mizrahi
Archival Sources:
APTN Library, Israeli Government Press Office, BBC Motion Gallery, ITN Archive, Israeli Broadcasting Authority
Production Company:
Brook Lapping
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
Israel and the Arabs: Elusive Peace has excellent archive footage but what is unique is the outstanding way this works with the interviews to make you feel you are there. For example episode 2 has unique film of Arafat under siege - but the picture of him quivering restrained by his aides among the rubble is made great by the interviewee who tells you he has just stopped Arafat from running down to confront Israeli tanks with his little pistol. Its this marrying of archive and interview that the series does so well. Other examples: The most extraordinary fly-on-the-wall film in episode 3, the secret conversation between the Israeli Chief of Staff and his Palestinian counterpart at the Aqaba summit - would be meaningless snatched sentences if the interviews with the participants didn't explain what they were conspiring about. In fact rather ordinary film in episode 1 of Secretary of State Madeleine Albright coming out of a meeting with President Chirac scowling comes alive when Albright in interview says "I gave him the dirtiest look !" The Independent - 03/10/2005 Robert Hanks: Norma Percy's documentaries turn the dry world of international politics into thrilling, must-see television. Through a combination of archive footage and interviews with "everybody who matters", you are given the impression of sitting in on history. You can get a sense of the way clashes of personalities and, sometimes, unexpected sympathies between enemies, can shape our world.
Footage Farm
Anne Connan (l'Aventurière)
Production Company:
La Compagnie des Taxi-Brousse
Country of Production:
France
Synopsis
During the Popular Front in Paris, Cheung Li, a young Chinese woman, asks Iris, 'l'Aventurière', for help. Terrified by opium dealers, she needs to recover her little girl who still lives in China. In this country torn by the civil war between nationalists and communists, partly occupied by Japanese, Iris will little-by-little discover the past of the young woman. A singular friendship between Iris and the one who legend will baptize 'The Red Empress', will take them from Manchuria to the remote places of China, following the Last Emperor's and the Great Helmsman's footsteps.
Archival highlights
This series is an international programme. It relates the extraordinary destiny of a young imaginary Adventurer who travels through the world: from Russia to America, in Africa, in Asia, in India, in South America and in the Far North. 'L'Aventurière' will be subtitle in English in January.
The Master's Edition Norman Mclaren
Production Company:
National Film Board of Canada
Country of Production:
Canada
Synopsis
The methods that McLaren used in making his films involved multiple manipulations of original elements in order to create simple colour separations. With repeated passes through the optical printer, the elements became damaged over successive generations, resulting in a 35 mm internegative that was far from pristine. McLaren was well aware of these shortcomings and most likely never achieved the image quality he was striving for. With today's computer-based technologies, we could certainly have produced near-perfect copies of most of his films, but for the sake of historical authenticity, we have resisted this temptation.
Archival highlights
It was thus the NFB's responsibility to ensure that Mclaren's work would be preserved and restored for the benefit of countless animation enthusiasts as well as for the general public here in Canada but throughout the world as well. All the preservation and restoration work allowed the NFB to ensure Mclaren's numerous films would continue to mesmerize audiences and simulate creators the world over. From a technical perspective, the many challenges encountered during this undertaking presented our image specialists with opportunities to hone their expertise and create a truly impressive and coherent rendition of Mclaren's work.
National Archives Website
Director:
Gavin Houtheusen
Producer(s):
Bob Daoust
Footage Archive Researcher:
Daniel Sherman
Archival Sources:
Film Images
Production Company:
National Archives
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
For the first time on The National Archives' website anyone can now view complete public information films from 1945-2006 free of charge. Joining with the Central Office of Information (COI) to celebrate their 60th Anniversary, The National Archives in co-operation with Film Images have featured a selection some of the most memorable and influential COI public information films that cover some fascinating events from Britain's post-war history.
Archival highlights
A wonderful resource for film researchers, educational users and members of the public.
The U.S. Vs. John Lennon
Director:
David Leaf, John Scheinfeld
Producer(s):
David Leaf, John Scheinfeld
Footage Archive Researcher:
Kristina Wood, Jim McDonnell
Archival Sources:
U.S. National Archives, NBC News Archives, BBC Motion Gallery/CBS News, ABC NEWS Video Source, Reelin In The Years Productions
Production Company:
Authorized Pictures
Country of Production:
USA
Synopsis
The U.S. Vs. John Lennon speaks powerfully to our own unsettled times. The film traces Lennon's metamorphosis from lovable "Moptop" to anti-war activist, and reveals how and why the U.S. government tried to silence him. Focusing on the years 1966-1976, it uses rarely-seen archival footage and authoritative witnesses to place Lennon's activism in the context of the times. Scrupulously researched and vividly illustrated, the film illuminates a little-known chapter of modern history, when a president and his administration waged a covert war against the world's most popular musician.
Archival highlights
'The U.S. vs. John Lennon' uses archival footage in two notable ways. First, to the delight of historians and Lennon fans alike, the film's archive researchers tracked down relevant footage that hadn't been seen in since it was originally shot decades ago. Considering that John Lennon was one of the most photographed and filmed people in the world, finding *any* unseen footage is significant. Second, the extensive use of archival footage allowed the filmmakers to let Lennon 'tell' his own story without the use of voiceover narration, a creative decision that makes the film even more compelling and powerful.
Deep Water
Director:
Louise Osmond, Jerry Rothwell
Producer(s):
Al Morrow, Jonny Persey, John Smithson
Footage Archive Researcher:
Cassie Bennitt
Archival Sources:
BBC Motion Gallery, ITV, SWFTVA, Moitessier Library, Colin Forbes
Production Company:
APT Films in association with Darlow Smithson Productions
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
Deep Water is the stunning true story of the fateful voyage of Donald Crowhurst, an amateur yachtsman who enters the most daring nautical challenge ever - the very first solo, non-stop, round-the-world boat race.
Archival highlights
Deep Water contains over 50 minutes of archive sourced from all over the world, originating on several formats - everything from 35mm to 8mm - and edited into a tense compelling narrative. The production team was indefatigable in successfully tracking down Donald Crowhurst's original rushes and tape recordings taken during his voyage and lost for over 30 years. The archive in Deep Water is vital for a film that eschews dramatic reconstruction in favour of authenticity. It took two years to find and clear all the footage - ultimately it was a hugely challenging but rewarding process.
Let Us Die Like Brothers
Director:
Toby Groom
Producer(s):
Toby Groom
Footage Archive Researcher:
Caroline Coxon
Archival Sources:
Film Images
Production Company:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission / The History Channel
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
There is a significant lack of information available to young people, both in the United Kingdom and South Africa, which deals with the involvement and sacrifices made by black servicemen during the two world wars. By telling the story of the sinking of the Mendi, and the tragic loss of those on board, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in collaboration with The History Channel aims to redress some of this imbalance.
Archival highlights
This educational CD-Rom tells of the hopes and dreams of black South Africans who enlisted, examines the way they were treated and the legacy of their sacrifice. CD-Rom includes detailed lesson plans cross referenced to the National Curriculum.
Radio 2 Elvis
Director:
Steve Cope
Producer(s):
Edel Erickson
Footage Archive Researcher:
Samina Ahmed, Quentin Clarke
Archival Sources:
BBC Motion Gallery, Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc, Sesame Street Workshop, Montracal Festival
Production Company:
Red Bee Media
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
The Brief from Radio 2 Marketing was to create an advert showcasing an amazing line-up of musicians playing along with Elvis. The film opens with footage taken from The King's 1973 'Aloha' from Hawaii TV Broadcast, with Elvis introducing a band of legendary names such as; Marvin Gaye, Keith Moon, Stevie Wonder, Noel Gallagher, Sheryl Crow and Jimmy Page. With the exception of the Sugababes, all the other artists were painstakingly sourced from archive material and then even more painstakingly super-imposed into the original Elvis footage. The creative agency was DFGW, the production company Red Bee Media.
Archival highlights
The trail seems to have touched a chord in so many viewers and had such an overwhelming response maybe because so many people were momentarily fooled into believing this really was Elvis's band or maybe because it was wonderful seeing such an amazing line up of artists all on one stage' It's a creative and clever use of some great archive material; really fresh and exciting idea achieved using some classic footage.
Hockey: A Peoples History
Director:
Peter Ingles
Producer(s):
Hubert Gendron
Footage Archive Researcher:
Mia Webster, Jean Simard
Archival Sources:
CBC/Radio-Canada, nfb, Hockey Hall of Fame Toronto, Libraries and Archives Canada, Molstar
Country of Production:
Canada
Synopsis
With the arrival of television in Canada in 1952, hockey becomes a national pastime. In this episode, real heroes and ordinary people come to life through archives. A young black player attempts to cross prejudicial boundaries to the NHL. In Toronto a 9 year-old girl marks it into organized hockey by passing as a boy. Rivals Maurice Richard and Gordie Howe, both number 9, dazzle professional hockey. Then Richard is suspended for the playoffs, causing a riot, transcending the realm of hockey. And in the heart of the Cold War, the Soviets shock the world by defeating the Canadians.
Archival highlights
The visual research for this episode was extensive. We insisted upon archival accuracy and authenticity. We included footage and photos from 59 different institutions and personal collections, having contacted many more, including sources from Canada, the US, France, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy and Russia. Television had just begun to air; "Hockey Night in Canada" was uniting people from coast to coast. We see excerpts of historic hockey matches, behind the scenes filming of games, interviews with players, unexpected footage of our heroes with kids, pertinent firsts, hard to find original footage and colour film. Footage blends harmoniously with HD filming.
Chernobyl : The Invisible Thief
Director:
Christoph Boekel
Producer(s):
Christoph Boekel
Footage Archive Researcher:
Christoph Boekel, Natalia Domrina
Archival Sources:
Archive Videofilm TV Company (Moscow), WDR Archive (West German Radio), BAUM-FILM GmbH Archive, Informations - und Medienzentrale der Bundeswehr (Archive of German Army), Private Archive Christoph Boekel
Production Company:
BAUM-FILM
Country of Production:
Germany
Synopsis
April 26th 1986. The day a nightmare scenario became horrific reality: the day reactor block 4 of the Chernobyl atomic power station exploded. While researching and filming this project filmmaker Christoph Boekel met numerous victims of the atomic catastrophe. His own wife was one of them and she, too, died of cancer. A moving film told from the personal perspective of the director, it is a requiem for the often forgotten victims of the disaster and a caveat against putting blind trust in technological advancement.
Archival highlights
Director Christoph Boekel uses his own archive footage and the footage of people he worked with to tell the dramatic fate of the victims of the Chernobyl catastrophe. The footage use creates the personal perspective of the director.
Folk Britannia: Ballads and Blues
Director:
Mike Connolly
Producer(s):
Mike Connolly
Footage Archive Researcher:
Kalbir Dhillon
Archival Sources:
Historic Films, Peter Kennedy, DR-TV, Alan Lomax Archive, Jill Donnellan
Production Company:
BBC Music Entertainment
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
This three part series on British Folk music begins with the birth of the folk revival in the 50's and the political struggles that ensued over the ownership of the movement. Lined up on one side were the traditionalists in The English Folk Song and Dance Society whose patron was Princess Margaret, and on the other, communists like Ewan McColl and A.L. Lloyd whose patron was more likely to be Joseph Stalin. Programme one also takes in the skiffle explosion and the birth of a more bohemian brand of folk which would eventually end the left's dominance of the scene.
Archival highlights
Kalbir Dhillon sourced a rich mix of colour footage of 1950s field recordings from The Alan Lomax Archive, classic archive such as 'Caller Herrin' and Philip Donellan's 'The Irishmen', performances from the 60s folk series 'Hullabaloo' and rare footage and stills from the vaults of the English Folk Dance & Song Society. The wealth of stills includes gems from the Brian Shuel Collection and Peter Kennedy's archive. The series earned plaudits from mainstream press as well as the folk community, many of whom who uphold it as the definitive history of modern Folk Music in the British Isles.
l'aventurière: L'Impératrice et le Dragon
Director:
Alain Wieder
Producer(s):
Maurice Ribière
Footage Archive Researcher:
Anne Connan, Marie D'Origny
Archival Sources:
Pathé Gaumont Archives, Lobster Films, British Film Institute, NARA, Kaleidoscope
Production Company:
La Compagnie Des Taxi-Brousse
Country of Production:
France
Synopsis
During the Popular Front in Paris, Cheung Li, a young Chinese woman, asks Iris, "l'Aventurière", for help. Terrified by opium dealers, she needs to recover her little girl who still lives in China. In this country torn by the civil war between nationalists and communists, partly occupied by Japanese, Iris will little-by-little discover the past of the young woman. A singular friendship between Iris and the one who legend will baptize 'The Red Empress', will take them from Manchuria to the remote places of China, following the Last Emperor's and the Great Helmsman's footsteps.
Archival highlights
This series is an international programme. It relates the extraordinary destiny of a young imaginary Adventurer who travels through the world between the 1920s and 1940s: from Russia to America, in Africa, in Asia, in India, in South America and in the Far North. By following her adventures, we relive the principal historic events of the beginning of the 20 th century. Between reality and fiction, this story is narrated by comic characters. The tale is illustrated with drawings and archive footage coming from more than 30 different countries. The footage is largely unknown and is used like film rushes. "L'Aventurière" will be subtitle in English in January.
This is the story of how film captured the rise and controversial fall of one the most extraordinary sports teams Britain has ever seen. From the newsreels of the 1920s to the films of one passionate amateur, we've pieced together rare and unusual archive to tell their story. The story of how a group of wartime factory workers played to raise money for injured war heroes, attracted crowds of 50,000, became the first unofficial England women's football team and then paid the price and was banned by the Football Association.
Archival highlights
The Dick, Kerr Ladies story is journalistically fascinating. Their extraordinary achievements and their highly controversial demise is the stuff of Hollywood films never mind a documentary. The fact that is essentially an untold story (this is the first television documentary that's focused on the Dick, Kerr tale) only adds to the intrigue. But for our series, which puts film first, makes archive 'King', we needed to weave this remarkable story together with the film story. This meant giving the back story to the archive, the context, the why it was filmed, even the how it was filmed.
Miss Universe 1929-Lisl Goldarbeiter. A Queen in Wien
Director:
Pacter Forga¡cs
Producer(s):
Ralph Wieser
Production Company:
Mischief Films
Country of Production:
Austria/The Netherlands
Synopsis
A personal documentary film about the life of Lisl Goldarbeiter 'the first and only Austrian Miss Universe' and her cousin Marci, who kept his camera trained on her throughout his life. A little film about big-time fame and eternal love, set against the background of 1930s Vienna.
Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple
Director:
Stanley Nelson
Producer(s):
Kristin Lesko
Footage Archive Researcher:
Robert Chehoski, Stephen Parr
Archival Sources:
Oddball Film+Video, Film Archives, Fulcrum TV, KGO TV, KTVU
Production Company:
Firelight Media
Country of Production:
USA
Synopsis
On November 18, 1978, over 900 members of Peoples Temple died in the largest mass suicide in history. What drew so many people across racial and class lines to the Peoples Temple? How could a diverse group of 900 people be convinced to commit suicide? Who was Jim Jones to command such loyalty that parents would murder their own children? Using never before seen archival footage and survivor interviews, 'Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple' tells the story of the people who followed Jim Jones from Indiana, to California, and finally to the remote jungles of Guyana, South America, in a misbegotten quest to build an ideal society.
Archival highlights
The San Francisco based Peoples Temple, led by Indiana native Jim Jones had a large following, initiated many community based programs and had capital, political clout and the good will of the San Francisco Bay Area. The mass suicide/murder shocked the nation and crippled San Francisco's spirit. We worked with Stanley Nelson to uncover rare, never-before-seen historical footage in our archives to reveal the complex truths behind the Peoples Temple's charismatic leader Jim Jones, his multiracial, multicultural San Francisco following and the rapid-fire events that resulted in the tragedy. We're proud to have worked on this cinematic metaphor for the spiritual yearning and cultural catharsis of those times.
AP Archive
Val Evans
Documentary Centenaries
Production Company:
BFI National Archive
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
Marking 2007's centenaries of five pioneer documentarists, project involved curatorially assessing their entire surviving output. 84 titles then selected for programming and detailed technical assessment, informing case-by-case implementation of: Production of polyester film-stock masters from best surviving elements, for long-term preservation. Production of 35mm screening prints Production of full-graded HD masters. Project planned for multiple outputs, including: Humphrey Jennings package 'Finest Hour', distributed to cinemas in both 35mm and HD formats. Major 'Documentary Centenaries' season at BFI Southbank Restored 'Night Mail' DVD, released by BFI. 'Land of Promise' DVD box-set containing 41 of the restored titles, due April 2008. Reason for Submission: Ambitious project of massive importance to cultural heritage, demonstrated by supporting materials: 'Finest Hour' brought Jennings to cinemas at best-ever quality: see 'Words for Battle'. Film season was largest-ever Documentary Movement retrospective. Many titles newly accessible, others at much-improved quality. See 'Eastern Valley': bad 16mm print was only available British material; outstanding new 35mm version produced from original nitrate print obtained from USA. 'Night Mail': a classic available looking its best in decades. 'Land of Promise' box-set will make wider selection of restorations available worldwide: see selection. Preservation material produced: this holistic project married public access to long-term legacy.
Focus on Film
Production Company:
The National Archives
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
Focus on Film is a free to access website that allows students to investigate film as a source of evidence for the past. The 4 areas of the website include: an illustrated introduction to the nature of film as source evidence; a range of pre-prepared teaching activities which allow students to understand films in their historical context; an extensive archive of over 8 hours of film clips, catalogued with contextual information; and a fully functioning web-based editing suite which allows students to work directly with around 200 film clips and still images to create their own work. Reason for Submission: Focus on Film combines a unique collection of documentary sources and film material in a highly interactive and engaging education resource which brings the benefits of Web 2.0 technology into the classroom to promote active, personalised learning. The project demonstrates how film can be combined with innovative web-based technology to provide students with a powerful, interactive learning experience suitable for a range of curriculum subjects.
We Want Roses Too (Vogliamo Anche Le Rose)
Director:
Alina Marazzi
Producer(s):
Gaia Giani
Archival Sources:
Riccardo Lacche, Annamaria Licciardello Top Sources of Footage: Teche Rai, Cineteca (Bologna), Archivio Movimento Operaio-Aamod (Roma), Fondo Privato Adriana Monti, Cineteca Del Friuli
Production Company:
Mir Cinematografice
Country of Production:
Italy
Synopsis
Italy c.1950. A beautiful woman, complete with post-war Dior look, immaculate coiffure and matching hat, gloves and bag, skips into a high class boutique and gazes into a crystal ball. She recoils in horror at the shocking image of a naked and dirty woman dancing in the midst of nature. Skilfully combining interviews, advertisements, animation and TV, this film illustrates how feminism and the sexual revolution transformed women's lives during the 60s and 70s. It's structured around the diaries of three women with first hand experience of the social and political turmoil of the time. The intimacy of their personal confessions is told as much with confusion and despair as with delight at new found freedoms. Such testimonies lend the film an emotional power comparable to that of the work of Su Friedrich or Jennifer Reeves. It's compelling in that, far from being a straightforward chronological documentary, it creates a personal narrative of words and images that carries us through 20 years of history that changed the world for everyone. Reason for Submission: This festival is very interesting.
Nokia Fourth Screen Film
Director:
Matt McConnaughy
Producer(s):
Sarah Dent
Footage Archive Researcher:
Sarah Dent
Archival Sources:
ITN, Huntley Film Archives, Corbis Stock Market, Getty Images
Production Company:
Jack Morton Worldwide
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
Mobile phones have finally come of age as multimedia devices and Nokia see this as something truly liberating. The opportunities created by the internet have caused us to become much more isolated as it is largely a solitary activity. But mobile phones now allow us to go back out into the world taking with us all that the internet has to offer. This film shows how our fascination with media has defined several pivotal stages in the development of our society and the mobile device represents a whole new era.
Archival highlights
This film has truly captured how Nokia sees its role in society. Nokia is a company that genuinely believes it exists to make a difference. This film encapsulates our relationship with screen based media and shows the potential that mobile devices have to change our consumption and experience of this type of media. In short, however, we like the film and it has gone down a storm.
Don't Watch That, Watch This (Series C)
Director:
Steve Connelly
Producer(s):
Geoff Atkinson
Footage Archive Researcher:
Val Evans, Clare Darken
Production Company:
Vera Productions Ltd
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
Somewhere in a parallel universe strange things are happening. Did George Bush really say Donald Rumsfeld was a menace? Does Patricia Hewitt normally admit Tony Blair is having a baby? Does Cliff Richard really terrorise children? And why is Barbara Woodhouse admitting she is sex obsessed? Welcome aboard the mixed up, messed up, mucked up world of mash-TV as the Don't Watch That Watch This team get their teeth into the archive. Reason for Submission: The original 'mashed-up' archive programme - showing how old film footage can be reworked and reinvented.
Diesel 78: Learn Disco Dance
Producer(s):
Stuart Warren-Hill
Footage Archive Researcher:
Stella Waltemade, Vanessa Lewis
Production Company:
Hexstatic
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
Stuart (Hexstatic) sent out a focal request, which Framepool immediately picked up and began discussing options with him. As Framepool could not find exactly the type of dance footage needed, Vanessa Lewis decided to try to go right to the orginal creator of the Disco Lesson video, Ake Blomqvist. After finding the contact details Stella Waltemade, from the Framepool research team, negotiated fees and license with Ake and provided a copy of the master to Hexstatic to begin editing. This is a fantastic example of how footage regardless of the age or original format is a treasure. This is an exciting, creative and funny edit that demonstrates the endless possibilities of what one can do with footage. Both the original video and the final edit have been provided.
Nation on Film: Caribbean Cricket
Director:
Jacob Hickey
Producer(s):
Jacob Hickey, Rachel Bowering
Footage Archive Researcher:
Rachel Bowering, Lycy Smickersgill
Archival Sources:
BBC, Menelik Shabazz (Private), ITN Source
Production Company:
BBC
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
In this one off special, Nation on Film delved into the archives of the 1976 West Indies cricket tour of England. The series will forever be remembered for the television interview given by the England cricket captain Tony Greig when he declared that he intended to make the West Indies team 'Grovel'. It set the scene for a long hot summer when the drama of what happened within the boundary was matched by tensions beyond it. Through the archive this dramatic and multifaceted story is explored. An all star cast including Sir Vivian Richards, Michael Holding, Sir Clive Lloyd, Tony Greig, Harold 'Dickie' Bird, Brian Close and Darcus Howe help examine this precious footage and tell the story behind the film. Reason for Submission: In this one off special, Nation on Film delved into the archives of the 1976 West Indies cricket tour of England. The series will forever be remembered for the television interview given by the England cricket captain Tony Greig when he declared that he intended to make the West Indies team 'Grovel'. It set the scene for a long hot summer when the drama of what happened within the boundary was matched by tensions beyond it. Through the archive this dramatic and multifaceted story is explored. An all star cast including Sir Vivian Richards, Michael Holding, Sir Clive Lloyd, Tony Greig, Harold 'Dickie' Bird, Brian Close and Darcus Howe help examine this precious footage and tell the story behind the film.
Animal Crackers
Director:
Ari Kuchar
Producer(s):
Kate Fitzgerald
Footage Archive Researcher:
Kate Fitzgerald
Archival Sources:
Absolutely Wild Visuals
Production Company:
Content Mint/Absolutely Wild Visuals
Country of Production:
Australia
Synopsis
Animal Crackers series 1 is a collection of twenty-six one minute children's wildlife interstitials. With a creative blend of motion graphics and footage this series lends itself to cross platform delivery. Each interstitial highlights some amazing facts on a particular animal species, giving young viewers an insight into what's on their menu, where they like to hang out, how they get around, and a few other quirky facts. Both factual and entertaining - these interstitials are a wild action-packed, fact-filled one-minute adventure! A great introduction to Natural History for 8-12 year olds. Reason for Submission: This collection of 26 interstitials has been produced solely using stock footage. A number of renown wildlife collections are featured in these interstitials, all from the Absolutely Wild Visuals library. AWV's philosophy of 'driving content further' initiated the idea to create new markets for their copyright owner's footage. Combined with creative graphics and suitable audio, this is a fine example of where superior stock footage has advanced to become exciting, factual and entertaining viewing for Children.
Brasil, Brasil: 'Tropicalia Revolution'
Director:
Robin Denselow
Producer(s):
Robin Denselow
Footage Archive Researcher:
Jeannie Clark
Archival Sources:
Radio E Televisao Record, Content XP/Globo Comunicacoes E Participacoes S.A, Fundacao Padre Anchieta/TV Cultura, Radio E Televisao Bandeirantes, Murray Lerner (MLF Productions Inc)
Production Company:
BBC: Music Entertainment
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
The first comprehensive review of Brazilian music and history, this 3 part series tells the story of the styles and the artists that have for decades captured the world's imagination. Featuring nearly all of Brazil's major stars, the programmes include specially shot performances, interviews and rare archive footage. Part Two covers the military era from the Sixties to the Eighties, when singers were censored, jailed and exiled - but still produced some of the finest and most exciting music in Brazilian history, from Tropicalia to Samba-Reggae. Reason for Submission: Sourcing footage from film & television archives in Brazil is a challenging experience, hence most of the footage in Brasil, Brasil Ep 2 has not been seen before in the UK. The footage licensing laws in Brazil meant careful and persistent negotiation was required. The amazing film of 1960s riotous Brazil Song Festivals from TV Record was censored by the military govt at the time and has never been seen in the UK. Also discovered film of Tropicalia stars Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso performing at the Isle of Wight festival while they were in exile in the UK in 1970 courtesy of Murray Lerner who searched through all his rushes to supply us with film never seen anywhere before. Although footage of social upheaval in Europe and the US in the 60s is often seen in documentaries, much less common is the shocking footage of the Brazilian experience where the military clampdown on social and political unrest was much harsher and forced many artists into exile.
A tongue in cheek "homage" to the perilous but for some highly pleasurable, pursuit of smoking. Featuring A list celebrity interviews and provocative archive footage, "Memoirs of A Cigarette" charts our society's love / hate relationship with the evil weed on the eve of the UK ban on smoking. Reason for submission: Memoirs of a Cigarette used a unique range of both provocative and highly entertaining footage, spanning over 40 years of film and television archive, to ensure the programme would resonate with a wide audience. From WW1 footage, to rare advertising campaigns and government health warnings, to cult television programmes and legendary movies, this programme led us through the incredible highs and ultimate lows of the cigarette in society. Much of the footage was sourced from small independent libraries and private collections and was cleverly used to punctuate opinions of the many high profile celebrities featured. Exhaustive searches to find the best comedy moments featuring smoking through the decades ensured the programme kept an entertaining pace throughout.
The Rape of Nanking
Director:
Serge Viallet
Producer(s):
Luc Martin-Gousset
Footage Archive Researcher:
Serge Viallet, Jun Mori
Archival Sources:
Imperial War Museum, NARA, Library of Congress, Nippon Eiga Shinsha
Production Company:
Point Du Jour
Country of Production:
France
Synopsis
Nanking is a horrifying story that defies comprehension. The invading Japanese military pillaged, burnt and massacred more than 100,000 Chinese civilians and soldiers between December 1937 and February 1938. Our documentary 'investigates' Japan's history in an attempt to shed light on the deep-rooted causes of such barbarity. A moment of sheer madness? Orders from the military hierarchy? 70 years on, it's time to comprehend. And it will be the testimonies of the last surviving Japanese veterans and set against the memories of surviving Chinese witnesses - that offer the most credible explanation. Reason for Submission: The documentary contains 25 min of footage.
Being Jewish in France (Etre Juif en France)
Director:
Yves Jeuland
Producer(s):
Michel Rotman
Footage Archive Researcher:
Valérie Combard
Archival Sources:
INA, Gaumont Pathé, CDJC, Lobster, Ateliers des Archives
Production Company:
Kuiv Productions
Country of Production:
France
Synopsis
Since the Dreyfus affair that tore France apart, the history of France and its Jewish communities has continued to ignite passions. And yet an old Yiddish proverb goes: 'Happy like a Jew in France.' From the wave of immigration of Yiddish speaking Jews to the exodus of others from North Africa, from World War I to Vichy, a group of men and women, French Jews or Jews in France, describe with humor and emotion these years filled with happiness and concern. The moving story of Jews in France illustrated by rare archival images, film clips and music. A story of darkness and light. Reason for Submission: This documentary film is made up of many rare archives. Moreover, many of them have never been seen before on TV.
Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain
Director:
Tom Giles
Producer(s):
Tom Giles
Footage Archive Researcher:
Stuart Robertson
Archival Sources:
BBC, ITN Source, British Movietone, Canal+, BFI
Production Company:
BBC
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
In his widely acclaimed History of Modern Britain, Andrew Marr gives an epic account of the events that have shaped our lives since the end of the Second World War. With a dynamic mixture of footage shot specially on location and archive of actual events, Marr wittily weaves together crucial turning points and telling little details to charts the evolution of Britain's place in the world since 1945. The many strands of our national story are brought convincingly to life by the use of a wide range of archive sources woven into a gripping national saga. Reason for Submission: Audiences and critics were drawn to this series by an extraordinary range of archive, which complemented Andrew Marr's compelling story-telling. Archive drawn from every decade of the post-war period enhances his solid grasp of characters and events, and often adds a new layer to our national memory bank. Each piece of personal and political gossip is brought to life by carefully selected images and sound, which attracted a huge popular audience to revisit the dramas of our recent past.
Clips & Footage
Alan Bradshaw (AP Archive)
Paul Gardner for Thriller in Manila
Restoration of Kinora Reels From Circa 1911
Production Company:
The R&A Archive/Blue Post Production
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
Kinora reels were based on the same principles as the Mutoscope. Patented by the Lumiere brothers in 1896, they were first marketed in Britain in 1902 as a moving image system for home use. Each reel held up to 640 images and ran for about 30 seconds. The marketing of Kinora reels in 1911 stressed their use for studying sporting techniques and particularly those of golfers. When shown in sequence, the three restored George Duncan reels represent one of the earliest forms of golf instruction by moving images currently known. This makes them immensely significant to golf and film historians. Reason for Submission: A special rig with a rostrum camera was built to hold the Kinora reel safely. Each individual slide of each reel was then photographed at high resolution. These photographs were treated as frames of video and arranged into the correct order to produce approximately 30 seconds of footage for each reel. The images then went through the painstaking processes of stabilisation and frame-by-frame digital restoration. This restoration project has made it possible for a wide public to view these reels with a pictorial quality not seen since the early 20th century.
CBC/Radio-Canada Digital Archives (Website)
Producer(s):
Paul Gorbould
Footage Archive Researcher:
John Corcelli, Deb Lindsey
Archival Sources:
CBC/Radio-Canada Visual Resources Library, CBC/Radio-Canada Radio Archives, CBC/Radio-Canada Moving Image Library, CBC/Radio-Canada Image Research Library, CBC/Radio-Canada Records and Information Management
Production Company:
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, la sociactac Radio-Canada
Country of Production:
Canada
Synopsis
The CBC/Radio-Canada Digital Archives Website is a comprehensive collection of 12,000 online television and radio clips that highlight the events, issues and people that have shaped Canada. From political showdowns to legendary artists to natural disasters, this bilingual (English and French) site draws from over 70 years of CBC/Radio-Canada programming and is constantly updated by teams of journalists, archivists and technicians in Toronto and Montreal. Featuring original educational tools, the site attracts up to 500,000 unique monthly visitors and has become a leading source of history in classrooms across Canada. The site requires no registration and access is free. Reason for Submission: Established in 2002 and relaunched with a new look and more tools in March 2008, CBC/Radio-Canada Digital Archives offers unprecedented access to Canada's audio-visual heritage using a combination of multimedia techniques. A large player delivers streaming media that starts automatically, and a new scrolling clip feature traces the chronological development of a story. Interactive features like 'My Archives' encourage users to relish in the historical record by bookmarking clips and sharing their memories through a commenting tool. Committed to accessibility, the site allows visitors with limited vision to modify text size to suit their needs.
Of Time and the City
Director:
Terence Davies
Producer(s):
Sol Papadopoulos
Footage Archive Researcher:
Jim Anderson, Dom O'Keefe
Archival Sources:
ITN, BBC Motion Gallery, North West Film Archive
Production Company:
Hurricane Films Ltd
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
British film director Terence Davies returns to the town he grew up in to create a love song and a eulogy to his birthplace - Liverpool. Reason for Submission: The film has attracted plaudits and praise from the critics since it's preview in Cannes in May 2008. Since it is constructed of 80% archive footage an entry seemed appropriate.
Mysteries in the Archives
Director:
Serge Viallet
Producer(s):
Florence Fanelli
Production Company:
Ina
Country of Production:
France
Synopsis
Marseille, Tuesday October 9th 1934. King Alexander I of Yugoslavia arrives in the Port of Marseille for an official visit to France. Several minutes later, he is shot point-blank and killed by a Croatian nationalist opposed to his regime. The close up filming of an assassination was a first in the history of cinema. The footage revealed serious lapses in security. Why so many? Why were the cameramen able to get so close to film the dying king? What became of their footage?
Jay-Z (Intro Film at Glastonbury Festival)
Director:
Ben Caron
Footage Archive Researcher:
James RM Hunt
Archival Sources:
ITN Source, AP Archive, BBC Motion Gallery, PA Photos, Mirrorpix
Production Company:
Princess Productions
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
When Jay-Z was confirmed to perform at Glastonbury there was a furor in the press, particularly from Noel Gallagher from Oasis. He said hip hop would never work at Glastonbury. We were contracted to make a You-Tube type archive mash up to introduce Jay-Z just before he came on stage. It was to give the illusion that world leaders and celebrities were commenting on the decision, inter cut with Noel's comments from BBC Radio and talking heads we filmed ourselves. It was a remarkable success. Reason for Submission: From initial idea to delivering the film took three days. Straight to master for the archive materials, over 20 hours of footage and about three hours sleep a night! It was edited over a period of 24 hours direct into an on-line. It subsequently made international headlines all over the world. "There's a gripping intro film that juxtaposes Noel Gallagher's pronouncements of doom regarding the rapper's suitability for Glastonbury and there's no denying its rabble-rousing qualities" - The Guardian "Jay-Z's intro tape was great, wasn't it? Noel can take it, they're tough fellas, aren't they? They used to work on a building site, didn't they?" - Michael Eavis.
Nokia: Days (Advert)
Director:
Dave Masters
Producer(s):
Adam Doherty
Footage Archive Researcher:
Fleur Clackson
Archival Sources:
Getty Images, BBC Motion Gallery, ITN Source, Thought Equity, Framepool
Production Company:
Jack Morton Worldwide
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
"Days" encapsulates Nokia's vision of Connecting People through new and better technologies. It tells a story of days of change: days that can be challenging and revolutionary, days that lead to outcomes that are hard to predict at the time, but which and when the dust has settled leave us better, smarter, more in tune with our world, and closer to one another. It argues that another day of change is upon us, but this time we have the tools and the knowledge to choose what tomorrow will look like. It invites us to 'seize the day'. Reason for Submission: The film has a big message. It needed to be visually compelling and resonate deeply with the audience. This was partly achieved through the use of unusual or rarely-seen footage from the archive, both historical and current. We deliberately sought a mixture of 'light and dark' footage in order to paint a realistic picture of our world. The resulting tableaux or montage takes the viewer on a journey that is reflective, contemplative, sometimes unsettling, and ultimately uplifting. Exploring the archive allowed us to convey a predominantly cerebral message in a way that packed an emotional punch.
Graham Hill (Driven)
Director:
Mark Craig
Producer(s):
Mark Craig
Footage Archive Researcher:
Mark Craig, Hannah Rees
Archival Sources:
BBC, ITN Source/Pathe, National Motor Museum (Beaulieu), Tony Maylam, Bette Hill
Production Company:
Mark Stewart Productions
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
An intimate, comprehensive and entertaining portrait of one of Britain's greatest racing drivers. Graham Hill achieved the unique feat of winning the Formula 1 World Championship, the Indy 500 and the Le Mans 24 hour race - the 'triple crown' of motor racing - which no one has equaled since. He also won the Monaco Grand Prix a record 5 times. Away from the circuit, he was a comical and irrepressible free spirit, synonymous of an era when sex was safe - and motor racing was dangerous! Reason for Submission: Portraying the achievements of our long-dead principal character would have been untenable without a great palette of archive to work from. The range of material unearthed during this production included long-lost BBC tapes that even they didn't have copies of, out-take rushes from past productions, family home movies, as well as a number of commercial libraries. We believe these have all been creatively utilized to create a rich tapestry on screen that not only vividly captures the essence of a sporting legend, but crucially also, the arena in which he performed, and the spirit of the times he lived in.
Clever Monkeys
Director:
Mark Fletcher
Producer(s):
Mark Fletcher
Footage Archive Researcher:
Mark Fletcher
Archival Sources:
BBC NHU Archive
Production Company:
BBC NHU
Country of Production:
Worldwide
Synopsis
David Attenborough opens our eyes to a monkey world filled with intelligence, love, sadness, empathy, language, lying, social manipulation, stress, and humour. In a wonderful romp through the monkey world, the latest science is used to trace back how we look after our children, our feelings about life and death, the roots of farming and warfare, murder, morality and trust. Attenborough invites us to see monkeys not as animals, 'but more like rediscovered relatives'. The monkeys themselves are always engaging, whether collecting medicine, breaking their own rules, getting depressed, or using boulders to crack open nuts in time to a Viennese waltz. This was described by Attenborough himself, after recorded his commentary, as 'an instant classic.' This film is full of disturbing new science, yet it renews our faith in ourselves. We are not just distrustful and manipulative, but love our babies, and have a burning desire to understand and improve our world. We can be proud of being clever monkeys. Reason for Submission: This captivating and informative programme was created using 100% archive footage, it told a compelling and contemporary story.
The Thirties in Colour
Director:
Kate Misrahi
Producer(s):
Kate Misrahi
Footage Archive Researcher:
Rebecca Hickie
Archival Sources:
Hall Clovis Archive c/o UCLA, David Glick Archive c/o Allen Hepner, Jacob Herz Archive c/o Steven Spielberg Film & Video Archive - United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Benjamin Gasul Home Movies c/o Steven Spielberg Film & Video Archive - Unit
Production Company:
BBC Vision (Factual Arts)
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
The 1930s were a Golden Age for international travel. Wealthier travellers recorded their experiences by using the new colour film technologies. Their home movies captured- often unintentionally -defining moments as European nations were about to plunged into The Second World War. This episode of the series features colour films by travelling amateur film-makers in Europe - including footage shot of Berlin streets decked in red swastikas during the Olympic Games; rare pictures of the Jewish quarter in Warsaw just weeks before the Nazi invasion; and in London, tourists wearing gas masks amid fears of bombing raids by the German Luftwaffe. Reason for Submission: Further series of Archive programmes on BBC4 drawing together rarely viewed or unseen material, and contextualising it with interviews with experts and relatives of the archive sources on the era represented.
The Great British Sunday
Producer(s):
Elaine Shepherd
Footage Archive Researcher:
Sophie Milland
Archival Sources:
BBC Archive, ITN Source, BFI,COI,Granada International
Production Company:
BBC Entertainment and Events Productions
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
The story of the British Sunday as told by comedian Sean Lock. Wall to wall archive with comedy voice over, the programme is a tribute to a world of window shopping, lunchtime strippers, meeting the relatives - in short, the mind-numbing boredom Sunday could once offer. Reason for Submission: The production was tasked with coming up with unusual footage, archive which hadn't been seen before. They came up with 60' of rivetting, funny and bizarre examples of Sundays past which manage to conjure up a past life that seemed both familiar and alien. Working closely with the comedy team, the production created a truly unique take on Sundays and archive programming.
The Unseen Alistair Cooke
Director:
Rachel Jardine
Producer(s):
Rachel Jardine
Footage Archive Researcher:
Carmen Locke
Archival Sources:
Estate of Alistair Cooke, Footage Farm, John Byrne Cooke, Broad Reach Enterprises Inc, ITN Source/British Pathe News
Production Company:
BBC Bristol Factual
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
Marking the 2008 centenary of Alistair Cooke's birth, this documentary is a revealing portrait of one of the most celebrated broadcasters of the 20th Century. Cooke's story is told through his extraordinary 8mm home movies shot from 1933 onwards and a chance to see America as Cooke first saw it. Some of the most fascinating material was filmed during his close friendship with Charlie Chaplin, and is among the most candid footage ever shot of the star. Using Cooke's own words and interviews with family and close friends - including legendary actress Lauren Bacall - we discover the unseen Alistair Cooke. Reason for Submission: The Unseen Alistair Cooke uses newly discovered home movie archive shot by Cooke. The narrative of the film was led by this archive, allowing us to explore unusual areas of Cooke's biography, and connect the visual 'raw material' with his later journalistic work. There is testimony from many of those who themselves appear in the movies. A sympathetic graphic frame was devised, allowing 4x3 material to be shown without cropping. Library footage from BBC and outside suppliers was integrated with material from Cooke and his son, but the graphic frames help to distinguish material shot by Cooke from other footage.
The Night James Brown Saved Boston
Director:
David Leaf
Producer(s):
Arlene Wszalek, David Leaf, Eric Kulberg, Morgan Neville
Footage Archive Researcher:
Eric Kulberg, Jim McDonnell
Archival Sources:
WGBH Media Library and Archives, ABC News Video Source, NBC News, Dick Clark Media Archives, Universal Media Inc
Production Company:
David Leaf Productions
Country of Production:
USA
Synopsis
April 5th 1968. It's the day after the assassination of Dr. King. America's inner cities are on fire, and Boston officials hope that James Brown can help quiet their city. This documentary focuses on Brown's extraordinary, history-making concert at the Boston Garden, putting events of that day into the context of the times, and, from the inside, telling the dramatic story of what happened that night, spotlighting this crucible moment in Brown's life. Up to that moment, James Brown had been a great artist, a successful businessman, a civil rights activist and an American patriot. On April 5, 1968, he became a hero. Reason for Submission: When David Leaf came to us and asked us to help produce and head up the archive research and handle the clearances, we didn't hesitate. This was a real story I could relate to as I saw James Brown perform many times while in college in the early 60s in Washington, D.C. and subsequently directed him in a television special in the fall of 1968, encouraging young people to go back to school. We wanted to find footage and audio elements that accurately portrayed what happened that day in Boston and elsewhere during those awful days following Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination. In the process, we found materials that had not been seen or heard since they were created in 1988. We are very proud of this film and the responses we have received from those who lived in those times.
New York City, September 11th, 2001. The morning everything changed. Despite the horror and incomprehensibility of what they witnessed, people around the city knew they had a responsibility to document what they saw. They reached for their cameras. "102 Minutes that Changed America" features original footage from more than 100 amateur and professional sources. The sights and sounds of that morning- from the time of the first plane's impact into One World Trade Center at 8:48a.m. until the eventual collapse of both buildings 102 minutes later- have been meticulously woven together, and are presented without narration or commentary. The result is an intensely emotional and immersive documentary that faithfully preserves the morning of 9/11 as it happened, and as it was experienced by those who were there. It is an evocative, authentic, and reverential memorial to one of the most cataclysmic events in world history. Reason for Submission: This project was completely 100% reliant on the source material recorded inside New York by people who witnessed September 11th firsthand. As Source libraries were an important element to this film, the moments woven together by the numerous amateurs was the glue that held this project together. It is the experience relived through these peoples spoken thoughts and quick movements that flow with this moment in time.
Witness: Apartheid, South Africa
Director:
Jill McLoughlin
Producer(s):
Jill McLoughlin
Archival Sources:
BBC Motion Gallery, GCIS South Africa, Getty Images, ITN Source/Reuters/ITN, Library Media Solutions/WGBH Stock Sales
Production Company:
BBC Television
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
A clip-based documentary for the BBC's Learning Zone. Using archive footage of first-person testimony and news reports of the time, the programme charts the struggle against apartheid from 1948 to 1994. The footage has been selected to reflect specific and challenging views on apartheid for today's children and young people in order to stimulate discussion. Those directly involved express their views on events which made history, including the jailing of Nelson Mandela, the Pass Laws, the massacres at Sharpeville and Soweto, as well as interviews with Nelson Mandela including one from 1961 whilst still in hiding. Reason for Submission: By using only contemporaneous footage of key incidents in the apartheid struggle, combined with archive interviews with those present at the time, this programme provides a primary source for children and young people. Each item is designed for a teacher to use in the classroom to stimulate debate and discussion across a range of curriculum areas and brings to life the views of the people at the time. Providing a historical perspective for key events, the programme has been constructed without extra commentary so that the events and people speak for themselves.
Flash Forward (And Back)
Producer(s):
David Hopkinson
Footage Archive Researcher:
David Hopkinson
Archival Sources:
Getty Images
Production Company:
David Hopkinson
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
An experiment in exploring visual transitions and equivalents repurposing material exclusively from the Getty Images sound and video archive. It takes a beginning from a press interview with the 20th century collage pioneer, Grand Master Flash where he talks about his early innovations and fascination with using existing material to create something new through careful manipulations. Reason for Submission: This is the winning entry for the UK for the Mishmash Competition which Getty Images ran between the 18th September and 23rd October.
EDF Energy: 'Olympic London' for Green Britain Day
Director:
Stuart Douglas
Producer(s):
Laura Middleton
Footage Archive Researcher:
Hazel May
Archival Sources:
OTAB, BFI, BBC Motion Gallery, ITN Source
Production Company:
Euro RSCG London
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
The use of archive footage for the launch television commercial of EDF Energy's Team Green Britain initiative helped emphasise how the people of 1948 London pulled together despite the challenges of rationing, bombsites and last minute award of the Olympic games, to deliver a positive and lasting legacy. It helped illustrate how we too can do the same again in 2012 but this time to fight the challenges of climate change. The use of archive footage for the launch television commercial of EDF Energy's Team Green Britain initiative was a successful symbolisation of how a nation came together and this illustration was a way to show that through collective action we can deliver real and substantial change. This launch television commercial played a key role in the success of the EDF Energy's Team Green Britain initiative.
Empire of Cricket
Director:
Tim Jordan
Producer(s):
Alastair Laurence
Archival Sources:
Films Division (India), BCCI (India), IWM, Movietone, Aimimage
Production Company:
BBC
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
Series about how the game of cricket has evolved, through changing historical and cultural ethos, in England, West Indies, Australia and India. The India programme takes us from its club origins in Mumbai in the 19th century, through princes and patronage, to its arrival on the world stage - TV in the late 20th century. Reason for Submission: Previously untold story of the cultural history of the game in India. Previously unseen and difficult- to-acquire footage sourced partly in India. Places and people from the archive are featured in the programme.
Shark Nicole
Director:
Rory McGuiness
Producer(s):
Andrew Waterworth
Footage Archive Researcher:
Lemuel Lyes
Archival Sources:
Absolutely Wild Visuals, Saint Thomas Productions, Splashdown Direct, David Hannan Productions, Save Our Seas
Production Company:
NHNZ
Country of Production:
New Zealand
Synopsis
All the Earth's oceans are home to great white sharks yet for years their movements remained an enigma. Keen to learn more about these magnificent creatures a research team including Michael Scholl and Dr. Ramon Bonfil fit a satellite tag to a female shark Ramon names "Nicole". Drawn by overpowering natural instincts, Nicole will navigate icy cold waters, dive to unfathomable depths, battle hunger and fatigue and outsmart some of the Indian Ocean's most lethal inhabitants. See and feel her ocean home through her eyes and senses - a magical world full of wonder, mystery, and danger. Reason for Submission: Shark Nicole tells the story of an individual shark on an unimaginable journey across the Indian Ocean. To tell Nicole's story, NHNZ drew on a large number of specialist footage sources to showcase the rare behaviour, unique wildlife interaction and seemingly insurmountable challenges faced by this magnificent yet maligned animal. We were determined Shark Nicole would not be yet another 'bitey' Shark programme. The use of archival footage to compliment NHNZ's own stock footage and footage shot on location was crucial to break down stereotypes about great whites through the sensitive portrayal of Nicole's story.
Legends: The Motown Invasion
Director:
James Maycock
Producer(s):
James Maycock
Footage Archive Researcher:
James Hale
Archival Sources:
BBC, Research Video Inc, Atlantic Productions, CBS/ BBC Motion Gallery, Reelin in the Years Productions LLC
Production Company:
BBC Wales
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
This 60-minute documentary reveals what made Motown special through the lens of two decisive moments in 1965: The Motown Revue UK tour and The Sounds of Motown Ready Steady Go! TV Special. Arriving in London in 1965, the Supremes, Martha & the Vandellas, Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder were bussed across England, Scotland and Wales. It was a tough tour, but crucial to their success here. The TV special, recorded during the tour, finally kicked open the door for the label, thrusting Motown's slick routines and magical music into front rooms across Britain - and things were never quite the same again. Reason for Submission: An excellent example of archive usage in television documentary.
Robin James, BBC Motion Gallery
AP Archive
The Great British Foreign Holiday
Director:
Phil Clark
Producer(s):
Elaine Shepherd
Archival Sources:
Huntley Film Archives, Clips & Footage, British Movietonews, ITV Source/British Pathe, North West Film Archive at Manchester Met University
Production Company:
BBC
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
The British are an island race abroad is really abroad. Not just across the border but actually over the horizon. It's far away, outlandish, exotic and scary. Frankly, we're terrified of it." The story of the Great British Foreign Holiday as told by Mark Benton. Wall to wall archive with comedy voice over, the programme tells the story of foreign travel from The Grand Tour to Torremolinos. It's a tribute to a world of sunburnt bodies, half built hotels and cut price flights - in short, the terror of "abroad". Reason for Submission: The production was tasked with coming up with unusual footage, archive which hadn't been seen before. They came up with 60' of riveting, funny and bizarre examples of Foreign Holidays past which managed to conjure up a world that seemed both familiar and alien. Working closely with the comedy team, the production created a truly unique take on the Brit abroad and archive programming.
Barry Purkis
Director:
Peter Molloy
Producer(s):
Peter Molloy
Footage Archive Researcher:
Barry Purkis
Archival Sources:
La Camera Stylo, PROGRESS Film Berlin, Deutsche Rundfunkarchiv, BStU, Filmschmidt
Production Company:
BBC
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
This series reveals what life was like for ordinary people living under communism. What emerges is a picture that goes beyond the headlines of spies and surveillance, secret police and political repression to reveal an astonishingly rich tapestry of experience. The opening programme looks at East Germany where the communists claimed they were building 'a socialist paradise.' Barry Purkis's film research on The Lost World of Communism genuinely broke new ground in tapping into previously unseen archival sources in Eastern European: home movies from East Germany, communist party archives from Czechoslovakia, the personal archives of former dissidents in Romania, previously censored material from communist show trials, prime time television shows approved by the party, the list is extensive and varied. And, indeed, this copious and multivalent use of archive shed new light on 'ordinary' life behind the Iron Curtain and lay at the heart of this successful series.
The Red Shoes (1948) - Restoration
Country of Production:
UK/USA
Involved Partners:
ITV / BFI / The Film Foundation / UCLA Film and Television Archive
Synopsis
Originally released in 1948, 'The Red Shoes' was the tenth collaboration between Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, and is widely considered a cinematic masterpiece. Based on a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale about a pair of enchanted crimson ballet slippers, it follows the beautiful Vicky Page, a young socialite who loves ballet, the rising composer Julian Craster whom she loves, and her dictatorial director, Boris Lermontov. Technical: Starting with the original 35mm nitrate three strip camera negatives (which had been adversely affected by mould and shrinkage), each yellow, cyan and magenta reel was scanned at 4K resolution. These scans were then subject to extensive digital restoration and re-registering the colours; addressing colour breathing and contrast issues; removing dirt and defects; and colour grading shot-to-shot, before being recorded back to 35mm colour film stock. Using an original Technicolor dye transfer print as a guide, this digital version was produced to combine the best quality of modern film with the most pleasing aspects of the vintage Technicolor 'look'.
Over Our Dead Bodies
Director:
John Flewin
Producer(s):
John Flewin
Footage Archive Researcher:
John Flewin
Archival Sources:
Three Amateur Camermen, BBC Motion Gallery, East Anglian Film Archive
Production Company:
Stewkley Film Archive
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
The story of the 1969-71 campaign to stop the building of the Third London Airport. Whole villages were to be destroyed, and thousands of people were to be evicted from their homes. Reason for Submission: This is very much a local production, using amateur and professional film side by side to depict an epic period in the life of several Bucks villages. The mission of the Stewkley Film Archive, a local undertaking, is to keep local history alive. This is its first publication and will perhaps help encourage other local communities to save and make available locally shot historic film.
It Felt Like a Kiss (Part of Interactive Exhibition at the Manchester Festival)
Director:
Adam Curtis
Producer(s):
Lucy Kelsall
Footage Archive Researcher:
Stuart Robertson
Archival Sources:
BBC Motion Gallery, Public Domain
Production Company:
BBC / Punchdrunk
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
The production started life as an experimental film by Adam Curtis, commissioned by the BBC. Curtis approached Felix Barrett of the Punchdrunk theatre company, with the proposal that a production could be created "as though the audience were walking through the story of the film". The result was a remarkable requiem for post-war Western affluence and idealism occupying five floors of an old office block. When a nation is powerful it tells the world confident stories about the future. The stories can be enchanting or frightening. But they make sense of the world. But when that power begins to ebb there are no stories any more. Only fragments. You are on your own and you have no idea what is coming towards you from the darkness ahead.
In 1964, Henri-Georges Clouzot choose Romy Schneider aged 26 and Serge Reggiani, 24 to be the stars of Inferno. It was an enigmatic and original project with an unlimited budget that was to be a cinematic event upon its release. But after three weeks into shooting, things took a turn for the worse. The project was stopped and the images which were said to be incredible would remain unseen. These images, forgotten for over half a century, were recently found and are more breathtaking then legend had predicted. Our film shows Inferno as it was shot and tells the story of this magnificent tragedy. Reason for Submission: These 15 hours of film like the mixed pieces of a puzzle probably old the secret of an unprecedented creative process. We found the technicians and actors who participated in the 1964 shoot. We found other elements that were tied to the film: storyboard, photographs and sound recordings which particularly show Marcel's madness. By putting these testimonials and different elements into perspective, we discover the story of a film and see these images in a new light. Watching them, following Clouzot through the maze of his inner madness, only to lose ourselves in a story and in visions which are both stunning and incomprehensible - there lies the mystery of Clouzot.
Under the Banners (Sous les Drapeaux)
Director:
Henry Colomer
Producer(s):
Xavier Carniaux
Footage Archive Researcher:
Fiona McLaughlin
Archival Sources:
Archives Film, BFI National Archive, British Pathé / ITN Source, Bundesfilmarchiv/ Transit Film GMBH, Chronos Media
Production Company:
AMIP
Country of Production:
France
Synopsis
Under the banners that symbolized the nationalization of the masses, millions of men slaughtered one another during the first world war. Flags, liturgical clothing, uniforms, suits, swaddling clothes, sheets, bandages, shrouds...Working from a mountain of archives, Under the banners, is a look back the first decades of the twentieth century, showing men and women in relationship to the cloth, out of which their days and night were woven, and which was the very stuff of their values and beliefs. Reason for Submission: This documentary creates a musical dialogue between the historical archives. The first war emerges from the background, rather than treating frontally.
JFK - 3 Shots That Changed America
Producer(s):
Nicole Rittenmeyer, Seth Skundrick, Hugo Soskin, Katerina Simic & Elizabeth Tyson
Footage Archive Researcher:
Hugo Soskin & Elizabeth Tyson
Archival Sources:
The Sixth Floor Museum At Dealey Plaza, BBC Motion Gallery, NBC News Archives, WPA Film Library, Historic Films
Production Company:
New Animal Productions
Country of Production:
USA
Synopsis
JFK 3 Shots That Changed America is a two-part film that uses unique, rarely seen and heard footage to document the Kennedy assassination and nearly 50 years of speculation following this murder. The archive comes from a range of sources including eyewitness home movies, police radio dispatch, and raw news footage. Part 1 is a shocking, unflinching look at the assassination of the President and the days that followed. Part 2 examines the aftermath of the assassination, and the enduring controversies that emerged as succeeding generations struggled to comprehend the sudden murder of an unforgettable leader.
Archival highlights
It was our goal to tell the all-too-familiar story of the JFK assassination in a way never before seen by audiences. Our documentary is 100% archive, an intricate tapestry of images and sounds woven together to create an experiential and evocative story that renders the familiar new and fully engaging. It is our hope that the presentation of archive transports viewers and immerses them in a chaotic and terrifying moment that changed the world. Without a narrator, we place the awesome burden of storytelling squarely on the archive, trusting and honoring the power of these images to tell the story.
Crude Britannia: The Story of North Sea Oil
Director:
Andy Francis
Producer(s):
Tom Sheahan
Footage Archive Researcher:
Victoria Stable
Archival Sources:
ITN Source, British Movietonews, Scottish Screen Archive, STV
Production Company:
BBC
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
Three 60 minute documentaries for BBC Four combining archive footage and compelling eye-witness accounts, to tell the extraordinary and dramatic narrative of North Sea oil and gas from the 1960s to the present day. The series charts the glorious decades when the country made the most of its North Sea windfall - with scarcely a thought about where it came from, or of the men and women who brought it to us. Through the story of oil the series offers a fresh perspective on British politics and society and a timely insight into the state of our economy today. The stunning archive footage told the story of the oilmen at work in the North Sea, imaginatively combining newsreel and contemporary music. The footage came from a wide variety of less obvious sources to create a vivid sense of the social and political context of the times. We were also able to find several compelling interviewees who actually appeared in the archive footage themselves which added immediacy to an already gripping and dramatic narrative.
Clips & Footage
Synopsis
Americana from 1900s to 1970s, British social history from 1900 to 1970s, international history, industrial films, newsreels, music and dance and funky 1970s fully rights-cleared feature films. And all that is quirky and nostalgic.
Archival highlights
www.clipsandfootage.com
Americana from 1900s to 1970s, British social history from 1900 to 1970s, international history, industrial films, newsreels, music and dance and funky 1970s fully rights-cleared feature films. And all that is quirky and nostalgic.
Jenny Coan
Production Company:
Clips & Footage
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
For helping researchers find the perfect shots for so many projects this year. She is so passionate about working with archive. She is also committed to providing a good service for researchers, always willing to go the extra mile so they can find the clip they need.
Phil Clark
Production Company:
Assistant Producer, BBC
Country of Production:
UK
Involved Partners:
Citing: Great British Outdoors, Blackpool On Film, Paws, Claws and Videotape
Synopsis
Phil's forensic attention to detail comes with an imaginative, creative flair. He can turn his hand to any subject and the end result is always surprising, meticulous and with a sly sense of fun. His eye for the great piece of archive is unmatched. Go the extra mile? That's a given. He's always unearthing hidden gems. It's his passion and that enthusiasm translates itself into wonderful material for our programmes. Every piece he finds tells a story. His other essential skill is in negotiating the complex world of contracts and clearances. He's a hidden gem himself. He should be recognised. Caroline Wright, Executive Editor, BBC Entertainment
The Great White Silence
Production Company:
BFI
Country of Production:
UK
Involved Partners:
Commissioned by: Charles Fairall, Senior Preservation Manager, BFI | Restored by: Richard Fish, Director of Sales and Marketing, Deluexe Digital
Synopsis
A hundred years ago the British Antarctic Expedition led by Captain Scott set out on its ill-fated race to the South Pole. Joining Scott on board the Terra Nova was official photographer and cinematographer Herbert Ponting, and the images that he captured have fired imaginations ever since. Ponting filmed almost every aspect of the expedition: the scientific work, life in camp and the local wildlife. He used the footage in various forms over the years and in 1924 he re-edited it into this remarkable feature, complete with explanatory maps and inter-titles and coloured with vivid tinting and toning. The BFI National Archive has been custodian of this historical document of global significance since the 1940s. It has always been our ambition to restore it fully but we lacked the means and the technology to do so until now. The coincidence of the centenary of the Scott Expedition will enable us to make partnerships with other national institutions concerned with Polar exploration and the Scott legacy to bring the restoration of Great White Silence to a much wider audience than would be usual for a silent film in the UK and abroad.
The Chaplin Keystone Project
Production Company:
Lobster Films
Country of Production:
France
Involved Partners:
Commissioned by Serge Bromberg, CEO, Lobster Films | Restoration by: Eric Lange (Lobster Films), Davide Pozzi (Cineteca di Bologna), Kieron Webb (BFI), Mike Mashon (Library of Congress, Washington), Ross Lipman (UCLA)
Synopsis
Lobster Films, Cineteca di Bologna and the British Film Institute, under the aegis of the Chaplin Estate/Association Chaplin, jointly undertook the complex project of restoring the thirty‐five short comedies that Charlie Chaplin acted in/directed between January and December 1914 at the Keystone studios. These films constitute an invaluable treasure for they were Charlie Chaplin's very first steps in cinema: in each he experimented some aspect of acting and relating to the camera ‐ bringing his British music-hall humour to film and swiftly adapting it to the Keystone's structure ‐ and film technique ‐ from fast cutting to extended takes. From the first release the public was conquered. The Tramp, the most popular figure of the slapstick cinema, was born.The Chaplin Keystone project is a perfect example of collaboration between Film archives, which took seven years. The three partners (Cineteca di Bologna, the BFI and Lobster Films) share a long history and commitment in the preservation and dissemination of Chaplin's legacy: thanks to extensive research, preservation and production work as well as to the purchase of important French and American catalogues. A complete survey of the surviving prints and elements ‐ as well as other extra‐film materials was finally made and in five years, materials were traced in over 15 different countries, both from national film archives (20) and private collectors.
Fire In Babylon
Director:
Stevan Riley
Producer(s):
John Battsek
Production Company:
Passion Pictures
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
Charting the glorious supremacy of the West Indies cricket team throughout the late 70s and 80s, this film describes how the bat and ball was more effective than gunfire in the battle against racial injustice and struggle for black rights. In a turbulent era of apartheid in South Africa; race-riots in England and civil unrest in the Caribbean, the West Indian cricketers struck a wonderfully defiant blow at the forces of white prejudice world-wide. With Caribbean flair, fearless spirit and a thumping reggae beat, they hijacked the genteel game of the privileged elite and replayed it on their own terms. By dominating at the highest level - longer than any team in the history of sport - their symbolic declaration was clear: people of colour will not be dictated on a cricket ground or in any other field of life. Fire in Babylon' boasts dynamic archive, classic music by the likes of Bob Marley and the Wailers, Gregory Issacs and Burning Spear, and is a story that celebrates the emancipation of a people through the sport of cricket
Firebird and Other Legends with A Thousand Encores: The Ballets Russes in Australia
Director:
Mandy Chang
Producer(s):
Marian Latham/Lavinia Riachi
Footage Archive Researcher:
Lavinia Riachi, Marianne Latham
Archival Sources:
Australian National Film & Sound Archive, The Australian Ballet, British Pathe. Getty Images, State Museum of St Petersburg
Synopsis
The story of how one of the greatest ballet companies of the 20th Century, the celebrated Ballets Russes, came to Australia and awoke a nation, transforming the cultural landscape of conservative 30s Australia. A Thousand Encores weaves history and archival footage with a contemporary tale, following the highs and lows of creating a ballet from scratch to opening night as world-class choreographer, Graeme Murphy (Swan Lake) breathes new life into one of the most famous Ballets Russes creations - the Russian fairytale, Firebird. This documentary showcases some of the rarest archive of the Ballets Russes sourced in Australia (which holds such a treasure trove of material) and around the world. Footage and stills were sourced from both public and private collections including from Australia, UK, France, Russia, USA, Spain. The film is beautifully edited to move between contemporary performances of Ballets Russes ballets by The Australian Ballet, and footage of the original performances by the fabulous avant-garde company that thrilled audiences and transformed the cultural landscape in Australia and around the world. A Thousand Encores includes archive that even the most dedicated fans and balletomanes had never before seen.
Europa Film Treasures
Archival Sources:
Lobster Films, Deutsche Kinemathek, CNC-AFF, BFI, Det Danske Filminstitutet
Production Company:
Lobster Films
Country of Production:
France
Synopsis
EUROPA FILM TREASURES (EFT) is an entirely free access VoD Platform dedicated to heritage cinema. Coordinated by Lobster Films in Paris, it exists thanks to a partnership with 30 prestigious European film archives. The EFT website aims to show heritage cinema to the largest possible audience (it is available in five languages) and also to let know the work of the European film archives through its sub-sections (The Film, Film Archives, Documentation, Treasure Hunt). Put online on the 1st of May 2008, the website has already been visited by 1 289 708 single surfers and to date more than 17 million pages have been visited. EUROPA FILM TREASURES (EFT) is an entirely free access VoD Platform dedicated to heritage cinema. Coordinated by Lobster Films in Paris, it exists thanks to a partnership with 30 prestigious European film archives. The EFT website aims to show heritage cinema to the largest possible audience (it is available in five languages) and also to let know the work of the European film archives through its sub-sections (The Film, Film Archives, Documentation, Treasure Hunt). Put online on the 1st of May 2008, the website has already been visited by 1 289 708 single surfers and to date more than 17 million pages have been visited.
www.europafilmtreasures.eu
A Place Without People
Director:
Andreas Apostolidis
Producer(s):
Rea Apostolides, Yuri Averof
Footage Archive Researcher:
Leonidas Liampeis
Archival Sources:
Kintner Collection, University of Pennsylvania, Bild Archiv OKAPIA/ Christian Grzimek, Library of Congress, NARA
Production Company:
Anemon Productions
Country of Production:
Greece
Synopsis
A film about how the local population of Tanzania has been evicted to make way for the creation of the world's most famous nature reserves.Set in the famous Serengeti and the Ngorongoro crater, the film explores how the parks came to be and how western perceptions about nature radically altered both the East African landscape and society. By bringing the history of conservation in the USA and Europe together with the reality of African development, archive material is juxtaposed against the stark realities of modern African life. This material is vital in showing the broader history of conservation, whilst the film allows the competing narratives of the people who have lived alongside Africa's wildlife for generations to be heard for the first time in such a context. Moving beyond the natural history genre, the film's archive material shows how the idea 'wilderness' was created and how this frames the images and ideas we have about Africa today.
Dust
Director:
Ben Lavington Martin
Producer(s):
Hank Starrs
Footage Archive Researcher:
Ben Lavington Martin
Archival Sources:
Footagevault
Production Company:
Stylus Films
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
A technical fault leaves Astronaut Glenn Gordon, stranded and completely alone on the moon. As radio contact with earth begins to fade along with his oxygen, he begins to reflect on his life and his place in the universe. DUST has been screened and highly commended at several major International Film Festivals, including Edinburgh and Raindance. It is composed entirely of unseen NASA footage and is a unique and moving piece.
One Night In Turin
Director:
James Erskine
Producer(s):
Victoria Gregory
Archival Sources:
FIFA, ITN Source, BBC Sport, BBC Motion Gallery, BSkyB
Production Company:
New Black Films Ltd
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
One Night In Turin tells the incredible inside story of England's Italia '90 campaign. Before the Premier League and multi-million pound salaries, in England 'football' was a dirty word. The game was in disgrace, the fans, hooligans, the nation, it seemed were all played out. Then there was Italia '90 - The World Cup - and a shot at redemption. But this was no ordinary World and no ordinary time. The manager, Sir Bobby Robson, was under intense media scrutiny, and his team described as 'donkeys'. Yet over six short weeks, through their heroic exploits they united a nation, coming within a heart beat of reaching the World Cup Final. Narrated by Gary Oldman, featuring match action, from Platt's last-gasp winner against Belgium, to the silky skills of Gazza and the cool finishing of Linekar - and previously unseen archive footage, this is the definitive story of England's greatest footballing adventure on foreign soil...so far. One Night In Turin is a documentary film that principally draws on archive footage both seen and unseen from the period. Because it is a documentary and the characters are real people it was essential to the emotional impact of the film that real footage was used and indeed this is the appeal. Around 70% of the final picture is either from private or commercial archive sources and 30% is specially shot re-creation to augment the archive in a ground breaking way. The production made a conscious editorial decision to only using material shot at the time therefore maintaining the narrative and the audiences feeling of watching it in the moment, this could not have been done without the archive material/sources.
Arena: Johnny Mercer - The Dream's On Me
Director:
Bruce Ricker, Anthony Wall
Producer(s):
Bruce Ricker, Clint Eastwood (Executive Producer), Anthony Wall (Executive Producer)
Footage Archive Researcher:
Andrew Wright
Archival Sources:
BBC Motion Gallery, Warner Bros Entertainment Inc & Turner Entertainment Co, Research Video Inc, Historic Films, CBS News Archives
Production Company:
BBC Arena/Rhapsody Productions Co-production
Country of Production:
UK / USA
Synopsis
Arena: Johnny Mercer - The Dream's On Me tells the story of one of America's greatest songwriters and examines the enduring legacy of his songs.As well as countless hits, he wrote blockbuster musicals, Broadway shows and the themes for Breakfast at Tiffany's and Days of Wine and Roses, both of which won him one of his many Oscars. He co-founded Capitol Records in 1942 and signed Peggy Lee, Nat "King" Cole, Stan Kenton and his former boss Paul Whiteman. Mercer's career stretches from the 'twenties and the beginnings of recorded jazz to the 'seventies. As Clint Eastwood observes, "Mercer may not be a household name today but his songs are like the air that we breathe, they're part of everyone. We were pleased to be invited to submit the film. Johnny Mercer lived an exceptionally rich and various life which provided the opportunity to draw on archive material from an unusually wide range of subjects and sources. The interplay between the contemporary filming and the archive material is the essence of the film's narrative and atmosphere, evoking the fascinating life and times of Johnny Mercer.
Cinema Komunisto
Director:
Mila Turajlic
Producer(s):
Dragan Pesikan
Footage Archive Researcher:
Mila Turajlic
Archival Sources:
Filmske Novosti - Yugoslav Newsreels, Jugoslovenska Kinoteka - Yugoslav Cinemateque, Radio Television Serbia, INA, British Pathe
Production Company:
Dribbling Pictures
Country of Production:
Yugoslavia
Synopsis
Using rare footage from dozens of forgotten Yugoslav films, as well as never-seen-before archive from film sets and Tito's private screenings, the documentary recreates the narrative of a country, the stories told on screen and the ones hidden behind it. Stars such as Richard Burton, Sofia Loren and Orson Welles add a touch of glamour to the national effort, appearing in super-productions financed by the state. Tito's favorite film director, his projectionist who showed him films every night for 30 years, the most famous actor of partisan films, and the director of the film studios with secret police connections and all tell how the history of Yugoslavia was constructed on the screen. Cinema Komunisto uses archive in an innovative way, by using clips researched from over 300 feature (fiction) films to recreate the history of Yugoslavia, and examine how it was told on screen. Four years of research went into discovering never-seen-before archive that take us behind the scenes of Yugoslavia's film industry. The innovative use of archive and film clips creates a new way of seeing the material, and a dialogue between the interviews, the past and present. For the first time, archive from the Yugoslav Newsreels was digitally scanned and restored for this film, providing a precious look into a country that no longer exists.
The Great British Outdoors
Director:
Elaine Shepherd
Producer(s):
Elaine Shepherd
Footage Archive Researcher:
Phil Clark
Archival Sources:
BFI National Archive, British Movietonews, British Pathe, Huntley Film Archive, Manx National Archives
Production Company:
BBC Entertainment
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
The fourth in an occasional series for BBC Four. Featuring pure archive with Mark Benton's comedy voice over celebrating the British love affair with the outdoor life. From camping to potholing and all points in between. This programme featured wall-to-wall archive from a large number of disparate sources. Given the format of the programme, the archive needed to be the chief driving force so each piece had to tell a story of some sort to either support the comedy or drive the narrative onwards. The comedy is borne out of the footage supplied and it's up to that footage to set the whole tone of the piece.
Reel Injun
Director:
Neil Diamond
Producer(s):
Christina Fon, Catherine Bainbridge, Linda Ludwick, Ernest Webb, Adam Symansky, Ravida Din, Catherine Olsen
Footage Archive Researcher:
Elizabeth Klinck, Laura Blaney
Archival Sources:
Prelinguer Archives, Getty Images, BBC Motion Gallery, ABC, 20th Century Fox
Production Company:
Rezolution Pictures International, Inc
Country of Production:
Canada
Synopsis
Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond takes an entertaining and insightful look at the Hollywood Indian, exploring the portrayal of North American Natives through a century of cinema.Travelling through the heartland of America, Diamond looks at how the myth of "the Injun" has influenced the world's understanding and misunderstanding of Natives. With clips from hundreds of films, and candid interviews with celebrated Native and non-Native directors, writers, actors and activists, including Clint Eastwood, Robbie Robertson, Sacheen Littlefeather, John Trudell and Russell Means, Reel Injun traces the evolution of cinema's depiction of Native people from the silent film era to today. Directed by Quebec/Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond, this Rezolution/NFB co-production plays an historic role in presenting, for the first time, the true face of Canadian Aboriginal and Native American peoples in the movies. Taking audiences behind the stereotypes of the Hollywood "Injun" and the images they have created of aboriginal people in Canada and around the world. It does so in an entertaining and highly accessible way, presenting Natives in cinema in their own words, while hearing from leading Aboriginal historians and activists, and with clips from hundreds of classic and recent Hollywood movies.
Premiere Passion
Director:
Philippe Baron
Producer(s):
Jean-Frans Le Corre
Production Company:
Vivement Lundi !
Country of Production:
France
Synopsis
The first-ever feature film based on the Gospels, From the Manger to the Cross, was shot in Palestine in 1912. Throughout investigations leading to New York City, Nantes and Jerusalem, Premiere Passion digs out the story of this historic shooting, back in early twentieth century Palestine.While casting a closer look upon this cinematographical epic on Jesus Christ, this documentary takes one on a journey back to the origins of cinema, questioning the connections between image and religion. Premiere Passion tells the extraordinary story of "From the Manger to the Cross" shot by Sidney Olcott in 1912. Our documentary is composed by more than ¼ footage, mostly provided by Lobster Films, the coproducer. And we believe that our film fits to the spirit of Focal.It was screened at Le Giornate del Cinema Muto in Pordenone last October, and David Robinson wrote: « Here is rarity, a vivid and gripping story matched with real scholarship
Dissidents
Director:
Ruth Zylberman
Producer(s):
Paul Rozenberg
Footage Archive Researcher:
Marie-Hélène Barbéris
Production Company:
Zadig Productions
Country of Production:
France
Synopsis
This photograph was taken one year before the fall of the Berlin wall, during a clandestine meeting in a undisclosed location deep in the woods, at the border between Poland and Czechoslovakia. Among those who attended this meeting, Czech and Polish political opponents to the communist regimes ruling their countries. The members of this "generation of democratic conspiracy were called dissidents. Number of archives that I can qualify as extraordinary. I do not pretend that these archives have never been viewed. Some images of the Polish secret police (UB) showing some of the dissidents being tailed have already been shown on Polish television; the same applies to other Czech archives showing the interception of a van transporting underground literature: one can see the van being completely disassembled, as well as the interrogatory of the 'smugglers'. But the idea of editing these images and gathering them in the same film is absolutely exciting and I'm sure will attest, as it is rarely the case, of this atmosphere of repression against which the dissidents have had to fight.
British Pathe
Synopsis
2011 was a landmark year for British Pathe. We re-established the British Pathe brand and expanded our licensing business, both in the UK and oversees; we produced original documentaries, including 'The Story of British Pathe', and released 60 hours of programming on DVD; we added to our number of subscribers, who now include 50% of UK schools, over 100 museums and BBC News; we increased our online presence, launching a YouTube channel; we worked to promote the archive industry through television and radio interviews; and we invested considerable time and funds creating a new public-facing website, launching January 2012.
www.britishpathe.com
Paul McAllister
Production Company:
Screenocean Ltd
Denis Karam, Archive Producer
Production Company:
Zig Zag Productions
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
Citing: The Truth Behind: Loch Ness, The Truth Behind Cheryl Cole, Swanny in a Spin
A Trip to The Moon (1902) (Colour Version)
Production Company:
Lobster Films
Country of Production:
France
Involved Partners:
Restoration / Preservation Work by: Lobster Films / Technicolor Foundation for Cinema Heritage / Groupama Gan Foundation for Cinema in association with Archives Francaises du Film and Madaleine-Malthete Melies
Synopsis
Everyone knows the image of the moon with a rocket in the eye. The face of Bluette Bernon (she is the actress in the "moon") appeared for the first time in this 1902 classic, one of the first science fiction films in the history of cinema, and certainly a milestone in special effects. A group of astronomers decide to organise a trip to the moon. They enter a shell, and a canon sends them on the moon, where they meet the Selenites, the inhabitants of the moon. Problems occur, and they fall back from the edge of the moon into the sea, bringing back a Selenite with them. Melies' Trip to the Moon (1902) is the first blockbuster in the history of cinema. The miraculous discovery of a hand colored print, unfortunately decomposed, was the beginning of a 20 year adventure in cinema resurrection. This is possibly the most ambitious restoration ever, and the most expensive one (more than half a million dollars for a 15 minute film) that involved labs in France, Holland, USA, from the chemical process in 2001 to the latest digital technologies in 2011. A restoration that also includes deposit of 30 prints in all the major archives thoughout the world, a world premiere in the opening evening of Cannes, and a new sound track by AIR (not compulsory) made to appeal to the younger audiences. A feature film, the Extraordinary Voyage, also submitted to the FOCAL International Awards this year, is dedicated to showing how unique the adventures of that "Trip" has been through the 20st century.
Archival highlights
1. Describe the element/s used for restoration, stating gauge and nature and specfic problems associated with them: All 35mm preservation, starting with a decomposed nitrate prind hand colored, a vintage BW print off the camera neg (circa 1915) and a 1929 dupe neg for other missing parts. Partners of this restoration are Lobster Films, Groupama Gan Foundation for Cinema, Technicolor Foundation for Cinema Heritage, Madeleine-Malthete Melies (the grand daughter of George Melies), and the French Film Archives. From chemical melting to reconstruction from shreds, using opticals, chemicals, digital processes over 12 years (from 1999 to 2011), this restoration involved more than 25 persons. It ends up with two 35mm negs (one with sound, one "state of the art" full aperture neg), and the deposit of prints in all the majors archives in the world. 2. State the original aspect ratio and format: Original 1902 nitrate elements, 1.33, nitrate. Restitution in one 1.33, full aperture neg, one 1.85 neg, and a DCP. 3. Outline the restored aspect ratio and format: See 2. 4. Explain where the work was carried out for each title (including labs and facility houses) and broken down where there are multiple titles in an entry: Chemical operation : Haghefilm (Holland 2001/2002) and Lobster Film (Paris 2001/2003) Scans : Eclair (France, 2002), Archives du Film du CNC (Paris, 2010), Technicolor (USA, 2011) Opticals and internegatives : Haghefilm (Holland - 2002) Digital restoration : Technicolor Creative Services (Hollywood, 2010/2011) Supervision / Tom Burton (Technicolor) / Serge Bromberg-Eric Lange (Lobster FIlms / Paris). Severine Wemaere (Technicolor Foundation) and Gilles Duval (Groupama Gan Foundation). 5. What methodology was used?: Step by step. The decomposed print was put in gas using strong chemicals that melted the print for a few hours, bit by bit, and every bit was hotographed (2 years of waiting, 2001/2003). Bits and pieces could be put on a wet gate step printer in haghefilm. The files obtained, made with a 2001 digital camera, were stored until 2010. In 2009, the original nitrate BW elements were scanned on Sacha (2K), and sent to Technicolor digital services where digital correction of each frame war carried out, plus integration of BW elements with artificial colorig (for the 8-10% where the original color had not survived). Digital restoration took 10 month for 15 minutes of film at 17 frame per second, with a crew of 6 persons. New soundtrack recording and composition is also included in the plan, plus a book focusing on the restoration, and a theatrical feature film, available in English, to explain the different steps (65', The Extraordinary voyage). 6. What preservation elements have been generated and where will they be stored?: Two negatives have been made. - One in 1,85, stored at Technicolor Hollywood, speed corrected for printing. - On 1,33 state of the art neg, without speed correction, will be stored in the French Archives du Film of CNC - The digital files (2K) will be stored at Archives Francaises du Film of CNC - 30 prints will be manufactured, and deposited in the major FIAF archives throughout the world (this film is in the official registry of UNESCO since 2002)
The Desmet Collection, including more than 900 vintage nitrate prints, and paper related documents like posters, stills all from the period of 1907-1916 arrived to the Nederlands Filmmuseum in 1958, immediately after Jean Desmet passed away. All the films are on 35mm. nitrate stock, full frame, in the version of Dutch distribution prints; thus often colored (tinting, toning, stenciled, etc.) and with Dutch intertitles. This collection includes 'foreign films'; mainly from France, Italy, USA and Germany. Since the early 1980's on, the collection has been inventorized, catalogued, restored and screened for the public. The international recognition for the collection came with the 1984 screenings at the Giornate del Cinema Muto festival and later on, in 2003 with the book published by Prof. Ivo Blom: Jean Desmet and the Early Dutch Film Trade (Amsterdam Univ. Press), culminating in the 2011 inscription onto the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. In 2011, the Desmet Project has received a boost due to the recognition of the Desmet collection by Memory of the World, challenging EYE Film Institute to continue and enlarge its efforts. Currently the films are being shown on several international venues (such as the MoMA in NY, where 40 early European comedies from the Desmet Collection will be screened in March 2012). EYE is also currently experimenting with online access to the films, and to the paper documents, with the ambition to make this international heritage collection globally available .
Archival highlights
1. Describe the element/s used for resoration, stating gauge and nature and specfic problems associated with them: Over the decades, all the films are restored onto 35mm polyester film, full aperture, with as little interference as possible, as part of the Jean Desmet legacy, thus faithfull to their Dutch distribution versions. Over the years some films have been restored in b/w, other though interneg>color print. In the last decade, all the tinted material is restored using dup neg (b/w)> color print using Desmet color method. The main laboratory has been Haghefilm Laboratories. The restored versions have been scanned to digibeta quality. The nitrate prints are kept in acclimatized vaults, as well as the duplicates. Except 30 films, all the films (900) have also projection prints. Nearly all the films are already available as scans on digibeta quality, (a project to re-scan all the preservation elements at 2K resolution is still ongoing. These scans that will make the digibeta's redundant are kept as LTO tapes and also stored on server. Also the paper collections have been worked upon in the last three decades. In 2010 the complete company papers (more than 100.000 documents) were scanned to save them from paper decay.
Rosie Newman's Britain At War In Colour
Editor(s):
Rosie Newman
Archival Sources:
Imperial War Museums
Production Company:
Imperial War Museums Film Archive
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
Previously unreleased amateur colour film of Britain during the Second World War. Two hours of remarkable footage shot by the renowned camerawoman Miss Rosie Newman, including film of London during The Blitz, aircraft manufacture, a Spitfire squadron, scenes on board a Royal Navy destroyer and the arrival of wounded. The film is presented with a reconstruction of the original music track - the first opportunity for more than 40 years to see and hear the film as the camerawoman intended. The DVD also offers an alternative commentary track and a short bonus feature on the life and films of Rosie Newman. This unique amateur film was left to the IWM in Rosie Newman's will, but it wasn't until much later, with the discovery of her original 78rpm records, that the IWM was able to realise its ambition of making this available in its entirety to a wider audience. Based on extensive research by the IWM and working with the creative team at Strike Force Entertainment, a restored HD version was completed in 2011. Packaged with a facsimile of Miss Newman's book, the original music and a commentary, this release not only contributes to our knowledge of WWII, but also gives an appreciation of how good archive film can be.
Caccile Croizat, Sarah Dabaghy, Antje Boehmert, Karin Fritzsche
Archival Sources:
Russian State Documentary Film and Photo Archive, RTS, TVP, Czech TV, TVR
Production Company:
Artline Films (France) Gebrueder Beetz Filmproduktion (Germany)
Synopsis
Farewell Comrades! Interactive is an immersive and highly emotional documentary web-format about the last 15 years of the Soviet Union, leading into personal stories about friendship, passion, rebellion and belief behind the well known political facts related to the collapse of the USSR. The user is introduced to personal stories and fates through open "letters"- real postcards, written in the former Eastern Bloc between 1975 and 1991. The postcards unlock the stories of our 30 protagonists. They are linked to the archive footage of the main historical events, facts and movements of the last years of the Soviet Union. The daily life of the is depicted trough a vast selection of archive footage (video, stills, audio) from several sources, RGAKFD, TVP, Äesk TV, RTS, TVR, among others. Original postcards are the connecting element between all media and the core of the artistic concept, as they convey both individual and collective memories. Combining official archive images from TV stations, military audiovisual services, Soviet propaganda images and private archives of ordinary people (photos, letters, and personal belongings), FCI offers to the viewer a fresh look on the last years of the Soviet Empire.
www.farewellcomrades.com/en/
Broken Tail
Director:
John Murray, Colin Stafford Johnson
Producer(s):
John Murray
Footage Archive Researcher:
Cepa Giblin
Archival Sources:
BBC NHU, Wildlife Protection Society of India, Journeyman Pictures, Film Images, Huntley Film Archives
Production Company:
Crossing the Line Films
Country of Production:
Ireland
Synopsis
One of the world's leading tiger cameramen travels through India on a personal pilgrimage, piecing together the extraordinary last journey of Broken Tail - one of the planet's most famous wild tigers. Colin Stafford-Johnson spent almost 600 days filming Broken Tail & his family for some of the finest tiger documentaries ever made. In order to make this documentary all the footage of Broken Tail throughout his life had to be sourced from a wide range of companies and agencies. The film would not have been possible without the wonderful footage of Broken Tail from cub right through to his last days as an adult, as well as the fascinating older archive of tiger hunts in the time of the Maharajahs, newspaper headlines from the time of Broken Tail's death and the many still images people took of him.
Liquidator
Director:
Karel Doing
Producer(s):
Karel Doing
Footage Archive Researcher:
Karel Doing, Elif Rongen-Kaynakci
Archival Sources:
Haarlem (Mullens, 1922)
Production Company:
EYE Film Institute Netherlands
Country of Production:
Netherlands
Synopsis
'The project Liquidator started with a research question; where lies the ultimate border of film preservation, and how does it look? In other words I was looking for a filmprint that was on the brink of complete deterioration. My friends at the Dutch film archive (EYE) came up with a recently discovered print of Haarlem; a commercial 'city branding' film made in 1922 by Dutch film pioneer Willy Mullens. This particular print of Haarlem was interesting for me for two reasons: the deterioration of the nitrate had caused stunning visual effects and the original utilitarian nature of the footage was in stark contrast with the drama of this deterioration. I isolated the sequences where transitions took place between well preserved images and, partly or completely, vanished images. I reworked this footage zooming in, slowing down and reframing these sequence. The most dramatic moments I reworked using optical flow and morphing techniques. With the resulting material I composed a new film with the same duration as the original. I then asked composer, software developer and distortion specialist Michal Osowski to make a soundtrack for the film using a direct link between image and sound. Although Liquidator started from pure fascination with the deterioration of film material, it is no coincidence that this film appears in a time of liquidations, radioactive water and Wikileaks.' Karel Doing Rotterdam, November 8, 2011
Senna
Director:
Asif Kapadia
Producer(s):
James Gay-Rees, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner
Footage Archive Researcher:
Florence de Bonnaventure, Antonio Venancio, Miyuki Tokoi , Paul Bell (Archive Producer)
Archival Sources:
Formula One Management, G2 Films, AFAVA, INA, BBC Sport
Production Company:
Working Title/Universal Pictures
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
Senna's remarkable story, charting his physical and spiritual achievements on the track and off, his quest for perfection, and the mythical status he has since attained, is the subject of SENNA, a documentary feature that spans the racing legend's years as an F1 driver, from his opening season in 1984 to his untimely death a decade later. Far more than a film for F1 fans, SENNA unfolds a remarkable story in a remarkable manner, eschewing many standard documentary techniques in favour of a more cinematic approach that makes full use of astounding footage, much of which is drawn from F1 archives and is previously unseen. The UK's most successful ever cinema documentary, made entirely from archive footage.
Harry Belafonte - Sing Your Song
Director:
Susanne Rostock
Producer(s):
Michael Cohl, Gina Belafonte, Julius R. Nasso
Footage Archive Researcher:
Helen Weiss
Archival Sources:
ABCNews Videosource, FootageWorks, Getty Images, Historic Film Archive, Thought Equity Motion, Hope Ryden
Production Company:
S2BN Belafonte Production
Country of Production:
USA
Synopsis
Wonderfully archived, and told with a remarkable sense of intimacy, visual style, and musical panache, this inspiring biographical documentary, Sing Your Song, surveys the life and times of singer/actor/activist Harry Belafonte. Belafonte's groundbreaking career personifies the American civil rights movement and impacted many other social-justice movements. Belafonte is a tenacious hands-on activist, who worked intimately with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., mobilized celebrities for social justice, participated in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, and took action to counter gang violence and the incarceration of youth. An indomitable sense of optimism motivates his path even today. In this documentary, the viewer is taken on a journey through 85 years of music performances and history. The use of archival footage provides visual documentation of Harry Belafonte's life and activities. From footage of Jamaica and Harlem in the beginning of the 20th century; to Belafonte's rise to, and worldwide success as, a singer and actor; to footage of the American Civil Rights movement, including impactful incidents of violence; to contemporary footage from news sources depicting racial strife in today's cities, the use of archival footage forms the very core of this programme.
The Camera That Changed the World
Director:
Mandy Chang
Producer(s):
Chris Durlacher (Executive Producer)
Footage Archive Researcher:
Lisa Clayton-Jones, Anna Cowdry
Archival Sources:
Robert Drew Associates, Argos Films, BBC Motion Gallery, INA, Pennebaker Hegedus Films
Production Company:
Lambent Productions
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
The Camera that Changed the World tells the story of how in the summer of 1960 the fly-on-the-wall documentary was born. It was the bloody-minded filmmakers and ingenious engineers who led this revolution by building the first hand-held cameras that followed real life as it happened. By amazing co-incidence, there were two separate groups of them - one on each side of the Atlantic. This remarkable story is told by the pioneers themselves, some of whom, such as DA Pennebaker and Al Maysles are now filmmaking legends. Back in 1960, they were determined young revolutionaries. The Camera that Changed the World highlights how the contrasting camera technologies produced effective and compelling 'reality' films. In the US, the pioneers used their new camera to make 'Primary', a insightful portrait of American politics. They followed a then little-known John F Kennedy as he began his long campaign for the presidency. Meanwhile, in France, another new camera was inspiring an influential experiment in documentary filmmaking. 'Chronique d'un Ete' captures the real lives of ordinary Parisians across the summer of 1960. Both these extraordinary films smashed existing conventions as handheld cameras followed the action across public spheres into intimate and previously hidden worlds.
Night On Film: An A-Z Of The Dark
Producer(s):
Elaine Shepherd
Footage Archive Researcher:
Phil Clark
Archival Sources:
British Pathe, BFI National Archive, BBC Motion Gallery, NASA, London Transport Museum
Production Company:
BBC Entertainment
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
An alphabetical look at the Dark featuring everything from bats to vampires. The night comes alive in this unusual mixture of music and archive. How to create an alphabetical hour about darkness with no commentary and no presenter? There's only one man to go to. Phil's imagination let rip and the result was a combination of the delightful, the beautiful and the strange. Coursing through the programme is Phil Clark's unique take of the theme. He alights on dark rooms, late night bakeries, knockers-up, vampires " an extraordinary array of the fantastical and mundane but nothing is ever glib or familiar. His incredible gift for the perfect sequence turned this programme into a powerful and inimitable experience.
The Loving Story
Director:
Nancy Buirski
Producer(s):
Nancy Buirski, Elisabeth Haviland James
Footage Archive Researcher:
Lewanne Jones, Polly Pettit
Archival Sources:
ABC News Videosource, NBC Archives, FILM Archives, CBS/Thought Equity Motion, UCLA Film Archives
Production Company:
Augusta Films
Country of Production:
USA
Synopsis
A racially-charged criminal trial and heart-rending love story converge in this documentary about Mildred and Richard Loving, a black woman married to a white man against the law in 1950's Virginia. Thrown into rat-infested jails and exiled from their home for 25 years, the Lovings fought back and changed history. They were paired with two young lawyers driven to pave the way for equal rights through a historic Supreme Court case, Loving v. Virginia. Told through luminous cinema verite footage and rare photos, this film takes us on a journey into the heart of race relations in America. We are fortunate to have discovered the work of Hope Ryden, a producer who had the foresight to document the Lovings at a time when few realized the importance of their story. Shot in 16 mm cinema verite style, the footage places us as observers in their home, lawyer's offices, '60s diners and courthouses. By allowing the footage to play out in extended scenes, we have invited viewers back in time and place. Paired with rare period photographs and other archival footage, we have created a fully immersive experience and, as result, heightened the empathy for our subjects.
Entertaining The Troops
Producer(s):
Alexandra Briscoe
Footage Archive Researcher:
Rory Sheehan
Archival Sources:
IWM, British Movietonews, British Pathe, NFBC, ITN Source
Production Company:
BBC Entertainment
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
During World War Two an army of performers from ballerinas to magicians, contortionists to impressionists, set out to help win the war by entertaining the troops far and wide. Risking their lives they ventured into war zones, dodging explosions and performing close to enemy lines. Featuring the memories of this intrepid band of entertainers and with contributions from Dame Vera Lynn, Eric Sykes and Tony Benn, this documentary tells the remarkable story of the World War Two performers and hears the memories of some of those troops who were entertained during the dark days of war. This story of wartime entertainment presented a challenge in a number of respects. Most particularly, how can you illustrate the personal with the universal? Rory's sharp eye for the right shot, combined with an editorial grasp of the programme, gave the programme a fluent immediacy which reached into the heart.
Blacks of France from 1889 to the Present (Noirs de France)
From 1889 to the present - 130 years of shared history. This three-part documentary film weaves together many archives and new testimonies to tell us about contemporary French black history over 130 years. This film gives a voice to both the protagonists and the heirs of this history and relays the building of a French Black identity. An old history, a presence which becomes visible with the 1889 World's Fair. A story illustrated with archive footage which goes through two World wars, the colonial period, the Independencies, and the time of the migrations from the West Indies and Africa, but also from the Indian Ocean, New Caledonia, and from the African American influence since the Interwar period.
Getty Images
Synopsis
www.gettyimages.co.uk/footage
Ronny Temme
Production Company:
EYE Film Institute Netherlands
Miriam Walsh
Synopsis
London - The Modern Babylon
Lawrence of Arabia
Production Company:
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Country of Production:
USA
Involved Partners:
Restored in 4K at Sony Pictures Colorworks; Audio restoration by Chace Audio by Deluxe; 8K Film Scanning by FotoKem; Digital Image Restoration by MTI Film, Prasad Group and Colorworks
Synopsis
One of the screen's grandest epics, this monumental story recounts the true life experiences of T.E. Lawrence, better known to the world as Lawrence of Arabia. A young, idealistic British officer in WWI, Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) is assigned to the camp of Prince Feisal (Alec Guinness), an Arab tribal chieftain and leader in a revolt against the Turks. In a series of brilliant tactical maneuvers, Lawrence leads fifty of Feisal's men in a tortured three week crossing of the Nefud Desert to attack the strategic Turkish held port of Aqaba. And following his successful raids against Turkish troops and trains, Lawrence's triumphant leadership and unyielding courage gain him nearly god-like status among his Arab brothers. Lean's masterpiece from 1962, stands not only as one of the great films in the Columbia Pictures library, but one of the greatest films ever made. In preparation for its 50th anniversary release on Blu-ray Disc and in theaters, the film has undergone an extensive, fully 4K digital restoration.
Archival highlights
1. Describe the element/s used for restoration, stating gauge and nature and specific problems associated with them: The work to create a newly restored Lawrence of Arabia for 2012 came about because we wanted to present the film in the best way possible for its anniversary. The plan was to fix the damage to the film that couldn't be fixed during the 1988 restoration simply because the technology to do so did not exist at the time. This version of the film, as it exists in the restored 65mm original negative, was the basis of the new restoration work.
2. State the original aspect ratio and format: The original 65mm negative has an aspect ratio of 2:2:1 and was intended for 70mm projection. For it's original release the film was also made available in "reduction" 'scope 2.35:1 35mm prints.
3. Outline the restored aspect ratio and format: The restoration will preserve the original 2:2:1 aspect ratio in all available formats.
4. Explain where the work was carried out for each title (including labs and facility houses) and broken down where there are multiple titles in an entry: The film was scanned on two large format 65mm Imagica XE scanners at FotoKem laboratory in Burbank. The files were then reduced to a 4K file size and moved to digital image restoration facility Colorworks at Sony Pictures Studios, where all the restoration work came together. Based on the type of work that needed to be done, reels were sent to Prasad Corporation in India for general image cleanup, while other particularly distressed frames were sent to MTI Film in Los Angeles. The 6-channel stereo masters created during the 1988 restoration were the source of additional restoration and re-mastering at Chace Audio in Burbank.
5. What methodology was used?: The 65mm original picture negative was scanned at 8k (the equivalent resolution of the 65mm negative), generating a file size of 8192 x 3584 pixels. The files were then reduced to a 4K file size for the restoration process. Two things were striking about the 4K images when we first viewed them. One was how sharp and detailed the images were and, two, how much damage and wear and tear was evident on the film. The negative itself manifested many of the kinds of issues one would expect from a film of this vintage, including slight color fading and the wear and tear of many original prints having been struck from it. The negative was warped, dried out, with chemical stains in many places. Throughout the film there were sections, which we thought were mostly in the 2nd unit footage, where the camera rolls had suffered an exposure that resulted in the emulsion drying and cracking, resulting in hundreds of small vertical fissures in each frame. Although this problem had always existed, looking a bit like white columns of light or streaks on release prints, the problem had clearly gotten worse over the decades. These cracks are thin, irregular lines 1 to 3 pixels wide separated by as little as 1 pixel in a 4K frame. We found this particular problem to be evident in almost every reel of the film, so it was not relegated to the 2nd unit footage. Each defect was unique and one solution would not work for all. MTI Film developed new algorithms as the months went by modifying existing software to help repair this problem and with much manual intervention. Some scratches running through multiple shots in certain scenes proved especially difficult to remove while being careful not to alter the underlying imagery and grain structure, particularly with faces of characters.
6. What preservation elements have been generated and where will they be stored?: Unrestored 8K files, restored 4K files, new 65mm DI, new 4K and 2K DCP, new HD masters.
David Attenborough's Life on Earth and Trials of Life
Production Company:
BBC Worldwide
Country of Production:
BBC
Synopsis
The ground-breaking 'Life on Earth' in 1979 followed by 'The Living Planet' and 'The Trials of Life' cemented David Attenborough's compelling ability for presenting the wonders of the natural world. These series focused on the pitfalls and hazards faced by many species in the effort to survive. Memorable for many classic scenes featuring new filming techniques and fantastic photography ranging from being in the heart of an ants nest to swimming for your life to escape killer whales. Creating new High-Definition masters with stunning colour and clarity for Blu-ray release and future HD transmissions. Pictures derived from the camera original negative and handled at 2K resolution using the latest scanning and restoration tools to produce the ultimate version of this ground breaking classic and in a quality never see before, even when first produced.
Archival highlights
1. Describe the element/s used for restoration, stating gauge and nature and specific problems associated with them: Standard 16mm camera original A/B negative Variable quality and sources of stock, physical wear such as fine scratches, emulsion digs. Wide range of grain and exposure. This restoration presented a number of challenges including variable elements with differing characteristics requiring meticulous matching to create a consistent final result. Due to the original production workflow for Trials of Life, A/B negatives did not contain the entire programme having both video archive inserts and electronically generated graphics and captions. Some inserts were up-converted using the latest software and carefully rematched to the film. Graphics were recreated in HD using Smoke and Avid.
2. State the original aspect ratio and format: Original Life on Earth transmission 4:3 ratio originated in Standard Definition PAL direct from Rank Cintel MKII using graded 16mm showprint. Trials of Life and subsequent transmissions and DVD releases taken from later models of Telecine (Cintel MKIII and Spirit) transferred to digital videotape formats (D3 or Digibeta) but still from best available 16mm graded showprint.
3. Outline the restored aspect ratio and format: Original 4:3 aspect ratio retained on all versions of restored masters however scanned area of frame maximised shot by shot providing greater image and higher resolution compared with underscanned existing masters. Delivered for Blu-ray and future High Definition transmission on HDCAM SR masters.
4. Explain where the work was carried out for each title (including labs and facility houses) and broken down where there are multiple titles in an entry: BBC Studios and Post Production, BBC Television Centre, Wood Lane, London, W12 7RJ
5. What methodology was used?: * Physical inspection and ultrasonic film clean. * 2k scan of 16mm negatives using DFT Scanity with IR dirt suppression. * Conformed and residual picture movement on joins removed using Nucoda Film Master. * Grading and processing of image as necessary (grain, scratch, steady etc) also on Film Master. * Manual digital clean-up via Diamante Dustbuster for large markings, damage and other defects. * D3 elements passed through BBC PAL Transform Decoder and up-sampled in Dark Energy. * HD titles generated in Avid. * HD graphics re-created in Smoke. * Final assembly in Film Master, shot matched against earliest available BBC tape copy.
6. What preservation elements have been generated and where will they be stored?: Restored High Definition 4:3 pillar-box masters on HDCAMSR videotape. One copy now with BBC Information and Archive as BBC archive copy and one copy with BBC Worldwide for use as production master. Both stored in separate temperature and humidity controlled vaults at BBC I&A Perivale. Original film reels also held at Perivale in their Film Vault.
London - The Modern Babylon
Director:
Julien Temple
Producer(s):
Julien Temple, Amanda Temple, Stephen Malit
Footage Archive Researcher:
Miriam Walsh
Archival Sources:
BBC Information and Archives, BFI Archive, Studio Canal Plus, British Pathe, All fifty archives and individuals on the credits.
Production Company:
Nitrate Film
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
London " The Modern Babylon is legendary director Julien Temple's epic time-travelling voyage to the heart of his hometown. From musicians, writers and artists to dangerous thinkers, political radicals and above all ordinary people, this is the story of London's immigrants, its bohemians and how together they changed the city forever. Reaching back to London at the start of the 20th century, the story unfolds through film archive and the voices of Londoners past and present, powered by the popular music across the century. It ends now, as London prepares to welcome the world to the 2012 Olympics. Thousands of documentaries, travelogues, newsreels, home movies and feature films were viewed in the process of creating this film. The selected archive material ranges from early black and white 35mm to the high-def colour of today, assembled in layers just as London has been endlessly layered over by new arrivals and influences. The story of London's evolution since it was first captured on camera is not simply illustrated by the archive. Instead, the narrative emerges through the material itself, thrown up out of the vast sea of voices on the screen.
From Headlines to 'Tight-Lines' - The Story of ATV Today
Director:
Peter Raven
Producer(s):
Stephen Thwaites, Lee Bannister, Peter Raven, Emma Morley (Executive Producer)
Footage Archive Researcher:
Philip Leach
Archival Sources:
Media Archive for Central England (ITV Collection), Dr Paul Collins (Private Collection), Kaleidoscope
Production Company:
ATVLAND.productions
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
This two disc DVD chronicles the story of ATV Today from its beginning in 1964 to the last programme on 31st December 1981 and looks back at some of the big news stories that made the headlines throughout the three decades through new, exclusive interviews and over 150 pieces of archive film that hasn't been seen since broadcast. With contributors Chris Tarrant, Gary Newbon, Nick Owen, Bob Warman, Sue Jay, Reg Harcourt, Bob Hall, Wendy Nelson, Barbara Bradbury and Tony Wadsworth the DVD is packed with poignant and humourous memories of a hugely popular regional programme. MACE are very proud to introduce the Focal judges to this brand new DVD production which is the second DVD to made for MACE by ATVLAND.productions. The DVD, commissioned by MACE, has been made on a very small budget using footage preserved at MACE and, we believe showcases the high quality of production that can be made at a low cost through very close collaboration with archives and producers.
From The Sea To The Land Beyond
Footage Archive Researcher:
Tony Dykes, Bryony Dixon
Archival Sources:
BFI National Archive, Scottish Screen, Mosaic Films
Production Company:
Crossover in association with BFI and Sheffield Doc/Fest, with British Sea Power and Illumina Digital, for The Space
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
A web site which allows users to create/send digital postcards made up from 100s of coastal clips sourced from the BFI National Archive accompanied by music by British Sea Power. Initially designed to support the launch of the film at the Sheffield International Documentary Festival. A rare and possibly unique joint venture between a mighty fine rock band (British Sea Power) and the BFI National Archive to allow users not only to browse archive by coastal location but also to create a bespoke ePostcard, completely free!
www.landbeyond.co.uk
Attenborough: 60 Years in the Wild
Director:
Miles Barton
Producer(s):
Miles Barton
Footage Archive Researcher:
Patrick Aryee, Lawrence Breen
Archival Sources:
BBC NHU Library, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, National Geographic via BBC Motion Gallery, Crossing the Line Films, Transit Film GmbH Munich
Production Company:
BBC Bristol
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
David Attenborough has witnessed an unparalleled period of change in our planet's history. In three personal films he looks back over the last 60 years, revisiting key places and events in his career including swimming with dolphins and catching a komodo dragon. He recalls the challenges of filming on a seething pile of guano in a bat-cave, standing in the shadow of an erupting volcano as lumps of lava crashed around him and being charged by a group of armed New Guinean tribesmen. He reveals what inspired him to become a conservationist and reviews our changing relationship with the planet. This series uses a wide variety of historical and HD archive to highlight events in David Attenborough's 60 year career, and the people that influenced him. Archive footage is at heart of this series, iconic wildlife sequences and memorable Attenborough performances are carefully crafted with his personal reflections to keep viewers gripped and amazed. The series also showcases rare footage of Prof. Konrad Lorenz, Prof. Stanley Miller, young Attenborough himself, as well as unseen photos from his 1979 mountain gorilla encounter. Care was taken to obtain the highest quality footage and where possible, Super-16mm film was re-telecined to full HD.
Witness 20th Anniversary Video
Director:
Stalkr, Dan Kern (Creative Director), Lizzie Eves (Creative Director)
Producer(s):
Colleen Cavanaugh Anthony
Footage Archive Researcher:
Maureen Cavanaugh, Christina Slater, Oliver Merchant, Katarina Horrox, Gordon King, Alexis Owens, Brad Glasser
Archival Sources:
Witness Archive, Getty Images, Al Jazeera, National Film Board of Canada, Catma Films
Production Company:
Stalkr
Country of Production:
UK, USA
Synopsis
Directed and produced by Stalkr, this video reflects on twenty years of exposing truth through footage, one video at a time. For twenty years Witness has been empowering activists to expose human rights abuses through video. They have seen and taught men, women and children to speak out about the injustices they have experienced and filmed their stories to share with the world and change lives. This video was central to successful efforts by WITNESS to raise additional funding for their twenty-year anniversary.
Demonstrating archive can deliver scale and authenticity that's unparalleled as a breakthrough storytelling tool.
Faster Higher Stronger (Stories of the Olympic Games)
Producer(s):
Alastair Laurence, Francis Welch, Matt Pelly
Footage Archive Researcher:
Tim Jordan
Archival Sources:
Olympic Museum, Lausanne / OTAB, Ina, Kratky Film-Prague, National Film Board of Canada, Yleisradio-Helsinki
Production Company:
BBC Productions Bristol
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
History of the Olympics seen through the development of speed, strength, skill and beauty in four iconic events. The 100m,1500m, Gymnastics and Swimming. Interviews with Jim Hines who broke the 10 second barrier in winning the 100m at the 1968 Mexico Olympics, Nadia Comaneci explains how she scored the first ever perfect ten on the uneven bars at the Montreal Olympics of 1976 and Mark Spitz tells the story of his record haul of medals in the pool in Munich, and Lord Coe explains how he won 1500m not once, but twice. To illustrate these stories our award winning archivist Tim Jordan has found a veritable treasure trove of archive material " stills and footage " providing images from the 1896 Games to Beijing in 2008. For Faster Higher Stronger, BBC Productions Bristol, secured unique access to the film archive of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The series uses archive from the 1896 Games through to Beijing in 2008. Much of the archive used in this series has never been screened on television before. In addition to this collaboration with the IOC, our researcher sourced films from archives from around the World, much of which has never been seen in the UK.
Crossfire Hurricane
Director:
Brett Morgen
Producer(s):
Victoria Pearman, Mick Jagger
Footage Archive Researcher:
Jessican Berman-Bogdan, Jim McDonnell
Archival Sources:
Historic Films, T3 Media, Reelin' In The Years, Global Imageworks, ABC News Videosource
Production Company:
Tremolo Productions
Country of Production:
USA
Synopsis
A documentary about The Rolling Stones' unparalleled journey from blues-obsessed teenagers in the early 60's to rock royalty. The film was crafted with nearly 100% rare and never-before-seen archival footage of the band from the 60's to today, and was told from the unique perspective of the band members reflecting on their incredible career.
Finding the Footprints - A Look Back at Mise Eire (Lorg na gCos - Suil Siar ar Mise Eire)
Director:
Colm Bairead
Producer(s):
Cleona Ni Chrualaoi
Footage Archive Researcher:
Colm Bairead
Archival Sources:
Irish Film Archive, Gael Linn Archive, BBC Motion Gallery, ITN Source, WDR Mediagroup
Production Company:
Colm Bairead Ltd / Midas Productions
Country of Production:
Ireland
Synopsis
More than fifty years on, the definitive story of Ireland's most famous documentary film, Mise Eire (I Am Ireland) is told through the eyes of its director, George Morrison, key creative personnel behind the production and ordinary Irish people who experienced the film upon its theatrical release in 1960. Lorg na gCos is eminently suitable for consideration in the Focal awards, not only for its careful, intertextual use of archival footage of Ireland over a range of key periods in its 20th century history, but because it is a film that deals fundamentally with the inherent power of archive footage, charting as it does, the complicated creation and cultural impact of Ireland's great archival film, Mise Eire (I Am Ireland).
The Great British Workout
Producer(s):
Elaine Shepherd
Footage Archive Researcher:
Phil Clark
Archival Sources:
Scottish Screen Archive, British Pathe, Baim Collection, AP Archive/British Movietone, ITN Source
Production Company:
BBC
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
The madness of the British in pursuit of health and fitness. Wall-to-wall archive and comedic narration. These productions could so easily go wrong, being a three-headed beast - writers, producer and Phil " things could very easily slide out of control. In fact, this is a joyful and surreal examination of the British at their daftest. Phil sourced the most wonderful and mad archive and just when you thought things couldn't get dafter, up would pop another terrifying contraption to drop the jaw. Brilliant.
Booker's Place - A Mississippi Story
Director:
Raymond De Felitta
Producer(s):
David Zellerford
Footage Archive Researcher:
Alessandra Bellizia
Archival Sources:
NBCU Archives, Getty Images, Iowa State University/Motion Picture Services, Prelinger Archives, Univ. of Mississippi, Southern Media Archive, Special Collections
Production Company:
Eyepatch Productions
Country of Production:
USA
Synopsis
In 1965, filmmaker Frank DeFelitta made a documentary for NBC News about the changing times in Mississippi that featured Booker Wright -- an African-American waiter who worked in a 'whites only' restaurant. Booker went on national television and exploded the myth of who he was and his position serving the white community. 46 years later, Frank's son, director Raymond DeFelitta, documents a journey into the past and current day Mississippi with Booker's granddaughter, in search of who Booker Wright was, the intricacies surrounding his courageous life and untimely murder, and the role Frank DeFelitta's documentary may have played in it. We were recommended to submit by Clara Fon-Sing, VP/GM of NBCU Archives. We were also nominated for an IDA ABC News Video Source Award for best use of news footage in a feature documentary winner TBD 12/07/12.
Ukraine - From Democracy to Chaos
Director:
Jill Emery, Jean-Michel Carre
Producer(s):
Sallah Edine Ben Jamaa
Footage Archive Researcher:
Tatiana Woinarskaia
Archival Sources:
Yulia Tymoshenko personal archives, Zakryta Zona Ukrainian producer, Kanal 5 TV, The Barbarians - fiction film, amateur footage
Production Company:
Les Films Grain de Sable
Country of Production:
France
Synopsis
In 2012 Yulia Tymoshenko, muse of the Orange Revolution and former prime minister is jailed for 7 years. Such is the fate of Ukraine. To the west of Russia, Ukraine is already a democracy in the 17th century, Obsessed with these rebels Stalin eliminates 7 million in a state genocide. After Independence pro-Russian President Leonid Kuchma brings repression, corruption and murder. Revolt grumbles and In 2004 the Orange Revolution for democracy overthrows him. But, Its leaders fail to implement their promises and five years later under former criminal, President Yanukovych, Ukraine becomes a 'bandit state'. The regime forcibly takes over small businesses, its oligarchs control all the country's wealth, the Russian language is imposed... Omnipresent, Putin's Russia is back in the game. For Yanukovych to remain in power, Yulia must 'die or rot' in prison: A tragedy and comedy of errors, combining poisoning, murder, and geopolitics. This country is widely unknown, so is a lot of the footage from Ukrainian sources , (including private footage of the leaders of the Orange revolution and other amateur footage ) In the present political climate, the transport of much of this footage was somewhat hazardous... Typically Ukrainian, apart from the facts, the more recent archives also illustrate the 'colour' of the country and its excentricities, its sense of humour. This is notable, particularly in the film's portrayal of some political characters. Footage also shows the fantastic soviet-type celebrations, the wealth of the oligarchs who control the country. (eg the 2012 European World football championships...), footage of criminal dealings or the people's gift for organizing festivities: all elements which form a theatrical backcloth for the story. The footage clearly underlines how the criminal behavior of the current president is equal only to his ridicule by European standards and his total mis-understanding of democratic functioning.
The Secret Life of Rubbish
Director:
Chris Durlacher
Producer(s):
Emma Hindley
Archival Sources:
BBC, Birmingham City Council, British Visqueen, BFI/COI, Footage Direct
Production Company:
Lambent Productions
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
With tales from old binmen and film archive that has never been broadcast before, this two-part series offers an original view of the history of modern Britain - from the back end where the rubbish comes out. The first programme deals with the decades immediately after the Second World War. 90-year-old Ernie Sharp started on the bins when he was demobbed from the army in 1947, and household rubbish in those days was mostly ash raked out of the fire-grate. That's why men like Ernie were called 'dust'men. But the rubbish soon changed. The Clean Air Act got rid of coal fires so there was less ash. Then supermarkets arrived, with displays of packaged goods. And all that packaging went in the bin. In the 1960s consumerism emerged. Shopping for new things became a national enthusiasm. It gave people the sense that their lives were improving and kept the economy going. And as the binmen recall, the waste stream became a flood. As the programme sifts through the rubbish of the mid-20th century, we discover how the Britain of Make Do and Mend became a consumer society.
Grover Crisp
Synopsis
Over his long career at Sony Pictures, Grover Crisp has been responsible for overseeing the preservation and restoration of not only well-known classics such as Lawrence of Arabia, Dr Strangelove, From Here to Eternity, On the Waterfront, and Bridge on the River Kwai, but also many lesser-known titles from Sony Columbia's rich back catalogue, including the early films of Frank Capra and the spectacular Westerns of Delmer Daves. Grover's experience spans both traditional photo-chemical restoration and today's digital technology; in both, he has been a pioneer and a leader, and represents the state of the art.
AP Archive
Archival highlights
In 2013, AP Archive proved that it continues to be a leading and trailblazing archive that's really in tune with customers. The AP Archive re-vitalized their website with a fresh, crisp and modern look designed to give a simple yet advanced and intuitive user experience which caters for how customers need to work rather than forcing them into new practices. They have new innovative features such as the personal workspace, a tool to share clip-bins/projects with colleagues, where colleagues can share back their comments, a clipping tool to extract specific shots, and then the ability to download the footage in a wide variety of formats. Licences and usage declaration can also be done online. AP has continued to digitize huge amounts of its archive and has enabled the entire British Movietone archive to be available online in broadcast quality. Finally, AP has lost none of its personal touch. Behind AP's website window is the dedicated friendly team. Regardless of the nature of the show being made, the brief is always greeted with a great deal of enthusiasm and a willingness to help. Great care is taken to ensure that the best available archive is supplied, deadlines are met, and there is a willingness to be flexible on prices.
www.aparchive.com
Jenny Hammerton
Production Company:
AP Archive
Archival highlights
Jenny Hammerton has been with AP Archive for five years and her commitment to being the Archive Account Manager that producers and researchers love to work with has continued unabated. With an in-depth knowledge of the AP content and being an expert on the British Movietone collection, her ability to interpret and deliver to a client's needs, while patiently introducing them to AP's new website and consistently providing an efficient and timely service is to be applauded. Jenny does this all with such a unique touch and great sense of personal service, topped with a great character, style and sense of humour. No matter what that project is, how big or small, Jenny is enthusiastic about it. This combined with her in-depth knowledge of, not only of her own archive material, but of popular culture too, makes her well equipped to match the needs of the project with appropriate footage. Always prompt, the service I've received from her has never been anything less than the highest standard.' Her passion and authority on certain footage has further been proven by her writings and interviews on television and other media platforms. She really is an unsung hero of the business.
John Smith
Country of Production:
UK
Archival highlights
BRUSHING UP ON With the Brushing Up series we took what could be deemed 'dry' subjects, Bridges, Tunnels etc and endeavoured to find some mischief, wonder and sense of fun in these worlds. Buying into the spirit of the project along with a genuine understanding of comedy was key to the archive research. John delivered in spades, unearthing terrific oddities and long unseen nuggets which made producing these shows a joy. A team man with safe hands and genuine funny bones, every archive show should have one. Mark Lucey, Series Producer MORECAMBE AND WISE: THE WHOLE STORY John Smith was an excellent Archive Producer on what was to prove a huge undertaking. Right from the off he was totally in tune with the needs of the programme and immediately set about embellishing the Morecambe and Wise story we wanted to tell. His contribution was invaluable and his knowledge impressive. He has a natural affinity with comedy which makes his archive choices all the more spectacular. When John supplies material you know you won't be looking at lots of irrelevant material - it's all good. Not only is he painstaking in his approach but he can always be relied upon to maintain a sense of calm. Andy Humphries, Producer/Director THE CLASS OF 92 The archive within Class of 92 was sourced by John Smith. John went outside the usual realms sourcing the footage for our project. Finding interesting rare unseen moments without which such insight to the characters would have been hard to achieve. His passion for the project spending hours researching through hundreds of football matches to find those moments all contributed to the success of the final film. Ben Turner & Gabe Turner, Directors
Manila in the Claws of Light (Maynila Sa Mga Kuko Ng Liwanag) (1975)
Country of Production:
Philippines
Involved Partners:
Restored by: The Film Foundation/World Cinema Project and the Film Development Council of the Philippines | Restoration or Preservation Work by: Cineteca di Bologna / L'Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, in association with LVN, Cinema Artists Philippines and Mike de Leon
Synopsis
Manila in the Claws of Light" is a descent to the first circle of hell [...] that of social alienation, particularly hard for Julio, a fisherman from a poor but almost Adamic world. The Dante of the suburbs and building sites, Brocka shows the path of his hero with black pebbles: fatal accidents in the construction site, fights that tragically predict his desire to kill, a rugged engraving of the circles of male prostitution. And, forever in our memory, the vision of the epitome of Dante's Beatrice, taken from her family by an old lady on the false pretext of sponsoring the girl's studies, though actually sold at high prices to a Chinese tradesman. Lino Brocka was a radical filmmaker whose socially conscious films explored the plight of the marginalized and ignored sectors of Filipino society. Some of his best works are Insiang (1978), a revenge tale of a girl's rape by her mother's lover, which became the first entry by a Filipino filmmaker at the Cannes Festival, earning him the prestigious Palm d'Or. Manila: In The Claws of Light (1975), Jaguar (1980), and Bayan Ko (My Country, 1984) were also nominated for the award, further cementing his reputation as one of the greatest directors to come out of South East Asia. According to film historian and Brocka's expert Pierre Rissient, of roughly 60 titles only 4 original negatives of Brocka's production survive. These films are in great danger and urgently need restoration. The Film Development Council of the Philippines brought Manila to the attention of the The Film Foundation - World Cinema Project.
Archival highlights
1. Describe the element/s used for restoration, stating gauge and nature and specific problems associated with them: The restoration of Maynila: sa mga kuko ng liwanag was made possible through the use of the original camera and sound negatives deposited by Pierre Rissient, on behalf of Lino Brocka, at the BFI National Archive since the early 1980s. The state of conservation of the negatives was critical. The negative was wet-scanned at 4K resolution. The digital restoration process required considerable effort due to the great number of issues affecting the negative: tears, scratches, warping, visible marks and halos. Color decay was also a significant problem. The film's cinematographer, Mike De Leon, attentively guided the grading phase and validated a positive print for reference.
2. State the original aspect ratio and format: Original camera negative 1:1,37
3. Outline the restored aspect ratio and format: 35mm print and DCP 1:1,37
4. Explain where the work was carried out for each title (including labs and facility houses) and broken down where there are multiple titles in an entry: MAYNILA SA MGA KUKO NG LIWANAG (Manila in The Claws of Light) was restored in 2013 with fundings provided by the World Cinema Foundation (now "The Film Foundation - World Cinema Project") and the Film Development Council of the Philippines at Cineteca di Bologna/L'Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, in association with LVN, Cinema Artists Philippines and the film's cinematographer and producer Mike de Leon.
5. What methodology was used?: The state of conservation of the negatives was critical. The negative was wet-scanned at 4K resolution. The digital restoration process required considerable effort due to the great number of issues affecting the negative: tears, scratches, warping, visible marks and halos. Color decay was also a significant problem. The film's cinematographer, Mike De Leon, attentively guided the grading phase and validated a positive print for reference.
6. What preservation elements have been generated and where will they be stored?: The restoration produced a new negative which will be stored at the Cineteca di Bologna Film Vaults on behalf of The Film Foundation World Cinema Project
AP Archive Digitisation
Production Company:
AP Archive
Country of Production:
UK
Involved Partners:
Restoration or Preservation Work by: Prime Focus Technologies
Synopsis
This entirely self-funded project has involved the digitisation of over 32,000 hours of film and videotape to the highest specifications, and the creation of a new customer-focussed website to host and deliver the digitised footage. A logistically complex process, with content on various formats and coming from London, New York and Washington, DC, this was a major undertaking. Prime Focus created a sophisticated workflow involving teams in London and Bangalore and delivered to AP a suite of different files for online viewing, offline editing and archiving. The new website was built with the help of customers from the UK and overseas and designed to replicate how customers need to work. The project was complete in less than two years and all content can now be viewed at www.aparchive.com. The AP Archive collection is one of the world's most important audio-visual archives of news, social affairs, sports and entertainment. Prior to this project, over 90% of the collection was only available on film or videotape. Some of the content was at risk due to degradation and format obsolescence. This bold project successfully digitised much of this content, so that for the first time, large swathes of late 20th century history is easily accessible, with online viewing and available for download on a new state-of-the art platform that is designed to match the exact workflows of researchers. The project has also preserved unique footage of some of the most important events is history for the benefit of future generations.
Archival highlights
1. Describe the element/s used for restoration, stating gauge and nature and specific problems associated with them: 26,000 hours of PAL Betacam SP and Digital Betacam tapes 3,000 hours of NTSC DVCam tapes 3,000 hours of 16mm film (black and white and colour) With up to 30 stories per tape, ingestion was just the starting point. Each story on the tape had to be identified and edited from the ingested file. These individual stories would then be transcoded and delivered back to AP. The films were stored in large boxes, containing up to 100 reels. They would need to be emptied from the box, sorted through and elements selected for digitisation. Only once this time consuming yet meticulous process took place could the prep, clean and telecine work begin.
2. State the original aspect ratio and format: The PAL Betacam SP and Digital Betacam tapes were a combination of 4x3 and 16x9. The NTSC DVCam tapes were a combination of 4x3 and 16x9. The 16mm films were all 4x3.
3. Outline the restored aspect ratio and format: The PAL Betacam SP and Digital Betacam tapes were converted to PAL DV25 .MOV files, in native aspect ratio, plus MP4 screeners (PAL and NTSC), MP4 web previews and a selection of key frame thumbnails. The NTSC DVCam tapes were converted to NTSC DV25 .mov files, in native aspect ratio, plus MP4 screeners (PAL and NTSC), MP4 web previews and a selection of key frame thumbnails. The 16mm films were converted to XDCam HD 422 .MXF files, pillarboxed at full height, plus MP4 screeners (1080i50 and 1080i60), MP4 web previews and a selection of key frame thumbnails. AP is committed to the policy of digitising in native formats and aspect ratios so as to respect the integrity of the original materials, and this was a key guiding principle of the project.
4. Explain where the work was carried out for each title (including labs and facility houses) and broken down where there are multiple titles in an entry: The project was carried out in a multi-site environment, coordinated and managed through automated workflows from the CLEAR, cloud and from the following facilities: Prime Focus Technologies, London, UK 1. Cleaning, Encoding and Ingest of tapes " Manual Operation 2. Cleaning, Restoration, Preparation and Digitization of films " Manual operation 3. Clip Essence, Web preview, PAL and NTSC screener generation " Automated operation 4. Auto QC " Automated operation 5. Metadata and Thumbnail generation " Automated operation 6. Packaging and Delivery " Automated operation Prime Focus Technologies, Bangalore, India 1. Tagging, Metadata update " Manual operation Operations from CLEAR, Cloud 1. Digitization Workflows & Automation " Automated operation 2. Reporting and Notifications " Automated operation The development of the new website was conducted in the USA and London and crucially, involved a series of focus sessions involving customers from the UK, USA and Europe. Customers were asked to specify the features of their ideal website which then fuelled the design of the site and its features. Customers' workflows were mapped carefully and the navigation of the site was built to reflect them.
5. What methodology was used?: The digitisation project was steered from London, where all ingestion and digitisation took place. Metadata associated with each digitised element was pulled from AP's systems and, using CLEAR, sent with proxy versions of the elements to the team in India for tagging individual stories and updating metadata. This information was sent back to London, where individual stories were created, transcoded into a variety of video formats and thumbnails, Quality Checked and checksums created. All files were packaged and delivered to AP over a secure link. Backup/review copies were retained in Prime Focus Technologies' media centre. As well as automated reports created using CLEAR, Whereas most digitisation projects tend to result in files being delivered in large batches on hard drives for the archive to then upload to their websites, the CLEAR, approach meant that as each story was digitised, it was immediately uploaded to the website allowing customers to get a constant feed of `new` footage.
6. What preservation elements have been generated and where will they be stored?: The PAL Betacam SP and Digital Betacam tapes were converted to PAL DV25 .MOV files, in native aspect ratio as preservation elements. The NTSC DVCam tapes were converted to NTSC DV25 .mov files, in native aspect ratio as preservation elements. The 16mm films were converted to XDCam HD 422 .MXF files, pillarboxed at full height as preservation elements. All video files are held on AP's Isilon NAS storage platform and backed up to a cloud storage system hosted by Verizon
McCullin
Director:
Jacqui Morris, David Morris
Producer(s):
Jacqui Morris
Footage Archive Researcher:
Jacqui Morris
Archival Sources:
BBC Motion Gallery, ITV, Presevation Hall Mississippi, LVR Video (Africa Addio), Stefan Sharff estate
Production Company:
Frith Street Films Ltd and British Film Company
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
Don McCullin worked for The Sunday Times from 1966 to 1983, at a time where, under the editorship of Harold Evans, the newspaper was widely recognized as being at the cutting-edge of world journalism, with Don as its star photographer. During that period he covered wars and humanitarian disasters on virtually every continent. Don McCullin worked with top reporters and designers, and the prominence given to his photo essays coincided with one of the most remarkable periods in the history of photojournalism. But what I wanted to do was to put his pictures into context " to give the film a sense of time and for the viewer to be immersed in to the world Don inhabited for many years. My extensive archive search took me as far as old Jazz clubs in the Deep South where I know Don once photographed " more time was put into archive research than even editing.
Britain's Railways - The Home Front War Years 1939-1945
Director:
Andrew Fisher
Producer(s):
Barney Ashton
Footage Archive Researcher:
Barney Ashton
Archival Sources:
Imperial War Museum, National Archives, ITN Source
Production Company:
Strike Force Entertainment Ltd
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
The most definitive long-form series ever made on the wartime role played by Britain's Home Front Railways. The trilogy combines extensive use of much previously unseen British Transport Films off-cuts alongside cinema newsreels and footage unearthed from the National Archives in the United States. Because the whole trilogy's mostly mute source material has been sound-effected and given a narrative that contextualizes every bit of footage within the very limited budget available to a home entertainment publisher. The titles are 100% original archive material and at 7 hours long in total it is far more detailed than anything ever shown on television. Identifying all the locomotives and locations was painstaking work.
MAKERS (website & TV initiative)
Director:
Barak Goodman
Producer(s):
Dyllan McGee, Betsy West, Peter Kunhardt, Nancy Armstrong (Web Producer), Dyllan McGee (Web Producer), Caroline Waterlow (Web Producer), Betsy West (Web Producer), Sara Wolitzky (Web Producer)
Footage Archive Researcher:
Sara Wolitzky
Production Company:
Kunhardt McGee Productions
Country of Production:
USA
Synopsis
MAKERS is a landmark television and digital video initiative created by AOL Inc. in partnership with PBS, that aims to be the largest and most dynamic collection of women's stories ever assembled. With exclusive video interviews of groundbreaking women from all walks of life, MAKERS harnesses the power of storytelling to capture and preserve the remarkable achievements of women of yesterday and today to inspire the MAKERS of tomorrow. In February 2013, over 2.6 million viewers tuned-in to the PBS broadcast of "MAKERS: Women Who MAKE America," a 3-hour documentary that tells the story of the last 50 years of the women's movement. Surprisingly, men comprise 48% of the audience on MAKERS.com. Video views on the site have eclipsed 42 million since launch and MAKERS has been invited to the White House to screen excerpts for the Council on Women and Girls. The MAKERS social community has thrived due to editorial curation of newly released content and stories relevant to the world around us. Each week, MAKERS continues to add to the dynamic and ever-growing canon of women's stories each week. In 2014, we will increase the number of MAKERS from our current 210 to 300 and also return to broadcast with six one-hour specials in the summer and fall. Additionally, global MAKERS will be celebrated, in concert with the translation of our MAKERS stories for global audiences. From Secretaries of States and Supreme Court Justices to athletes, activists and entertainers, the stories on MAKERS.com weaves together the known and unknown groundbreakers who've sparked change and lit a path for those to follow.
www.MAKERS.com
Edwardian Insects on Film
Director:
John Holdsworth
Producer(s):
John Holdsworth, Emma Morgan (Executive Producer)
Footage Archive Researcher:
Beth Lewis (Mentorn Scotland), Jan Faull and Bryony Dixon (BFI)
Archival Sources:
BFI, BBC Natural History Unit, Stills from National Media Museum in Bradford (Science & Society Picture Library), Stills from Talbot's Moving Pictures How They Were Made & Work
Production Company:
Mentorn Media
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
Edwardian Insects on film aims to tell the story of some of the earliest attempts to shoot natural history films and find out if a modern day cameraman (presenter Charlie Hamilton James) could recreate one of them - the mesmerizing Acrobatic Fly (1908). It is also a tender and moving biopic about the man who made the original films. His name was Percy Smith - an Edwardian working class amateur naturalist whose obsession with a strange new medium called film arguably made him the first David Attenborough. From the moment we became aware of Percy Smith's story we felt compelled to bring the work (such as the Acrobatic Fly, The Birth of a Flower and Bertie Bee) of this forgotten pioneer of natural history to a modern television audience. Although he was a sensation of Edwardian cinema, no one had ever made a film on Percy Smith before. The Science Museum, National Media Museum and the BFI agreed to give expert help and support " pushing us towards forgotten documentation, equipment and film archive and helping us to discover films that had never been seen on television before.
A Film Never Made
Director:
Sarita Siegel, Gregg Mitman
Producer(s):
Gregg Mitman, Sarita Siegel
Footage Archive Researcher:
Gregg Mitman
Archival Sources:
Orphan Film - Held in private hands and being turned over to the Center for National Documents and Records Agency in Monrovia, Liberia
Production Company:
Alchemy Films in association with University of Wisconsin
Country of Production:
UK/USA
Synopsis
What can the past offer to the future of a nation seeking reconciliation? When a young Liberian man, uprooted by war, discovers the earliest motion picture record of his country's past, he sets off on a journey to find out. The archival footage was recently discovered after being lost to the world for almost 75 years. Shot in 1926, it is the earliest motion picture record of Liberia's past to survive the civil war. It has never been seen in Liberia. The footage, approximately three hours in length, contains intimate, candid, and, at times, stunning and haunting scenes of mythic paramount chiefs, traditional village life, cultural dances, artisanal crafts, and forced labor practices, as well as urban street life in Monrovia. It is playing an important role in rewriting a more inclusive history of Liberia on the path to reconciliation.
The Trials of Muhammad Ali
Director:
Bill Siegel
Producer(s):
Rachel Pikelny
Footage Archive Researcher:
Bill Siegel, Rachel Pikelny, Aaron Wickenden, Amy Boyd, Shayla Harris
Archival Sources:
ABC News VideoSource, ESPN Productions, Inc., T3Media, Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives, NBC Universal Archives
Production Company:
Kartemquin Films & Kat White
Country of Production:
USA
Synopsis
The Trials of Muhammad Ali explores Ali's lifelong journey of spiritual transformation. From his Louisville roots, through his years in exile, to receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Trials traces Ali's path from poet to pariah to global ambassador for peace. At each stage, the challenges Ali faces go far beyond the boxing ring and ultimately encompass the issues of power, race, faith, and identity that confront us all. Ali's boxing matches bear political and cultural significance, paralleling his fights outside the ring. Physically and verbally, Ali fights back, defending his religion and name change. To punctuate importance of these moments, we layer commentary by figures like Malcolm X, who references "historic things taking place ... not a heavyweight championship fight physically, there was more to it." For footage quality and accuracy, we pursued primary sources, many times forgoing talking heads for archival footage that showed, not told. In general, we undertook an exhaustive archival footage search, uncovering gems that oftentimes had not been seen in more than 50 years.
David Bowie - Five Years
Director:
Francis Whately
Producer(s):
Francis Whately
Footage Archive Researcher:
Miriam Walsh
Archival Sources:
AVRO Broadcasting Sales (Netherlands), Mick Rock, Daphne Productions, Soul Train Holdings, LLC, NHK and all the archives who supported the project
Production Company:
BBC Events Production
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
David Bowie - Five Years is an intimate portrait of five seminal years in the musician's career. The film looks at how Bowie evolved from 'Ziggy Stardust', to the 'Soul Star' of Young Americans, to the 'Thin White Duke'; then at the critically acclaimed albums Low and Heroes; and finally explores his triumph with Scary Monsters and his global success with Let's Dance. Using an extraordinary wealth of previously unseen archive from collections around the world, and interviews with of all his closest collaborators, David Bowie - Five Years presents a unique account of why Bowie has become an 'icon of our times'. The film was crafted using long-forgotten archive footage, rare vintage performances and out-takes from period promos and films. The material was sourced from all over the world and included 'lost' BBC footage as well as rushes from rehearsals and home movies. To discover new material of an artist of Bowie's stature was remarkable, it added to the sense that we were giving the audience a rare treat. Many performance out-takes were mute and synched up with bootleg and gig audio of the same period. Bowie words which drove the narrative were culled from interviews broadcast throughout his career. This unique footage intercut with contemporary interviews from Bowie's key collaborators made this film one of the most acclaimed documentaries of 2013.
Arena: The National Theatre - War and Peace
Director:
Adam Low
Producer(s):
Martin Rosenbaum
Footage Archive Researcher:
Emily Thomas
Archival Sources:
BBC Motion Gallery, ITN Source, National Theatre Archive, The British Library, Richard Price
Production Company:
Lone Star Productions
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
In Part Two - War and Peace, the National's next generation of Directors, Peter Hall, Richard Eyre, Trevor Nunn and Nicholas Hytner, recount their experiences running the new National " the biggest job in British theatre " from its opening by the Queen in 1976, through the strikes which nearly forced it to close, clashes with the government, the controversy surrounding the play The Romans in Britain, to the fulfillment of Olivier's original dream with the huge success of shows like Amadeus, Guys and Dolls, War Horse and One Man, Two Guvnors. The films tell the remarkable story of the first 50 years of the National Theatre by putting the great stage productions into the social and political context of British life. This could only be achieved by using archive film from the past 5 decades. In Part Two " War and Peace archive footage and audio is central to conveying the turbulent political and social life of the country during the National Theatre's formative period. Despite vivid anecdotes from those responsible for writing, performing and directing the productions the story cannot be understood without evoking the times through archive.
Goodbye Granadaland
Producer(s):
Vicky Thomas
Footage Archive Researcher:
Elspeth Hanna, Neil Summers
Archival Sources:
ITV Studios (Granada), Kaleidoscope Publishing, David Barnes (Home Movie Footage), Martin Smith (Home Movie Footage), Manchester Libraries / Manchester City Council
Production Company:
ITV Entertainment / Shiver for ITV
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
Fronted by self-confessed Granada addict Peter Kay, ITV's Goodbye Granadaland was a celebration of the people and programmes that made Manchester's Granada Studios a national treasure. The studios dominated the Manchester skyline for 57 years. It was the first television complex to be built in the UK and home to some of the greatest programmes in television history from Coronation Street to Cracker and Jewel In The Crown. This documentary was carefully crafted to bring some of the studios' most momentous and iconic stories to life through a wide range of archive, included rare footage uncovered during production. This documentary was a six-month labour of love for archive producer Elspeth Hanna who headed into the Granada archives to uncover footage which had not been seen on TV for decades " if ever. The archive included Inside Granada staff training programmes shot by the station in the early 60s and which, on closer inspection, consisted of footage of the TV studios which had never been broadcast " including early behind the scenes shots of Coronation Street being made. Elspeth also collated home movie footage from Granada staff from different generations to help build up an intimate portrayal of a North West institution.
New Life of Family Album
Director:
Adam Ol'ha
Producer(s):
Pavel Berčík
Footage Archive Researcher:
Adam Ol'ha
Archival Sources:
Archive of Adam Ol'ha's family
Production Company:
Evolution Films, s.r.o.
Country of Production:
Czech Republic
Synopsis
This film is a story of a big Slovak catholic family, which has been left by the father. Mother Jana, five daughters and one son Adam suddenly were left alone. Adam decided to put up with this huge change in his life in a very strong way, to shoot this film, as the ''last man standing" in the family. This film tells the story of how one man cannot manage seven women, and how seven women can fight for one man. How can he learn from parent's divorce and how can He help teach his sisters to divorce well in the future? The documentary is a great production and worthy of an award
We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks
Producer(s):
Alex Gibney, Alexis Bloom, Marc Shmuger
Footage Archive Researcher:
Javier Botero
Archival Sources:
Mark Davis (Australian Documentarian), T3 Media, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, NBC, ABCNEWS Video Source
Production Company:
Universal Pictures
Country of Production:
USA
Synopsis
Filmed with the startling immediacy of unfolding history, Academy Award-winning director Alex Gibney's WE STEAL SECRETS: THE STORY OF WIKILEAKS details the creation of Julian Assange's controversial website, which facilitated the largest security breach in U.S. history. Hailed by some as a free-speech hero and others as a traitor and terrorist, the enigmatic Assange's rise and fall are paralleled with that of PFC Bradley Manning, the brilliant, troubled young soldier who downloaded hundreds of thousands of documents from classified U.S. military and diplomatic servers, revealing the behind-the-scenes workings of the government's international diplomacy and military strategy. In seeking to expose abuse in the corridors of power, Assange and Manning were undermined by forces within and without, as well as by their own human failings. WE STEAL SECRETS: THE STORY OF WIKILEAKS is a riveting, multi-layered tale about transparency in the information age and our ever-elusive search for the truth. Documenting events that happen simultaneously across four continents, involving some of the most secretive people on the planet, requires a film that can creatively draw from any media source imaginable. That was the challenge and the opportunity of the WikiLeaks story. To meet it, the We Steal Secrets team not only traveled across the world, it researched media across the world, from major libraries to individual content creators. The filmmakers licensed from Flickr photographers in the Netherlands and France, Vimeo shooters in Brazil, YouTube users in Iceland and Malaysia, and archive houses across the world not only in the United States and Britain, but Australia, Sweden, and Egypt. In the end, the filmmakers licensed from 85 different sources in 15 different countries, negotiating for archive in 6 different languages. The number of media sources originally considered was in the hundreds. But the final product shows just how powerful a global story can be told when filmmakers are willing to scour the earth for "le clip just".
Silent Balkans
Director:
Andreas Apostolides
Producer(s):
Rea Aposolides, Yuri Averof
Footage Archive Researcher:
Leonidas Liambeys
Archival Sources:
Albert Kahn Museum, Serbian/Yugoslav Kinotek National Archive, Bulgarian Film Archive, NARA USA, Thessaloniki Photography Museum
Production Company:
Anemon Productions
Country of Production:
Greece
Synopsis
The story of how the coexistence of different peoples during the Ottoman Empire ended with the rise of nationalisms and conflict. A documentary based on the first photographs and films of the Balkans on the occasion of the centenary of the Balkan Wars. Produced in the framework of the cross-media project "A Balkan Tale". Released in 7 local languages, it narrates the story of the Balkan wars (1912-1914) from a regional rather than national perspective. The footage from national archives had not seen together before in a project which used archive material to appeal to wide audience. Stills and CGI really bring the last years of multiethnic coexistence to life.
German Concentration Camps Factual Survey
Synopsis
'German Concentration Camps Factual Survey' is an exceptional project, in terms of both its history and its subject-matter, as well as the technical achievement of restoring and completing the film and making it more widely available.
We honour the work of the Imperial War Museums' team:
Producer - David Walsh Director - Dr Toby Haggith Editor - George Smith
Footage Farm
Lucy Smee
Production Company:
AP Archive
Archival highlights
Lucy's traits that make her an outstanding person to work with are her pleasant manner, positive attitude, optimism, and diligence. She is always on the end of the phone and keeps her head cool even when things get very complex and urgent. Lucy's help on two very large productions in the qualifying period, a feature documentary about Lance Armstrong for ABC and Passion Pictures and a feature drama on Lance for Working Title and Studio Canal, used a significant amount of material from AP and their ABC News collections. Complexities around licensing, talent clearances, technical issues and the classic chestnut of finding obscure footage of particular events without all the requisite information were never enough to phase Lucy and she was always on top of things and a reassuring colleague. Reason for submission: Lucy has always given huge dedication and attention to every project I've worked with her on - sometimes to the point of me thinking that I must surely be the only client she has! The fact that she is simultaneously working with many others on equally demanding projects, is astounding. I am grateful to Lucy for all her industrious contributions to the projects I've worked with her on from the large complex and well-resourced projects right down to the small, quick-turnaround projects that require very little archive footage. Nonetheless she always take a really active interest in the project and is never short of novel suggestions to solve problems and source the shots needed.
Kate Griffiths
Synopsis
Soul Boys of the Western World (Wellingmax Films) 5 Years ago I retained the services of Kate Griffiths as Archive Producer for the Movie SBOTWW The brief to Kate was to find "anything and everything" archive on the band Spandau Ballet and news archive of the time - particularly 80's UK politics etc. Kate's role went well beyond the definition of archive producer as she was involved with meetings at an early stage with band members , writers and the two directors that were retained on the film. I raise this because when the production changed directors mid way through the production , Kate had to re engage with the creative/archive process, re brief the incoming director and take further instructions. Part of Kate's task was to deal with a dysfunctional band , who had not performed [or spoken] for large parts of their career. Therefore "private band archive" was continually being located during the production process , sometimes material was "found" within weeks of the final cut. Kate had to react very quickly , negotiate and clear , plus find all the masters and from so many analogue formats. Rather that a work of employment , this project was a vocation! It is worth noting that this was a small independent production . The core team was Director , two Producers , Kate as Archive Producer and Editor. For 3 years that was it! Therefore Kate was involved in all aspects of the production , did her work in a most diligent manner and added ideas to the Producers and Director[s] So the above covers length of production , material sourced and creative input On technical matters; The finished film was 110 minutes and 100% archive Kate sourced over 450 hours of archive footage Every frame of the finished film was cleared for all rights. The E&O cover had no exclusions and cover was placed at good premium with no footage being deleted [for clearance E&O issues] from the final cut prior to mastering. Footage came from all over the World , particularly Spain , Italy and the USA E-mails and contractual terms from Kate were precise , with good negotiation on price to fit our meagre budget! A lot of archive material contained music [there were over 47 independent music cues within the soundtrack] Kate had to liaise with music clearance agents and where music rights were not granted/too expensive to license , Kate had to replace archive accordingly. Scott Millaney, Director
Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (1919)
Production Company:
Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung
Country of Production:
Germany
Involved Partners:
Restoration or Preservation Work by: Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung
Synopsis
Made in 1919 by director Robert Wiene for the Decla production company THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI is deemed to be the prototype of expressionist filmmaking in Germany. The psychological thriller deals with a young man called Francis, who faces the mysterious Dr. Caligari on the local fair. Caligari exhibits the somnambulant Cesare, who foretells the death of Francis' best friend. Soon murder is spread around the village. Francis finds out about Caligari being the head of the local asylum and using the sleepwalking Cesare to commit those crimes. Embedded in the background story of Francis himself being an inmate of the asylum, the plot leaves open the possibility of various interpretations. DAS CABINET DES DR. CALIGARI is one of the most influential productions of Weimar Cinema. Known for its unique expressionist style, it had great impact on genres (e.g. the horror-film). With its obscure and lunatic characters it depicts the shellshock of World War I. Previous restoration attempts couldn't measure up with the original quality of this masterpiece. Now for the first time the almost complete original camera negative was used for a full 4K digital restoration. Previous photochemical restorations couldn't transfer the specific look of the original colours. Based on detailed analysis of the toning and tinting of original distribution prints, it was possible to digitally reconstruct the colours on a level very close to the original. Frames missing in the camera negative were supplemented by using images from positive prints which were adjusted by digital compositing.
Archival highlights
1. Describe the element/s used for restoration, stating gauge and nature and specific problems associated with them: Original camera negative from 1919 (Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv, Berlin) Base for the restoration. Contains original intertitles as flashtitles. Problem: First act missing. Perforation damages, numerous jump cuts caused by missing frames. 16mm copy from 1935 (Deutsche Kinemathek, Berlin) Reference for missing intertitles. Two 35mm copies for Latin-American distribution from before 1923, tinted and toned (Filmmuseum Düsseldorf, Archivo Nacional de la Imagen-SODRE, deposited at Cineteca di Bologna) Completion of missing shots, Reconstruct historic colouring, Identification of editing mistakes in the negative. 35mm tinted and toned copy from 1920s (Cinémathèque francaise, Paris), two 35mm tinted copies from mid 1920s (British Film Institute, London, Cinémathèque Royale, Bruxelles) Completion of missing shots. Problem: Inferior to the camera negative in terms of contrast and focus, numerous scratches.
2. State the original aspect ratio and format: 35mm, 1:1,33, tinted and toned
3. Outline the restored aspect ratio and format: 2K and 4K DCP, coloured, 1:1,33 (side matted), stereo 2.0 (music) HDCAM SR, coloured, 1:1,33 (side matted), stereo 2.0 (music)
4. Explain where the work was carried out for each title (including labs and facility houses) and broken down where there are multiple titles in an entry: Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, Wiesbaden: Supervision of the restoration, research and collating of material, reconstruction of editing, colour map. L'Immagine Ritrovata - Film Restoration and Conservation, Bologna: 4K scan from nitrate sources, digital image restoration, colour correction, data preservation, 35mm duplication from camera negative and intertitles reconstruction. Documentation of the source material's tints and tones by Dr. Barbara Flückiger of Swiss research project DIASTOR for digital recreation of historic tinting and toning. 2eleven II zeitgenössische musik projekte and Hochschule für Musik Freiburg for the score inspired by original music pieces from Giuseppe Becce of the DCP, HDCAM SR and DVD/BluRay release
5. What methodology was used?: Identification and dating of original export prints in order to reconstruct the colour map of the lost German distribution version. Latin American prints identified as the most original surviving prints. Identification of editing mistakes in the camera negative due to multiple re-conforming of the negative. 4K scan (Arriscan) of camera negative and additional sources. Reconstruction of 67 missing shots by using various distribution copies. In cases of large differences in quality of the materials, digital compositing was used to adjust missing frames. Retouching of physical damages. Automatic pass for dust removal. Removal of thick scratches only in cases, when possible without creating digital artefacts. Analogue artefacts which resulted in the film's production history were respected.
6. What preservation elements have been generated and where will they be stored?: Photochemical duplication of camera negative (b/w dupe positive) Data preservation on LTO of 4K raw scan, 4K DSM
Camera Obscura: The Walerian Borowczyk Collection
Production Company:
Arrow Films
Country of Production:
UK
Involved Partners:
Restoration or Preservation Work by: Arrow Films / Deluxe Restoration
Synopsis
40 years ago, the Polish-born France-based artist-turned-animator-turned-live action director Walerian Borowczyk was an arthouse giant, but he has since come perilously close to being forgotten altogether. Comprising brand new 35mm-sourced HD restorations of five features (Theatre of Mr & Mrs Kabal, Goto Isle of Love, Blanche, Immoral Tales, The Beast) and fifteen shorts alongside numerous context-setting extras and a 344-page book, this isn't so much a box set as a full-scale attempt at artistic rehabilitation, and is an essential release for anyone interested in world cinema at its most adventurous. Walerian Borowczyk is a filmmaker and artist whose work has been long overdue for rediscovery and re-evaluation. This year, Arrow Films, with the participation and involvement of Borowczyk's widow and close collaborators, embarked on a lengthy and complex project to restore a number of his key features and short films, many of which had been long unavailable to see in any format for many years. The aim was to create definitive restorations of these neglected but important films, as well as to provide archival materials that would support the preservation of Borowczyk's work.
Archival highlights
1. Describe the element/s used for restoration, stating gauge and nature and specific problems associated with them: All the films were restored to a 2K standard using the best original elements in existence. In many cases this meant using the original 35mm camera negative, although in some cases a combination of elements were used (such as on GOTO, ISLE OF LOVE, which utilised both Interpositive and Internegative elements) when this proved the best method. In all cases the original 35mm elements were scanned, graded and digitally restored in 2K. The work was conducted carefully to maintain the original grain, textures and feel of the film materials without any overt digital tinkering.
2. State the original aspect ratio and format: The original aspect ratios were 1.37:1 or 1.66:1 from the original 35mm camera negatives used, or the combination of best available elements as provided by the rightsholders.
3. Outline the restored aspect ratio and format: All films were restored to their original aspect ratios (the majority of which were 1.37:1 or 1.66:1). The restored format is 2K DPX data files stored on LTO drives, with 2K DCP formats for theatrical and HQ ProRes 422 files made available for HD/Blu-ray presentations.
4. Explain where the work was carried out for each title (including labs and facility houses) and broken down where there are multiple titles in an entry: All restoration work was overseen by James White, Arrow's Head of Restoration. The Borowczyk project was jointly produced by Daniel Bird and Michael Brooke, world-renowned experts of Borowczyk's work. All scanning, grading and restoration work was completed at Deluxe Restoration in London. Copies of all the restoration materials including the archival scans have been delivered back to the French rightsholders for preservation purposes.
5. What methodology was used? (up to 100 words): All the features were scanned in 2K resolution on a pin-registered Arriscan and were graded using the Nucoda Film Master colour grading system. Restoration work was carried out using a combination of software tools and techniques. Thousands of instances of dirt, scratches and debris were carefully removed frame by frame, damaged frames were repaired, and density and stability issues were improved. Some minor picture and audio issues remain, in keeping with the condition of the film materials. The soundtracks were also remastered, minimising audio issues such as pops, bumps, clicks and audible buzz.
6. What preservation elements have been generated and where will they be stored?: The restored format is 2K DPX data files stored on LTO drives, with 2K DCP formats for theatrical and HQ ProRes 422 files made available for HD/Blu-ray presentations.
RetroReport: Go or No Go - The Challenger Legacy (website)
Chris Buck; Senior Story Producer: Laurence B. Chollet (Series Creator)
Footage Archive Researcher:
Bret Sigler, Clark Shepard, Rebecca Losick
Archival Sources:
Home movie of the 1986 Challenger disaster footage provided courtesy of Jeffrey D. Ault, NASA, AP Archive, Bettmann / Corbis, Getty Images
Production Company:
Mirror Mirror Productions / Retro Report
Country of Production:
USA
Synopsis
On January 28, 1986, seven astronauts "slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God." America's space program was never the same. Those who saw it never forgot: the Space Shuttle Challenger launched on January 28, 1986 only to break apart 73 seconds later, killing seven astronauts, including the first "teacher in space" Christa McAuliffe. Retro Report revisits the tragic event and the 2003 Columbia disaster through interviews with key participants, and explores the forces that lead groups within large organizations to make dreadfully wrong decisions.
The archival footage in this web report is the central player in the narrative of the story. Unlike many reports that use archival footage as a minor participant, this piece relies on it to convey the sights, sounds, feelings and tragedy of this momentous event. The footage is seamlessly edited together in a way that makes the viewer feel they are watching the events unfold in real time and the heart-stopping emotions are almost as real as they were on that fateful day.
Filmmaker Dick Harvey, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, The Fisherman News, Filmmaker Twyla Roscovich
Production Company:
Juggernaut Pictures Inc.
Country of Production:
Canada
Synopsis
The marine ecosystem off the coast of British Columbia is in trouble. Wild fish populations have declined to a fraction of their historic levels of abundance. Just prior to the declines, open net pen fish farms began operating on the coast. Canadian and Provincial seemed unconcerned even after biologist Alexandra Morton noticed dramatic declines in salmon populations in her area. When Alexandra sent me a photograph of a small herring with bleeding fins, I realized the story was much bigger. After several years of investigation, I was able to link many fish population crashes to the introduction of open net fish farms. I present a case that diseases incubated, especially viral hemorraghic septicemia, on fish farms spread into wild fish populations in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans causing the drop in Northern cod, capelin, Atlantic salmon, herring, and Pacific salmon and many other species. This drop in wild fish populations has, in turn, caused a trophic cascade that has dramatically impaired the carbon fixing function of marine ecosystems. This has resulted in ocean acidification and is, I believe, a large contributor to carbon dioxide being released from the ocean into the atmosphere making it a major factor in climate change. A lot of stock footage was used in the film. Dick Harvey was a filmmaker who dedicated his life's work to Pacific salmon. I use footage of chum salmon that were raised in the test farm at the Pacific Biological station and his underwater footage of the early fish farms off the BC coast that raised Chinook salmon. He captured the presence of herring in the pens. This illustrates and supports the thesis that I present that open net fish farms were designed to supplement the farmer's food costs by grazing on wild juvenile fish. I also use the CBC's footage that shows the social-political conflicts that erupted when the cod fishery collapsed. And I draw on other filmmaker libraries to support Alexandra's story and historical facts the we revisit during the film.
Guinness: Irrepressible Spirit (advert)
Director:
Dom Gomez
Producer(s):
Dom Gomez
Footage Archive Researcher:
Sam Dwyer, Gordon King, Christina Falk, James Hunt, Paul Bell
Archival Sources:
Bill McLaren Foundation, British Pathe, Critical Past, Getty/BBC Sport, Wellcome Trust
Production Company:
Rogue
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
In this exquisitely crafted and spine-tingling spot we remember Bill McLaren, the legendary commentator whose career was cut short by a diagnosis of TB the day before he was due to play for his country. While that might break lesser men, McClaren found the closest thing to sport whilst incarcerated in a sanitarium: he began commentating on the hospital's ping pong matches over the radio. The footage has a real sense of how much he was loved and revered. It's an inspiring tale of overcoming the odds and making the hand you're dealt with work to your advantage. Footage is central to the success of this film which has been tirelessly and lovingly assembled from a Pandora's box of rare and unseen archive. With the very inventive and innovative use of re-appropriating unusual archive and exclusive access to never seen family pictures we perfectly encapsulate the spirit of Bill whilst emotionally allowing our audience to connect with this great story. In a research period that straddled 4 months the team beautifully blended early archive footage and match day content with stunning family photos brought to life with the clever use of 2.5D parallaxing.
An Ordinary Hero
Director:
Adam Darke, Jon Carey
Producer(s):
Adam Darke, Jon Carey
Footage Archive Researcher:
Richard Wiseman
Archival Sources:
BP Video Library, Brunswick Films, Duke Video, Fremantle Media, The Hailwood Estate
Production Company:
BT Sport
Country of Production:
UK
Archival highlights
An Ordinary Hero looks back and celebrates the colourful life of Mike Hailwood, one of the legends of motor racing. His untimely death in a car crash alongside his daughter sent shock waves through the motorcycling community in 1981. The film sets out to show the immense dangers of motor sport back then and the way in which guys like Hailwood managed to cope with that. His inspirational story is told by his family and friends, supported by incredible archive material. Archive was always going to be vital in bringing Hailwood to life for this film. Interviews and race footage only show one side of the man, but by working closely with the family estate and his friends, we were able to unearth amazing colour film of the Hailwood family from the 1950s which had never previously been broadcast. Additionally some behind the scenes original super 8 footage of his famous 1978 comeback was discovered, which added so much to an already incredible story.
Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown
Director:
Alex Gibney
Producer(s):
Mick Jagger, Victoria Pearman, Peter Afterman, Blair Foster
Footage Archive Researcher:
Trevor Davidoski, Jim McDonnell
Archival Sources:
Reelin in the Years; WGBH Media Library and Archives; Dick Clark Productions; ABC News VideoSource; NBC Universal Archives
Production Company:
Jigsaw Productions, Jagged Films and Inaudible Films
Country of Production:
USA
Synopsis
Charting his journey from rhythm and blues to funk, Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown features rare and previously unseen footage, interviews and photographs chronicling the musical ascension of "the hardest working man in show business," from his first hit, "Please, Please, Please," in 1956 to his iconic performances at the Apollo Theater, the T.A.M.I. Show, the Paris Olympia and more. Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown features rare and previously unseen archival footage that were believed to be lost. The film benefited from the unique cooperation of the Brown estate, which opened its archives for the first time. In addition, researchers worked closely with many local archives, libraries and state archives to unearth never before seen footage including film of the historic "March Against Fear". Our comprehensive research and unique finds makes this documentary a great fit for the FOCAL International Awards for Best use of Footage.
Regarding Susan Sontag
Director:
Nancy Kates
Producer(s):
Nancy Kates
Footage Archive Researcher:
Prudence Arndt, Rachel Antell, Mridu Chandra
Archival Sources:
National Archives and Records Administration; Getty Images/BBC Motion Gallery; Library of Congress; T3 Media; Oddball Film and Video
Production Company:
Question Why Films
Country of Production:
USA
Synopsis
Regarding Susan Sontag is an intimate and nuanced investigation into the life of one of the most provocative thinkers of the 20th century. Passionate and gracefully outspoken throughout her career, Susan Sontag became one of the most important literary and political icons of her generation. The feature-length documentary explores Sontag's life through evocative experimental images, archival materials, accounts from friends, family, colleagues, and lovers, as well as her own words, read by actress Patricia Clarkson. Regarding Susan Sontag is a fascinating look at a towering cultural critic and writer whose works on photography, war, illness, and terrorism still resonate today. Regarding Susan Sontag is a creative portrait of the groundbreaking critic and icon that relies heavily on archival footage to tell Sontag's story, from the 1930s through her death in 2004. It features archival footage and stills from 130 archives around the world, used both traditionally (in talking head interviews) and creatively. Innovative uses of footage include projecting archival materials through water, onto surfaces and letters, and combining and layering them in artistic "collage" sequences. The film's reflexive use of archival footage adds depth to the storytelling, conveying a greater sense of the inner life of its central character.
Perspectives: Bruce Forsyth on Sammy Davis Jr
Director:
Ian Denyer
Producer(s):
Mark Wells
Footage Archive Researcher:
Susan Tiplady
Archival Sources:
Getty Images/BBC Motion Gallery; ITN Source/ITV Studios Ltd; Soap Box Productions; The Moving Picture Archive; AP Archive
Production Company:
Rain Media Entertainment
Country of Production:
UK
Archival highlights
Sir Bruce Forsyth worked with legendary entertainer Sammy Davis Junior on a TV special in 1980. Now, three decades later, Sir Bruce tells the story of his friend, the boy from Harlem who took to the stage at just three years of age, and went on to overcome racism, prejudice, personal tragedy and adversity to become an American superstar. He came to be regarded as the greatest entertainer of all time, but since his death in 1990, his cultural legacy has been largely overlooked. Sir Bruce aims to put that right. For this film it was important not only to showcase some of Sammy Davis Jr's finest performances, but also present the American socio-political context in which he rose to stardom.For that reason Archive Producer Susan Tiplady used her extensive contacts to access rare footage unseen since its original transmission - a particular moment from the 1960 Democratic Convention, a specific incident on a long-forgotten 1952 variety show. It was crucial that the archive was used sympathetically to evoke the real mood of the period, enhanced by beautiful photography and a presenter who engaged completely with the story and material.
American Experience: Last Days in Vietnam
Director:
Rory Kennedy
Producer(s):
Rory Kennedy, Keven McAlester
Footage Archive Researcher:
Polly Pettit, Jane E. Tucker
Archival Sources:
T3 Media; NBC Universal; ABC News; Sonuma; ITN Source
Production Company:
Moxie Firecracker Films / WGBH Educational Foundation
Country of Production:
USA
Synopsis
During the chaotic final days of the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese Army closes in on Saigon as South Vietnamese resistance crumbles. The United States has only a skeleton crew of diplomats and military operatives still in the country. As Communist victory becomes inevitable and the U.S. readies to withdraw, some Americans begin to consider the certain imprisonment and possible death of their South Vietnamese allies, co-workers, and friends. Meanwhile, the prospect of an official evacuation of South Vietnamese becomes terminally delayed by Congressional gridlock and the inexplicably optimistic U.S. Ambassador. With the clock ticking and the city under fire, a number of heroic Americans take matters into their own hands, engaging in unsanctioned and often makeshift operations in a desperate effort to save as many South Vietnamese lives as possible. The film tells a part of the story of the Vietnam War that had not been told before. Most Americans had seen the iconic image of the helicopter on a roof that final day, but few people know of the bravery of American men and women whose loyalty and heroism saved the lives of a great many at-risk South Vietnamese who otherwise would have faced certain imprisonment or deaththat admist one our country's most shameful moments, there was no shortage of courage.
Paisley: A Life
Director:
David Batty
Producer(s):
David Batty
Footage Archive Researcher:
Jeremy Shields, Declan Doherty
Archival Sources:
BBC; ITN Source/UTV; RTE; AP Archive; FremantleMedia Archive
Production Company:
BBC Northern Ireland
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
A documentary on the life of Ian Paisley that charts his journey from rabble-rousing preacher and divisive demagogue to his role in finally delivering political stability to Northern Ireland. The film features interviews with many of those closest to Paisley at crucial junctures in his life and with people who knew Paisley as a young preacher, and discuss Paisley's complex and often contradictory relationship with loyalism. The film is a frank and comprehensive assessment of Paisley's role in the conflict in Northern Ireland, as well as his role in its conclusion, told by those who dealt with Paisley first hand. "Ian Paisley: A Life" was the first major opportunity for the TVCA department in Belfast to test the capacity of the new Cinegy archiving system in handling the requirements for the production of an hour-long, archive-heavy obituary film. The research brief was to locate footage of Ian Paisley and from the events that he was involved in and marry it to a script that would take both a critical and appreciative look at his career, using footage that was not familiar to viewers, but was part of the archive of one of Northern Ireland's most recognisable political figures.
Night Will Fall
Director:
Andre Singer
Producer(s):
Sally Angel, Brett Ratner
Footage Archive Researcher:
Adam Turner, Oliver Keers
Archival Sources:
Imperial War Museum; ITN Source; Footage Farm;Getty Images: British Pathe
Production Company:
Spring Films Ltd, Angel TV Ltd, Cinephil
Country of Production:
UK
Synopsis
This is the story of the liberation of the German Concentration Camps. Using remarkable archive footage and testimony from both survivors and liberators, it tells of the efforts made to document the almost unbelievable scenes that the Allies encountered on liberation. The film explores how a team of top filmmakers, including Sidney Bernstein, Richard Crossman and Alfred Hitchcock, came together to make a film to provide undeniable evidence of what the Allies found, but the film was stopped in its tracks by the British Government and only now 70 years on, has it been completed. Each new generation deserves access to this evidence. Night Will Fall not only uses archive film, it shows the fundamental importance of film as witness to history and the crucial role it plays in the understanding of humanity.
MLK/FBI
Director:
Sam Pollard
Producer(s):
Phil Pinto, Jessica Luya, Kenneth Alexander Campbell
Footage Archive Researcher:
Brian Becker
Archival Sources:
Getty, NBC, Streamline, CBC, Warner Bros
Production Company:
Field Of Vision, Play Action Pictures, Cinetic
Country of Production:
United States
Synopsis
MLK/FBI is the first film to uncover the extent of the FBI's surveillance and harassment of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Based on newly discovered and declassified files, utilizing a trove of documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and unsealed by the National Archives, as well as revelatory restored footage, the documentary explores the government's history of targeting Black activists, and the contested meaning behind some of our most cherished ideals. Featuring interviews with key cultural figures including former FBI Director James Comey and directed by Emmy® Award-winner and Oscar®-nominee Sam Pollard, MLK/FBI tells this astonishing and tragic story with searing relevance to our current moment.
Finding Jack Charlton
Director:
Gabriel Clarke, Pete Thomas
Producer(s):
John McKenna, Torquil Jones, Drew Masters, Catherine Quantschnigg
Footage Archive Researcher:
Production Team
Archival Sources:
Private Owner - Craig Johnston, Private Owner - Frank Gillespie, North East Film Archive, BBC/Getty Archive
Production Company:
Noah Media Group
Country of Production:
United Kingdom, Ireland
Synopsis
FINDING JACK CHARLTON is the compelling, emotional and definitive portrait of a football life like no other. It is the story of an extraordinary man: an English World Cup winning legend, who became an Irish hero. Contemporary filming and interviews combine with unseen audio, visual and personal archive material to reveal the untold story of Jack’s life and career.
Ronnie's
Director:
Oliver Murray
Producer(s):
Kirsty Bell
Footage Archive Researcher:
James RM Hunt
Archival Sources:
BBC, Kino, Old Street Films, British Pathe, Getty
Production Company:
Orofena Films, Goldfinch Entertainment
Country of Production:
United Kingdom, United States
Synopsis
Ronnie's is the story of musician Ronnie Scott and his world famous jazz club. In 1959, saxophonist Ronnie Scott opened the door to a small basement jazz club in London’s Soho. As part of the burgeoning modern jazz movement, he and fellow saxophonist Pete King had dreamt of opening a club modelled on the swinging scene of New York’s 52nd Street. From its humble beginnings sixty years ago, Ronnie Scott’s would become the cornerstone of the UK jazz scene and one of the most famous music clubs in the world.
Ronnie Scott was beloved by many, from the great and famous who frequented his club, to the many hard up musicians who were often helped by his warmth and generous spirit. However, Ronnie was as complex and colourful as the music played on his stage. In private Ronnie battled with depression and when his untimely death occurred in 1996 it left the jazz community bereft of a respected and favourite leader.
Crip Camp
Director:
Nicole Newnham, Jim LeBrecht
Producer(s):
Sara Bolder
Footage Archive Researcher:
Rachel Antell, Jen Petrucelli
Archival Sources:
Peoples Video Theater, KRON via Bancroft Library, AP, ABC, NBC
Production Company:
A Higher Ground and Rusted Spoke Production in association with Little Punk, JustFilms, Ford Foundation for Netflix
Country of Production:
United States
Synopsis
A groundbreaking summer camp galvanizes a group of teens with disabilities to help build a movement, forging a new path toward greater equality.
American Murder: The Family Next Door
Director:
Jenny Popplewell
Producer(s):
Jonathan Stadlen (Executive Producer), James Marsh (Executive Producer), Hayley Ford (Line Producer)
Footage Archive Researcher:
James RM Hunt (Archive Producer), Sarah Powell (Archive Researcher)
Archival Sources:
Shannan Watts / Rzucek family personal archive, Weld County Police, KMGH Denver 7, KDVR Fox 31, CNN
Production Company:
Knickerbockerglory
Country of Production:
United Kingdom
Synopsis
Told entirely through archival footage this is an immersive and authentic examination of a disintegrating marriage. The focus of the film was to give Shanann Watts a voice to tell her story. She had become overlooked through the years while people focused on her husband to try and understand why this ‘nice guy' snapped. Society can be quick to blame and shame female victims of violent crime. It was important to reveal a layered representation of Shanann and to challenge tired tropes that a bossy woman drove her husband to commit violence.
Brian Becker – MLK/FBI
Production Company:
Field Of Vision, Play Action Pictures, Cinetic
Country of Production:
United States
Synopsis
MLK/FBI is the first film to uncover the extent of the FBI's surveillance and harassment of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Based on newly discovered and declassified files, utilizing a trove of documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and unsealed by the National Archives, as well as revelatory restored footage, the documentary explores the government's history of targeting Black activists, and the contested meaning behind some of our most cherished ideals. Featuring interviews with key cultural figures including former and directed by Emmy Award-winner and Oscar-nominee Sam Pollard, MLK/FBI tells this astonishing and tragic story with searing relevance to our current moment.
Archival highlights
At its core, MLK/FBI is a documentary focused on archives and the histories held deep within them. The FBI extensively surveilled Martin Luther King Jr. over the course of his entire life, and the growth of the agency’s domestic surveillance program mirrored MLK’s ascent as a civil rights leader. King’s story has been extensively studied and many documentaries focus on his legacy, but MLK/FBI is the first film to deeply examine the danger Martin Luther King posed to the American status quo.
We accomplished this task through creating an immersive, almost-100% archival documentary. The audience hears original interviews, but the interviewees do not appear on-screen until the conclusion of the film. There is no shortage of footage on MLK or the FBI, so I had to critically assess archival collections to create the most engrossing visual environment possible. Whether it be discovering one of J. Edgar Hoover’s only television interviews held at the University of Rochester, or digitizing a collection of the only known photographs of King and his advisor Stanley Levison, I left no stone unturned in tracking the rise of King and the FBI surveillance state.
Because so many films exist on MLK and the civil rights struggle, director Sam Pollard and editor Laura Tomaselli requested footage of King that had not yet been digitized and that showed elements of his personality beyond his common portrayal as an un-flawed American hero. I focused on local and international archives, historical societies and major television networks. Our film also examines the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover, who, as one of our interviewees mentions in the film, was much more popular than King in the 1960s. Beyond government-produced films, we creatively pulled from television specials on surveillance and industrial films on wiretapping. We also utilized movies and television shows that displayed the rosy popular image of the agency.
This found material existed in dialogue with the narrative. Newly discovered footage spoke to the direction of the story, while the story spoke back to the material I sought to discover. The interweaving of these findings powered our process and allowed for a novel, in-depth look at Martin Luther King, the FBI, and America at-large.
Miriam Walsh and Mariam Koloyan – Once Upon a Time in Iraq
Production Company:
KEO films
Country of Production:
United Kingdom
Synopsis
The Iraq War is the defining conflict of our age and set in motion a calamitous chain of unforeseen events that are still playing out today. The politicians and decision makers involved have had their say. In this series, the story of the Iraq war is told instead by civilians, journalists, and soldiers - ordinary people from both sides of the conflict, who lived through the 2003 invasion and the 17 years of chaos that followed. Told with hope, humanity and humour, and illustrated with extraordinary and never before seen personal archive, this series takes us closer to the realities of the war than ever before. Through their eyes we see how events in Iraq have changed the world forever.
Archival highlights
Miriam and Mariam contribution to this series far exceeded a normal archive producer/ research role. The whole series was defined by the archive they found. Characters and stories, indeed whole chapters of the war, were dropped if we couldn’t find good archive to illustrate it. The reverse was also true. Finding a hidden treasure trove of unseen archive also determined that a story or character was included. They had 17 years of conflict to get through, and were constantly finding new and rarely before seen treasure troves of archive, from rushes from news reports, or on mini dv tapes stashed in lofts and garages. These often unexpected, serendipitous discoveries determined the editorial direction of the series, which is why this series belongs to them as much as anyone.
Manuel Heller for Afghanistan: The Wounded Land
Production Company:
LOOKSfilm
Country of Production:
Germany
Synopsis
“Afghanistan. The Wounded Land” – in English narrated by Khaled Hosseini (author of The Kite Runner) - looks at six decades of Afghan history through the eyes of those who were there: warriors and civilians, men and women. Their personal memories of the golden era, the Soviet occupation, the civil war, the Taliban regime, of 9/11 and its aftermath open new perspectives onto Afghanistan, its people and its destiny. These stories reflect in an unparalleled selection of archive footage, unearthed in Afghanistan, Russia and the Arab world. Thus, this documentary grants new insight into what went tragically wrong in the past - and what future is being hoped for.
Archival highlights
The archive footage of the production “Afghanistan. The Wounded Land” is fundamental for the narrative and the worldwide success of the documentary series. Through the personal stories of our characters – warriors and civilians, men and women, all first-hand witnesses of the 40 years‘ war – and footage unearthed in Afghanistan, Russia and the Arab world, the documentary series tells the story of a conflict that has marked the world we live in. Our researcher has spent months searching for archival treasures around the world, trying like a sleuth to find old film reels that had gone missing. The search for the rights holders was often just as adventurous. In addition to the usual archival sources, Manuel made contact with the daughter of Afghanistan's president, with Afghan photographers from the 1980s and with widows of cameramen who had died during the war. The archival footage Manuel found is often unique, full of emotion and not only depicts the Western world, but shows us Afghanistan from all perspectives.
James RM Hunt for Ronnie's
Production Company:
Orofena Films, Goldfinch Entertainment
Country of Production:
United Kingdom, United States
Synopsis
In 1959, saxophonist Ronnie Scott opened the door to a small basement club in London’s Soho. As part of the burgeoning modern jazz movement, he and fellow saxophonist Pete King had dreamt of opening a club modelled on the swinging scene of New York’s 52nd Street. From its humble beginnings sixty years ago, Ronnie Scott’s would become the cornerstone of the UK jazz scene and one of the most famous jazz clubs in the world. Funny and moving, Ronnie’s features performances by some of greatest musicians of the 20th century, with James the archive producer unearthing over 20 legendary archive performances at Ronnie Scott's jazz club - many of which were lovingly restored.
Archival highlights
It is with much enthusiasm that I am recommending James RM Hunt for the FOCAL Jane Mercer Researcher of the Year Focal 2021. James was the archive producer on both my recent feature films and I hope he will continue to be my right hand man in this regard for many projects to come. I have always found his passionate and skilful understanding of archival film practices to raise the bar on every scene he works on take the story telling to a new level that surpasses expectation. His research skills are phenomenal and his eye for story detail is inspiring. Whether it’s discovering a lost gem in a foreign archive or helping the relative of a deceased photographer to understand the needs of a production it’s the personal and tailored approach James adopts that yield such special results. These strengths are completed by high standing within a global network of like-minded enthusiasts that effectively make James an international force. Years of experience and intuition comes into play with the big conversations around budget and market value but James is also happy to scratch with the chickens as well as soar with the eagles. On “Ronnie’s” we found every possible source of archive filmed and recorded at Ronnie Scott’s Club from forgotten Miles Davis video tapes, a Jimi Hendrix bootleg, 8mm footage of 1950s Soho and personal scrapbooks belonging to the house band. This was an archival film built piece by piece and it was all made possible by James.
Helen Carr for The Story of Ready Steady Go!
Production Company:
Whizz Kid Entertainment, eOne, BMG
Country of Production:
United Kingdom, United States
Synopsis
In this new documentary we tell the story of Britain’s iconic 1960’s music show, Ready Steady Go! This was the programme that revolutionised television “for the kids” and coincided with the tremendous explosion of British pop talent which took the world by storm. It championed emerging talent like The Beatles, The Who, Sandie Shaw, Cilla Black, Otis Redding and The Rolling Stones.
This is the definitive documentary that will cover every aspect of the pioneering show whose style rewrote the rulebook with its intoxicating blend of performance, celebrity interviews and items on fashion. It often featured cameras in shot, live mishaps and the young audience interacting with their pop star heroes
Archival highlights
Helen Carr - Producer & Director Statement by Samantha Peters
I have worked with Helen Carr for many years and she has developed into a hugely experienced, talented and committed Archive Producer. This is not a 9-5 job for Helen, she will always be completely relied upon during a production and while working on my recent projects, The Story of Ready Steady Go! and The Best of Ready Steady Go!, she utilised her skills and abilities to the highest level.
Helen left no stone unturned to find all available footage from a show that only had 9 full episodes that existed out of 179. This meant piecing together fragments of the show from various sources, including a viewer’s 8mm recording of Solomon Burke filmed on their TV at the time of transmission. Great effort and detective work was taken when it came to finding and digitising the original film reels to ensure that the footage was presented in the best way possible. The original, unedited performances have not been widely seen since they were first transmitted in the 1960s and the only copies that were thought to be in existence were C4 compilations that included re-edited performances interweaved with none RSG! Footage. There was also no paperwork to help identify the different sources in the programme.
Due to the lack of original paperwork/ contracts, and the fact that the programme was being distributed worldwide, Helen took time to build strong relationships with the artists’ representatives/legal team and gain their trust to clear their performances - including Marvin Gaye, Sandie Shaw and Otis Redding.
Helen not only strives for the wish list, but will use her initiative to find unique footage to help enrich our film. She managed to find some incredible footage that illustrated the story of one of our interviewees, Chris Farlowe. This consisted of finding Chris in some uncatalogued clubland footage of the 60s that was perfect for the narrative. Helen’s support in the edit, meeting deadlines, editorial understanding, getting footage digitised, technical knowledge and organisation of the archives is outstanding and she fully understands the importance of her role in a production and how critical that is to meet delivery and budget.
Shatranj-E Baad (The Chess game of the Wind)
Country of Production:
Italy
Original Release:
1976
Involved Partners:
L'Immagine Ritrovata, The Film Foundation's World Cinema Project and Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna, Mohammad Reza Aslani, the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation
Synopsis
Under the Kadjar dynasty, the death of the first lady of a noble house creates a conflict between the heirs for taking over her rich inheritance.
Archival highlights
Every year the The Film Foundation's World Cinema Project takes the challenge to find and save world heritage lost masterpieces: the restoration "Chess of the Wind" is one of the most unique for it added an unknown masterpiece to film history. After its “physical” premiere at Il Cinema Ritrovato, its participation at the LFF attracted a significant amount of press: “Audiences won’t have seen anything like this" titles The Guardian. “Chess of the Wind” was only screened once, 50 years ago, before being restored and its disappearance was due not only to the Iranian regime censorship but also to its narrative complexity and aesthetic sophistication. Recovering its beauty, its colour and texture was like restoring Renaissance art.
The Ladykillers
Country of Production:
United Kingdom
Original Release:
1955
Involved Partners:
Studiocanal, Silver Salt Restoration, Fidelity in Motion, Deluxe Digital Cinema
Synopsis
As The Ladykillers was the last Technicolor three-strip film shot in the UK, it was crucially important that the original camera negative was used for a restoration that will serve as the best version of the film since its original release. In total the film benefitted from over a 1000 hours worth of 4K digital restoration.
One of the biggest issues to overcome was aligning the colour separations together, this was automated to a certain extent, but a huge amount of manual tweaking was required and involved tracking each one of the perforations in each corner of the film frame on a channel by channel basis
A 35mm Technicolor print was used as a reference for the colour grade to ensure the new HDR Dolby Vision master stayed true to the films original 1950s ‘color by Technicolor’ look
Archival highlights
Not since the original release has such a release of this title existed in such clarity with the integrity of the original materials. This was the first restoration in which the original three-strip negative was used and months of digital restoration and precise colour management executed to remove the issued that blighted previous releases of it. When viewed against the previous releases it is comfortably obvious how superior this is and most of all how much it resembles the release prints we would have seen in 1955. This is a project that takes world class technical quality combined with passion for a UK classic title and delivers the viewer an unparalleled experience. With the home entertainment release we offered out two aspect ratios thus re-creating the options audience had in 1955
Ostatni Etap | The Last Stage
Country of Production:
Poland
Original Release:
1948
Involved Partners:
Filmoteka Narodowa - Instytut Audiowizualny (FINA), TOR Film Production currently Documentary and Feature Film Studio (WFDiF), European Regional Development Fund, the Polish Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sport
Synopsis
The digital restoration of image and sound was undertaken in July 2019 at the FINA's laboratory in Warsaw in collaboration with TOR Film Production (now WFDiF). The project took 6 months, with 25 specialists involved. No nitrate film elements survived. Six positive and negative acetate elements were compared for the restoration, with dup-negative chosen as the base for restoration of both image and sound, and dup-positive and positive copies used to complement missing frames.
The unification of quality of the three generations of film, the initial credits part (no additional elements have survived), the restoration of sound, which turned out had survived in terrible conditions, were the most challenging issues of the project. The re-premiere took place at the Berlinale Classics 2020.
Archival highlights
We believe that The Last Stage is one of the most important films in history of cinema. It was shot on location in the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1947, which brought many technical problems for the crew, who worked with poor and random quipment and on various film stocks. Its prior value lies strongly in the cultural and historical contexts, making it a valid film heritage for generations to come. We are very proud of this restoration. It wasn’t easy to work for several months on the film that treats on such a painful and powerful topic. Also, not being able to work on the original negative posed challenges to make the most of the acetate elements featuring many mechanical damages, especially in the sound area. However, we made it and the final effect is very rewarding. Thank you!
Trichromie
Country of Production:
Italy
Involved Partners:
Restoration promoted by Gaumont. Film scan at George Eastman House. Digital restoration, Color correction and finalizations at L'Immagine Rtitrovata.
Synopsis
The titles are typical cinema's 'views' of daily life in the 1910's. Athens Deauville-Trouville February in Provence Flowers Flower Studies Fruits The Great Flower Fete at Nice, Sunday February 2nd 1913 Harbour Scenes - Harbor and Plantation Scenes Honfleur In the Isle of Majorca King Alphonso XIII During his Visit in France The Late King of Greece Arrival of the Royal Remains at Athens Nice Carnival Paris Fashion - Latest Spring Hats Picturesque Greece, The District Area Around Megare and Corinth Part I Picturesque Greece, The District Area Around Megare and Corinth Part II Reproduction of a Bouquet with Ordinary Cinematography - Same Bouquet by Chronochrome Venetian Glass-Ware Venice Venice, Queen of the Adriatic View of Enghein Bains Wedding Celebrations of Princess Victoria Louise & Prince August Cumberland
Archival highlights
The importance of the restoration of the treasures of Trichromie rely mostly in the possibility to be able, thanks to the latest digital technologies, to preserve and present again all marvelous images from this particular color technique and be shared on all media. Audience is still enchanted by the simple triumph of color of Flowers or the delicate nuances of the sea and the faces from more than one century ago.
Fellini Project
Country of Production:
Italy
Involved Partners:
L'Immagine Ritrovata, Cineteca di Bologna, Istituto Luce Cinecittà and Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia - Cineteca Nazionale
Synopsis
The 2020 marks what is perhaps the most important and international anniversary of Italian cinema: the centenary of the birth of Federico Fellini.
Archival highlights
Maestro Fellini's global relevance could not just be the object of ritual celebrations. Federico Fellini represents Cinecittà, he was the conductor of some of our country's best actresses and actors, a master who generated geniuses in all professions and techinques of cinema. In the history of world culture, Federico Fellini is worth the Colosseum. He is the best expression of our imagination.
The Brilliant Biograph
Country of Production:
Netherlands
Involved Partners:
Cineric, New York and Portugal Haghefilm Digital, Amsterdam The work done at these laboratories was continuously supervised by Eye Filmmuseum's restorers. This project was in cooperation with BFI and European Commission (grant).
Synopsis
The Brilliant Biograph showcases some of the highlights of the Mutoscope & Biograph’s European productions dating back to the end of the 19th century, shot with great detail on 68mm film. The compilation is divided into five thematically arranged chapters, connected by images of train rides, that take viewers on a tour across Europe (both in space and time).
The selection is not based on historical or geographical accuracy. Instead, the films are put together in an abstract collage to evoke various prominent aspects of turn-of-the-century life, such as urbanization, recreation, tourism, technological innovation, and vaudeville theatre and performances. This 52 min film is accompanied by a special piano score, composed and recorded by Daan van den Hurk, holding the compilation together.
Archival highlights
The Mutoscope and Biograph films, in their original 68mm format, represent a number of challenges for practical use; the obsolete format doesn't allow easy projection, and the extremely short duration of the films and lack of narration makes the content difficult to decipher for today's audiences. This restoration and resulting compilation film The Brilliant Biograph overcomes those technical hurdles by transferring the images in crisp and stunning detail to digital domain, compatible with current cinema standards. The compilation provides context and structure and is accompanied by specially composed music for an enjoyable journey. Audiences have been delighted to rediscover places and events from 120 years ago, in surprisingly exquisite detail.
Robert Gitt
Archival highlights
In a career spanning more than 50 years, Gitt is recognised as one of the world's foremost experts and practitioners of film preservation and restoration. In 1977, he became the first preservation officer of the UCLA Film & Television Archive, where he built up and taught a team of skilled colleagues and restored hundreds of classic Hollywood films, both silent and sound, to the highest standards of the art, earning the constant praise and admiration of peers and film-makers alike. (For a full selective list, see CV.) Highlights of his work have included the revival of director's cuts (e.g., Howard Hawks's 'The Big Sleep', 1945; Orson Welles's 'Macbeth', 1948), along with the frequent recovery of missing scenes and censor cuts. Most notable, perhaps, is his discovery, compilation and acclaimed presentation of the exhaustive rehearsal outtakes of Charles Laughton's 'The Night of the Hunter'. Although now officially retired from the UCLA Archive, Gitt continues to act as adviser and mentor to its technical staff. Gitt has, almost single-handedly, put back into circulation and on to the big screen numerous American film classics and neglected masterpieces, silent and sound, to the visual standards achieved by their original creators. He has, in particular, raised the art and technique of colour film restoration, in titles ranging from the first two-colour Technicolor features (e.g., 'The Toll of the Sea', 1922) and the first three-colour Technicolor subject ('Becky Sharp', 1935), to, most recently, one of the finest Technicolor films of all time, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's 'The Red Shoes', in collaboration with Martin Scorsese and the BFI and ITV. Gitt has also pioneered the recovery and restoration of early sound, often from wax discs, most notably in the case of Warner Brothers' Vitaphone shorts of 1926-1931. Currently, he is constructing on DVD and BluRay an epic audio-visual history of sound-on-film, the most recent results of which (1933-1975) were launched in 2015. He is well-known for his extensive, entertaining and authoritative presentations and lectures on this and many other film history and restoration topics.
Historic Films Archive
Country of Production:
USA
Archival highlights
Historic Films Archive is a small but industrious stock footage archive located on the eastern end of Long Island New York. In business since 1991, our staff has provided hundreds of thousands of clips to award winning documentaries, television programs, commercials and feature films. Our world recognized library of musical performance and entertainment footage spans a century and contains over 50,000 individual performances from televisions most important networks and programs. Our collection of stock footage spans the years 1895 to 2015 and consists of over 35,000 hours of news, lifestyles, travel, fads, fashion, home movies, celebrity "red carpet" events, vintage TV programs, commercials, interviews, silent films, training films, military films, industrials and cartoons. In 2009, after two years of research and development and during one of our countries worst financial down-turns, Historic Films recruited an outstanding team of web developers who would subsequently spend the next two years working with us to custom design a web-based platform to serve our client's stock footage needs. Unlike many of our competitors, who offer their online footage as short pre-determined clips, Historic Films Archive presents its clients with the option to access and view an entire document/film while giving them the ability to select the precise shot they want. Our primary goal is to provide our clients with an exceptionally streamlined and efficient online experience as well as providing our research staff with the right tools to do their jobs well. Historic Films strength has always been in our dedicated multi-tasked staff that do in fact still answer the phone when you call and in many cases have been with the company since its early inception. Our strengths lie within the institutional knowledge that our staff have of our material and our rapid access to it. In 2011, after two years of development, Historic Films launched what has become one of the industry's leading online websites for stock footage research and sales. It is not an exaggeration to state that our online presence competes handily with publicly traded stock footage companies with resources far greater than our own. The same team of developers that we recruited back in 2009 is still with us as we have continued to evolve, re-assess and re-develop the research and sales tools we provide to our clients and our staff. In 2014, three years after our initial launch, we began to see an obvious trend. Our clients were no longer tied to their desktops for research and had become en masse mobile. The greatest increase in traffic coming to our website was now from iPads, iPhones and Android devices yet this sector was not being served as our video playback (much like our competitors), was not compatible on these devices. We took our queue and in 2015 Historic Films re-tooled and re-launched our website to allow for tablet and smart phone device compliancy. Historic Films now allows users of iPhones, iPads and Android devices to stream footage and make selects while accessing all of the same great features that our desktop users have always enjoyed. We are now fully searchable anywhere at any time on any device. No "App" required. As of 2015 Historic Films Archive remains the only stock footage archive that provides this service to the stock footage industry. We are very proud of the success our company has had in developing online tools to serve a far greater number of stock footage researchers in more places at more times. We are also proud of the infrastructure advancements that we have made ensuring that Historic Films not only remains a top competitor in its field but also maintains its post as a responsible fiduciary for the historical content within our vaults. For these reasons, we believe that Historic Films Archive deserves to be nominated for the 2015 FOCAL International Stock Footage Archive of the year. Joe Lauro President, Historic Films Archive, LLC
Tim Emblem-English
Production Company:
BBC Studios and Post Production
Country of Production:
UK
Archival highlights
NOMINATED by EMMA HAW Who would have forecast in 1981, when Tim Emblem-English made the move from the Meteorological office to the BBC's Television Recording department, he would become one of the UK's finest Archive and Restoration Specialist? Since 1981, Tim has forged a career in archive restoration, sharing his expertise and bringing his measured approach to some of the most important archive restoration projects and film and television productions across the globe. Tim's skill and aptitude, his professionalism and talent are backed up by an understanding that can only come from someone who has embraced and enthused about the vast developments in film and television formats over the past thirty years. Tim has always specialised in film-based work: from grading live film transmissions (as the BBC last ever tele-recording engineer) to his exemplary skills in telecine. He is adept in the handling of both familiar and the less used film formats such at 9.5mm. Despite working with material from the past, Tim welcomes the opportunities modern technology can bring to unlock and restore footage that that would otherwise remain hidden - from the collections of medical and historical institutions to international broadcaster as well as the treasured reels in private collections. He is generous in sharing his knowledge and experience with his colleagues and eager future technicians and in this way, Tim helps to safeguards footage heritage for future generations to enjoy. Tim has worked to bring archive to the viewer in landmark television series such as the BBC's highly acclaimed 'All Our Working Lives' in the 1980s, film releases such as 2012's London: The Modern Babylon, whilst also ensuring regional, national and international archive collections of importance such those held by the Scottish Screen Archive, the Royal College of Surgeons and international collections from The Hong Kong Film Archive and The Monaco Audiovisual Archives are preserved for the future. It is testament to Tim that he is known by the amateur film maker, the archives and the programme maker and he is always booked months in advance for projects , making it an extra special treat to step into the telecine world of Tim Emblem-English.
ENDORSED by MIRIAM WALSH In my years as an archive researcher I have been fortunate to travel far and wide in pursuit of great archive footage. Sometimes when found it does not look that great! But a trip to the telecine world of Tim Emblem-English can rectify that in no time at all. Tim is an amazing telecine operator and no job is too little or too great for him. He is a magician and breathes life into even the most fatigued piece of film. His skill and aptitude is backed up by an understanding that only comes from some-one who has embraced and enthused about the vast developments in film and television formats over the past thirty years. I have spent many happy hours with Tim unlocking the delights of old and forgotten treasure for many of the films I have worked on. He telecined all the BBC footage for us on "London - the Modern Babylon" and "David Bowie - Five Years" and numerous other series over the years . He has never been less than totally professional and utterly charming. His dedication to his work, an incredibly important work in our industry is utterly amazing and he would be a worthy recipient of The Focal International Footage Employee of the Year Award.
Jessica Berman-Bogdan (Global ImageWorks)
Involved Partners:
Cobain: Montage of Heck; Narcos, End of Movie LLC; Narcos LLC
Archival highlights
Credit 1 - Title of Production: Cobain: Montage of Heck
Credit 1 - Production Company: End of Movie, LLC.
Credit 1 - Broadcast / Media Platform: All media
Credit 1 - Brief Synopsis: Kurt Cobain, lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter of Nirvana, remains an icon 20 years after his death. KURT COBAIN: MONTAGE OF HECK is a raw and visceral journey through Cobain's life and career with Nirvana through the lens of his home movies, recordings, artwork, photography, and journals.
Credit 1 - Reason for submission: KURT COBAIN: MONTAGE OF HECK is a feature length documentary film almost entirely created from the use of archive material. Jessica's research expertise and skills to bring in and then manage the vast amount of audio visual elements required for this project helped the success of the film.
Credit 1 - Researcher's Statement: Cobain: Montage of Heck was a fully sanctioned project. We had the full support of the Cobain estate and support of Nirvana's record company. As Archival Producer, I worked on the film for two years. I was the first person hired and I was still there to help close down the project. Over the past 15 years, the Director, Brett Morgen, and I have worked on many films together. Because Brett understands the unique challenges of archival-based filmmaking, he starts the archival research process in pre-production. My first assignment is always to source enough footage and other elements so by the time the production team is in place, there is plenty of material to screen and key story points are represented. I worked closely with Nirvana's record company to access to outtakes and unseen footage. I successfully arranged access to MTV and Rolling Stone Magazine's deep storage archives which contained even more unique and rarely seen materials. We knew the film would have access to the Cobain estate archives. The challenge here was the lack of a detailed inventory. We had no idea what we would find once we entered that archive. We literally catalogued thousands of items including; Kurt's journals, various artwork, a box of over 200 audio tapes and general ephemera. All of this material needed to be photographed and logged into the film's asset management system. The Cobain archive produced a treasure trove of material and had a profound impact on Brett. It provided both great inspiration and a wealth of production materials. There is a good deal of Nirvana footage on YouTube. My job was to not only get every frame of what we saw online but to develop strategic relationships that would ultimately uncover outtakes and even more footage that had not been seen or previously been available. I made contact with over 100 private individuals who had either personally produced and/or collected Nirvana footage. Most of the private individuals were not only protective of their materials; they were curiously very protective of Kurt Cobain himself. Most collectors I encountered were very hesitant to let anything out. One of the main challenges I faced was to gain the trust of these individuals. I contacted a few dozen photographers in both the US and Europe. We obtained their contact sheets so that we could assemble the greatest amount of photos to choose from. I reached out to commercial archives and broadcasters around the world. Nirvana in their few short years of existence was known in almost every country worldwide. I tracked down numerous reporters who, in the late 1980s or early 1990s, had interviewed Nirvana and/or Kurt for magazine articles to see if they retained the audio from these interviews. I convinced them to search their attic, basements and garages and then arranged to have whatever they found digitally transferred. This was challenging to say the least, but also extremely rewarding. Part of my Archival Producer responsibilities was to oversee and organize the thousands of assets, across all sources that were being brought in and to create the internal workflow that would ingest and manage all of the audio visual elements. I created seven (7) separate databases which were hosted online and therefore accessible in real time from any location. It was an especially challenging but necessary step since several key personnel were not all in one location - the production office was based in Los Angeles, I was on the east coast, and one of the key producer's was in Colorado. The final locked edit contained close to 3,000 individual elements in a variety of film and tape formats. In the end, we licensed material from over 100 different copyright holders. I was responsible for negotiating each licensing deal, securing every agreement and traficking all the paperwork through to full execution and paid status. During this process I interfaced with the legal team to make sure each agreement met their approval. Once the licensing deals were in place I was responsible for ordering master quality elements for every audio visual asset in the film. I was also tasked with making sure we stayed within budget and that everything was brought in on time. My last responsibility on the film was to create the production bibles - which on a film such as Cobain: Montage of Heck, is a small archive in and of itself.
Credit 1 - Director/Producer or Production Manager's Statement: Jessica Berman-Bogdan was the first hire on COBAIN: MONTAGE OF HECK, and one of the last to assist in closing down the production. In addition to being an acclaimed commercial director, Brett Morgen has been dubbed the "Mad scientist" of documentary filmmaking by the New York Times and has been directing, writing and producing groundbreaking documentary films for the past 15 years. He and Jessica first collaborated on THE KID STAYS IN THE PICTURE and have worked together on every film since. Brett has said that he "thinks of Jessica more like a cross between a cinematographer and a producer. I would never even think of doing an archival film if she wasn't available. She and her team can locate and find just about everything that we've asked for and beyond that, can negotiate the terms of the deals. When working on archival projects, you come across quite a few people who don't understand film and are weary of sending out materials which could represent their life's work. Jessica puts people at ease. They trust her, and for good reason. She treats archival materials with the greatest care." Jessica's work gathering archival material was instrumental to the shaping of the film. COBAIN: MONTAGE OF HECK was assembled almost entirely through the use of archival material, a huge proportion of which was found and obtained by Jessica; the process of making the film was one of reviewing the extant footage and understanding the story that it was telling, a process that would have been impossible without Jessica's efforts. She was able to locate and successfully bring in what we believe was close to all existing footage and audio of Kurt Cobain and Nirvana, obtaining the cooperation of many private individuals who had personal footage they either shot or controlled. She created and oversaw an asset management system which kept track of hundreds of hours of footage and audio from more than 100 sources, 7000 photos, and over 5000 items of assorted ephemera, ranging from personal items, to artwork, to journals. It was a herculean effort to track it all and then to oversee the ordering of masters and negotiation of licenses. It is a further testament to her skills that this was all managed remotely between Jessica's office in New Jersey and our production office in Los Angeles. We communicated on a daily basis throughout the production. Jessica was able to make magic happen continually throughout the production because of her vast experience and her deep relationships in the archive world. Her expertise and experience in rights and clearances were instrumental throughout and she worked closely with our legal team to get all the agreements to final execution in a timely and efficient manner. She pursued every lead to its conclusion and exercised great care in establishing the chain of title for each piece of material used and ensuring that due diligence was taken to find and obtain licenses from all applicable copyright holders. In sum, Jessica's labor, expertise, and judgment were of paramount importance in enabling us to create the best film possible. (Danielle Renfrew Behrens, Producer)
Credit 2 - Title of Production: Narcos
Credit 2 - Production Company: Narcos LLC.
Credit 2 - Broadcast / Media Platform: All media excluding theatrical
Credit 2 - Brief Synopsis: NARCOS Season 1 was a 10 part scripted series produced by Gaumont Television for Netflix. Written by Chris Brancato and directed by José Padilha, Narcos is the true-life story of the growth and spread of cocaine drug cartels in Colombia and attendant efforts by U.S. DEA agents to meet the cartels head on in brutal, bloody conflict. Narcos centers on notorious Colombian cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar (Moura), and the two DEA agents Javier Peña (Pa
