Since 2004 FOCAL International Awards competition is dedicated to the promotion and celebration of archival footage and its contribution to the creative and cultural industries. We congratulate all the past winners.
Shortlisted
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.
