Memorandum submitted by the Film Archive
Forum
The Film Archive Forum is the representative
body for the UK's public sector moving image archives. Its members
include the British Film Institute's National Film and Television
Archive, the Scottish Screen Archive, the National Screen and
Sound Archive of Wales, the Imperial War Museum Film and Video
Archive, and the eight film archives covering the English regions.
The Forum represents the UK's public sector moving image archives
in all archival aspects of the moving image, and acts as the advisory
body on national moving image archive policy.
We wish to draw the Select Committee's attention
to the submission we made to the previous inquiry, "Protecting,
Preserving, and Making Accessible Our Nation's Heritage".
That submission highlighted the serious funding position facing
the public sector moving images in England, and indicated the
particular ways in which moving image archives benefit the nation.
The submission concluded with the assertion
that our funding crisis cannot be resolved and new opportunities
for access to the resources in the care of the regional film archives
cannot be created until there is the recognition that:
— the work of the public sector moving
image archives falls as much within the domain of national heritage
as within the creative industries;
— they need to be supported by national
organisations that are committed to nurturing and developing these
archives for the benefit of the UK, its nations and regions; and
— they should receive the same level
of annual investment as found in similar heritage organisations
within the public sector.
Since that submission (in January 2006), the
Film Archive Forum has continued to work alongside the UK Film
Council, the British Film Institute and the English Regional Film
Archives to develop a national strategy for the moving image archives.
We are hopeful that this work will lead to a more structured and
integrated approach to delivering the benefit of these collective
heritage resources to people right across the country, but the
reality remains that the English archives are perilously under-funded.
Action is needed soon if we are not to lose some archives altogether.
As evidence of the work of a regional film archive,
and as a practical demonstration of our commitment to the objectives
laid out in our previous submission, we are enclosing copies of
the Yorkshire Film Archive's Learning and Access Strategy.
(The Yorkshire Film Archive is submitting a paper, to be read
as a case study, to this inquiry.) This recently-published document
demonstrates the potential of the moving image to relate to the
learning, culture and heritage sectors, and espouses principles
held by all members of the Film Archive Forum.
25 September 2006
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