European film archives have been collecting, preserving, and restoring films and other materials relating to films since the 1930s. The collections range from pre-cinema apparatus to digital cinema files, all of which require specific methods, techniques and an extensive knowledge of film history for preservation. In 1991, representatives of the most important European film archives came together to create LUMIERE, a pan-European film restoration project. It was the first large-scale film restoration project funded by the MEDIA I Programme of the European community. The LUMIERE project lasted between 1991 and 1996, during which more than 1000 film titles were preserved and restored, 700 films were re-discovered and identified and a Joint European Filmography was established. ACE started in 1991 as the Association des Cinémathèques de la Communauté Européenne. After the end of the LUMIERE project in 1996, ACE began its active role in raising awareness of the cultural and economic value of European film heritage among policy makers and the audiovisual industry. Operating on the European level, ACE represents the interest of its members to the European Union. It works to support and improve the economic and legal conditions, as well as technical and scientific research for digitization and long-term film preservation.
The European Commission directly supports efforts to protect Europe's film heritage. The legal basis for action is Article 167 of the TFEU, which encourages member states to support the conservation and safeguard of the cultural heritage, including film heritage. The Film Heritage Recommendation 2005 invites the member states to systematically collect, catalogue, preserve and restore Europe's film heritage.
Projects
ACE has initiated several film heritage projects funded by the European Union:
LUMIERE, supported by MEDIA I programme
Search For Lost Films, supported by RAPHAEL
ARCHIMEDIA. European training network for the promotion of cinema heritage, supported by MEDIA II
All the Colours of the World. Colours in early mass media 1900-1930. Supported by KALEIDOSCOPE.
FIRST – Film Restoration and Conservation Strategies. Research project on the application of digital techniques to film heritage.“Film Archives on the Threshold of a Digital Era”: Technical Issues from the EU FIRST Project. FIAF Journal of Film Preservation n° 68, 12/2004. IST - 5th Framework Programme
MIDAS – Moving Image Database for Access and Re-use of European Film Collections. The web portal Filmarchives online gives access to catalogue information from film archives all over Europe
EN 15744 and EN 15907: Cinematographic works standards on the interoperability of film databases. The standardization work was mandated in 2005 by the European Commission and delegated to CEN.
EDCINE – Enhanced Digital Cinema : Research and development of applications for storing, managing and distributing digitised archival films
The European Film Gateway. The EFG Portal gives access to digitised films and film related material held in European film archives
EFG1914: World War I Film digitisation project, supported by the ICT-Policy Support Programme
FORWARD: Framework for an EU wide Audiovisual Orphan Works Registry. The project develops a system for assessing the rights status of audiovisual works and a registry of orphan film compliant to the Directive 2012/28/EU. The project is co-funded by the ICT-Policy Support Programme
ABCinema is a joint project of Europeana film archives and film education organisations to share best practices and new approaches in film literacy.
