National Film and Sound Archive
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national collection of film, television, sound, radio, video games, new media, and related documents and artefacts. The collection ranges from works created in the late nineteenth century when the recorded sound and film industries were in their infancy, to those made in the present day.
The NFSA collection first started as the National Historical Film and Speaking Record Library in 1935, becoming an independent cultural organisation in 1984. On 3 October, Prime Minister Bob Hawke officially opened the NFSA's headquarters in Canberra.
History of the organisation
The work of the Archive can be officially dated to the establishment of the National Historical Film and Speaking Record Library by a Cabinet decision on 11 December 1935.After being part of the National Library of Australia and its predecessors for nearly 50 years, the National Film and Sound Archive was created as a separate Commonwealth collecting institution through an announcement in Parliament on 5 April 1984 that took immediate effect. At that time, an Advisory Committee was established to guide the institution.
On 21 June 1999, the name was changed to ScreenSound Australia, the National Collection of Screen and Sound, and changed again in early 2000 to ScreenSound Australia, National Screen and Sound Archive. It reverted to its original name, National Film and Sound Archive, in December 2004.
In 2000, Screensound joined the PANDORA Archive, the web archiving project started by the NLA in 1996, as a collaborating partner.
Meanwhile, consequent on amendments to the Australian Film Commission Act which took effect on 1 July 2003, it ceased to be a semi-autonomous entity within the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts and became an integrated branch, later a division, of the Australian Film Commission, a funding and promotional body.
In 2007, the Liberal Government announced the creation of a new agency to be called Screen Australia which would incorporate the main functions of the Film Finance Corporation, the Australian Film Commission, and Film Australia. Following elections in November 2007, however, the new Labor Government implemented an election promise to allow the NFSA to become a statutory authority, similar to other major cultural institutions including the National Library of Australia, the National Gallery of Australia and the National Museum of Australia. The NFSA Act became law on 20 March 2008 and came into effect on 1 July 2008, with celebrations held that day.
Inaugural Board
The Archive's first Board as a statutory authority comprised:- Professor Chris Puplick AM
- Associate Professor Deb Verhoeven
- Professor Jill Matthews
- Ms Grace Koch
- Ms Catherine Robinson
- Mr Andrew Pike OAM
- Mr Philip Mortlock
Board
- Ms Gabrielle Trainor AO
- Mr Wayne Denning
- Ms Toni Cody
- Mr Peter Rose
- Ms Fiona Scott
- Mr Kim Ledger
- Ms Caroline Elliot
- Ms Jude Donnelly
- Mr Ewen Jones
Collections
Notable holdings include:
- The Cinesound Movietone Australian Newsreel Collection, 1929–1975: comprehensive collection of 4,000 newsreel films and documentaries representing news stories covering all major events in Australian history, sport and entertainment from 1929 to 1975. Inscribed on the Australian Memory of the World Register in 2003.
- The Story of the Kelly Gang, 1906: directed by Charles Tait, is the first full-length narrative feature film produced anywhere in the world, and was inscribed onto the International Register in 2007.
- the earliest surviving Australian sound recording, , a novelty song by vocalist John James Villiers, with piano accompaniment, recorded by Thomas Rome in 1896.
- the earliest surviving film shot in Australia, , footage of a man performing on rollerskates for a crowd in Prince Alfred Park, Sydney in 1896. It was shot by Marius Sestier.
- original costumes from Australian films such as The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Muriel's Wedding, Picnic at Hanging Rock, and My Brilliant Career.
The NFSA announced plans to collect Australian-developed video games as part of its collection starting in 2019 with new titles to be added on an annual basis.
Special Collections
- Film Australia Collection: contains a diverse range of more than 3,000 titles of Australian documentary and educational programs, spanning a century of Commonwealth documentary and docu-drama titles.
- The Sounds of Australia is the NFSA's selection of sound recordings with cultural, historical and aesthetic significance and relevance, which inform or reflect life in Australia. It was established in 2007. Each year, the Australian public nominates new sounds to be added with final selections determined by a panel of industry experts.
- NFSA Restores is the NFSA's program to digitise, restore and preserve, at the highest archival standards, classic and cult Australian films so they can be seen on the big screen in today's digital cinemas.
- Oral History Collection
- Non-Theatrical Lending Collection: Non-theatrical screenings take place on a non-commercial basis and are held by: educational, cultural, social and religious institutions; community groups; churches; film societies; government bodies; hospitals; libraries; museums and galleries.
- Australian Jazz Archive
History of the building
The building is often classified as art deco, though its overall architectural style is technically "Late 20th Century Stripped Classical", the style of ancient Greece and Rome but simplified and modernised. It features a symmetrical façade, a horizontal skyline, classical columns and a central entrance. The decorative foyer features images of native flora, fauna and Aboriginal art and motifs. Face masks of well-known scientists from the late 19th century and early 20th century are featured on the foyer’s walls as a reminder of its previous incarnation as the Institute of Anatomy.
The building also features a landscaped courtyard, theatre and research centre. In 1999, the building was extended to accommodate the Archive's growth. The new wing’s design is in keeping with the Art Deco style of the main structure with details and finishes to match the original.
Awards
Ken G Hall Film Preservation Award
The Ken G Hall Film Preservation Award was established in 1995 as a tribute to producer/director Ken G Hall. It is presented in recognition of an individual, group, or organisation, for their outstanding contribution to the art of moving image and its preservation. It is presented to candidates where there is a significant link between their work and its impact or relationship to the Australian film industry. Examples of this contribution include technical innovation, scholarship in the field, involvement with the survival of film as an art form and as a cultural experience, advocacy, sponsorship and fundraising.- 2012 Susanne Chauvel Carlsson
- 2011 David Hannay
- 2010 Patricia Lovell
- 2009 Ian Dunlop
- 2006 Paul Cox
- 2005 Phillip Noyce
- 2004 Graham Shirley
- 2003 Tom Nurse
- 2002 Judy Adamson
- 2001 Murray Forrest
- 2000 Anthony Buckley
- 1999 Joan Long
- 1998 Not awarded
- 1997 Kodak Australasia
- 1996 Peter Weir
- 1995 Alan Rydge and Rupert Murdoch
National Folk Recording Award
- 2013 Not a Note Wasted by Luke R Davies and the Recycled String Band
- 2012 Carried in Mind by Jeff Lang
- 2011 Love and Sorrow by Kavisha Mazzella
- 2010 A Voice that was Still by Chloe and Jason Roweth, with Jim McWhinnie
- 2009 Urban Sea Shanties by Fred Smith and the Spooky Men's Chorale
- 2008 The Next Turn by Trouble in the Kitchen
- 2006 Diamond Wheel by Kate Fagan
- 2005 Songs of the Wallaby Track by Dave de Hugard
- 2003 Swapping Seasons by Kate Burke and Ruth Hazleton
- 2002 Bagarap Empires by Fred Smith
- 2001 Follow the Sun by Seaman Dan
Cochrane-Smith Award for Sound Heritage
- 2012 Dr Ros Bandt
- 2011 Bill Armstrong
- 2010 Dr Karl Neuenfeldt
Orlando Short Film Award
- 2012 Craig Boreham Writer and director of Drowning
- 2011 Grant Scicluna Writer and director of Neon Skin
Award for an Emerging Cinematographer
- 2013 Dale Bremner
- 2012 Jimmy Ennett
- 2011 Edward Goldner
- 2010 Kirsty Stark
Preservation Award
- 2012 Kae Ishihara
Exhibitions
- The Art of Sound, in collaboration with regional art galleries
- Starstruck: Australian Movie Portraits, in partnership with the National Portrait Gallery of Australia. The exhibition premiered in Canberra from 10 November 2017 – 4 March 2018, followed by an Australian tour including Adelaide, Gold Coast, Bathurst and Geraldton.
- Heath Ledger: A Life In Pictures, from 10 August 2018 to 10 February 2019. Developed by the Western Australian Museum.
- The Dressmaker Costume Exhibition, from 18 April to 18 August 2019. Developed by FilmArt Media and curated by designer Marion Boyce.
- Game Masters: The Exhibition, from 27 September 2019 to 9 March 2020. Developed by the Australian Centre for the Moving Image.