History of the Archive

The collection was founded in 1935 as part of the BFI's remit to 'maintain a national repository of films of permanent value'. The following year the Archive was one of four founding members of the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF). The archive is operated by the BFI department called UK Wide which also handles the BFI Library (the world's largest specialist collection of printed materials on film, television and video), the Stills, Posters and Designs collection (7 million stills, 1 million transparencies and over 20,000 posters) and a major Distribution operation.

It collects film of all kinds produced in the UK and holds extensive holdings of film produced overseas. The National Archive is the official archive for the terrestrial Television channels of the UK.

Material is acquired primarily through voluntary donation and includes feature film, shorts, advertising, television programmes, newsreels, animation, amateur film, documentary, sport, industrial film, corporate film, travelogues and political propaganda. The BFI National Archive is also the official repository for video recordings of Parliamentary proceedings made by the Parliamentary Recording Unit (PRU) and of films selected for the Public Record, in collaboration with the National Archives (formerly the Public Record Office). These are held on the full range of film gauges and tape and digital formats spanning the period 1895 to the present day.

We are not only one of the largest but also one of the world's busiest archives with thousands of films going to film festivals and special screenings around the world each year. We release films and television programmes on DVD. We have launched a programme of short films from the Archive to be presented in regular cinema screenings. We programme a monthly event called Total Recall, in which diverse material from the Archive collection is screened at the BFI Southbank and a continuing programme of investment in new restorations. The Archive can only live and breathe if there are opportunities for its holdings to be studied and enjoyed. Every day something from our collection is being used by a television production company, a museum or art gallery, a festival or a cinema and often it's all of the above.