Inside the Archive #46: Networking on the continent and interviewing James Mackay

At the end of September, I travelled to the Cinémathèque Française and Cinematek in Brussels to strengthen international partnerships and exchange knowledge on working with born-digital material; those originally created in digital formats, such as PDFs or Word documents. The visit was supported by the Our Screen Heritage (OSH) project, through which I’m working to co-design and develop the BFI’s workflows and policies for acquiring, cataloguing, and providing access to contemporary filmmakers born-digital archives.

These archives, part of the BFI’s Screencraft archives, include material from individuals and organisations, such as scripts, photographs, posters, costume and production designs, and a wide range of film documentation. The International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) refers to these as ‘film-related’ material. During the trip, I met with the film-related departments at both institutions.

As part of OSH’s sector engagement work, the BFI has supported an international network of archival professionals focused on born-digital film-related material: the Digital Film-Related Documentation Taskforce, which has drawn upon the sector-leading work of the FIAF Cataloguing and Documentation Commission. The network fosters a collaborative space for sharing experiences, asking questions, discussing challenges, and celebrating successes specific to born-digital archives within the screen sector. It’s built on the understanding that no single institution has all the answers, and that collective problem-solving is key. A major aim is to develop a shared framework for cataloguing born-digital material, an area still relatively new to film archives despite broader advances in digital archiving.

At Cinematek, I met with Davy Hanegreefs, Head of Film-Related Collections and my co-chair in the network. We discussed next steps for the taskforce and explored Cinematek’s approach to managing born-digital material. Davy demonstrated their storage systems and cataloguing processes, which, like the BFI’s, follow ISAD(G); the General International Standard Archival Description. It was reassuring to find our methodologies closely aligned. We also shared ideas on preserving promotional material such as stills and posters, which are increasingly born-digital, and on encouraging emerging filmmakers to archive their work for future acquisitions.

At the Cinémathèque Française, I was warmly welcomed by Martine Vignot, Director of Non-Film Collections, and introduced to Arzura Flornoy, Marie Garambois, Karine Mauduit and Isabella Jeans who oversee various parts of the collection including stills, posters, archives, and documents. They presented their approach to cataloguing digital derivatives, which they hope to adapt for born-digital material. Like us, they use Axiell as their cataloguing system, and we discussed how it can be enhanced to capture digital metadata. I also gave a presentation on the BFI’s workflows for cataloguing born-digital filmmakers’ archives and demonstrated how we’ve integrated digital metadata into our catalogue. We exchanged ideas on improving access and discoverability of these collections. I was kindly given a goodie bag with posters and a fridge magnet and had the chance to visit the museum, a brilliant way to learn more about the institution.

The trip was a great success. It was incredibly valuable to connect with colleagues facing similar challenges and to share knowledge. There’s a clear appetite for international collaboration, and the network demonstrates the strength of bringing professionals together to learn from one another. 

– Grace Johnston, (Special Collections Digital Archivist)

Last week we were delighted to sit down with producer James Mackay, to discuss his work with filmmaker Derek Jarman. The BFI National Archive preserves an extensive collection of moving image and paper material related to Jarman’s career, including many items donated by Mackay’s production company Basilisk Communications.

Together, the two collaborated on classics such as The Angelic Conversation (1985), The Garden (1991), and Blue (1993) and, in the interview, Mackay reflected on his working relationship with Jarman and how items in the archive reveal the creative process that brought these iconic works to life.

The interview – expertly conducted by Simon McCallum – will form part of a new Inside the Archive video exploring the wealth of Jarman-related material that can be studied via the Archive. Watch this space for further updates!

– Alex Prideaux, Marketing and Events Manager (Our Screen Heritage)

The Inside the Archive blog is supported by the BFI Screen Heritage Fund, awarding National Lottery funding.