Inside the Archive #65: Exhibitions and a zine workshop
This week learn more about the latest stops on the Inside the Archive exhibition tour and the sequel to a BFI Replay workshop.
Inside the Archive exhibition on tour
Over the last few months, our new Inside the Archive exhibition has been making its way across the UK on a mini tour, giving the public a closer look behind the scenes at our collections and how we care for them at the BFI National Archive.
A few of us from the Our Screen Heritage project team have gone along for the ride. As well as racking up some serious national rail miles, it’s been a pleasure to see new audiences learn about the BFI National Archive and the people who work here. More recently, we’ve developed a small collection of materials that adds a tactile layer to the exhibits’ screen-based displays. This ‘archive in a box’ invites younger guests to don a white lab coat, handle rare film formats, operate a 16mm film viewer and create their own hand-drawn 35mm film strips.
The tour has also been an opportunity to showcase the breadth of our collections. In Derby last year, we complemented their Frankenstein (2025) programme by displaying a range of behind-the-scenes stills from Terence Fisher’s The Curse of Frankenstein (1957). Similarly in Scotland, to tie in with Glasgow Film Festival’s Marilyn 100 screenings, we developed a display showcasing a rare, late-1950s Monroe fan magazine held in the archive’s collections.
And the tour continues! This month, we’ve partnered with Borderlines Film Festival, where the exhibit is on display at Malvern Theatres until Saturday 21 March. After that, you can catch us at the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford from Saturday 28 to Tuesday 31 March, in partnership with Leeds Young Film Festival.
A big thank you to our current and previous exhibition partners: Folkestone Film Festival, Derby Quad, BFI Southbank, Glasgow Film Festival, Borderlines Film Festival and Leeds Young Film Festival.
– Molly Petter, Outreach and Engagement Coordinator
Our Screen Heritage is supported by the BFI Screen Heritage Fund, awarding National Lottery funding.
Exploring Black lives in the archives at Cambridge Central Library
Following on from the success of our Black Queer Lives: Exploring the Archives and Mini Zine Workshop BFI Replay event with Tint Library, we were lucky enough to be invited to recreate it in Cambridge. Tosin Alapafuja, Assistant Curator, and I spent a Saturday exploring archive material and creating mini zines. As always, there were amazing and very eye-opening discussions about people’s own experiences in the city and their reflections on the material shared. All expertly led by Tosin, it was a wonderful afternoon (and we even got a handmade thank you card).
– Sinéad Beverland, BFI Replay Engagement Officer
The Inside the Archive blog is supported by the BFI Screen Heritage Fund, awarding National Lottery funding.