Launching BFI Replay in Nottingham libraries
Last Friday we hit the open road and headed to Nottingham to launch BFI Replay across the city libraries, which was supported by the BFI Screen Heritage Fund, awarding National Lottery funding. Leaving St Pancras bright and early, we arrived in time to grab a coffee in the sunshine, before starting the day with a brilliant staff engagement session. Not only was it fantastic to meet library staff and explore Replay and its resources, it was great to learn more about their current work and discuss different ways in which Replay can be incorporated into their library offer. Most exciting was the idea of a Replay ‘watch-a-long party’! Headphones at the ready!
Following the staff session, we then set out to encourage library users to explore BFI Replay for themselves. It’s always great to see how people use the platform and the different content that catches their attention. Some of the interactions also highlighted how BFI Replay can be used to help strengthen computer skills for those who struggle with technology in their day-to-day.
After walking users through BFI Replay, we directed them into a talk to learn more about the birth of the platform and its content. Nicky Williams from the BFI and Richard Shenton-McQueen from MACE (Media Archive for Central England) led the talk, which quickly turned into more of a discussion. The lively audience loved watching some old clips of Nottingham, which really struck home how well BFI Replay can help connect people to their heritage.
In the afternoon, we were joined by Matthew Chesney and Jazz Swali from artist-led public gallery and studios BACKLIT, along with Winter Beaumont from Chaos Magic, writer Simon Smalley and artist Klara Szafrańska, to discuss archive engagement and specifically dig deeper into the BFI Replay Queer Lives Collection. Everyone was so generous with their time and knowledge; it was an invaluable opportunity to hear from and collaborate with Nottingham-based organisations and creatives who understand and are passionate about their community. Sharing their experience and thoughts, we talked about ways of creating and sustaining engagement, along with the challenges and complexities that sit alongside this. Giving us real food for thought, we can now continue thinking about and discussing points of access, generational sharing, and what an archive means to people. I think that will be my question for everyone I meet now – what does an archive mean to you? Let the research begin!
– Sinéad Beverland, BFI Replay Engagement Officer & Francesca Worricker, Project Administrator (Our Screen Heritage)
A network for born-digital film related materials
Last week, I had the pleasure of presenting at a FIAF (International Federation of Film Archives) Commissions’ Thursday Online Workshop. As part of this workshop, Adelheid Heftberger and Anna Fiaccarini, both members of the Cataloguing and Documentation Commission (CDC), presented on their wonderful project, ‘Contributing to the FIAF Directory of Special Collections’. Subsequently, I presented on the recent initiative by the BFI National Archive to establish an international network for archival professionals who are currently working with, or intend to work with in the future, born-digital film-related materials.
What do we mean when we say ‘born-digital film-related materials? Born-digital material refers to content that has been created in a digital format from the outset, such as Word documents or Excel spreadsheets. FIAF defines ‘film-related’ as any item or record generated throughout the lifecycle of a film, covering pre-production, production, publicity, distribution, exhibition, merchandising, study, and archiving. This includes materials such as filmmakers’ archives, designs, documents, ephemera, posters, scripts, and stills, all of which form part of the Special Collections curatorial department here at the BFI National Archive.
The primary aim of this network is to bring together archive professionals working with this specialised type of material. We hope to foster a collaborative space where members can share experiences, ask questions freely, discuss challenges, and celebrate successes in managing born-digital film-related materials. This network is whole-heartedly collaborative; we recognise that no single institution has all the answers at this stage. We hope to contribute to the development of guidance specifically for born-digital film-related materials, expanding the available literature in this field. The network is being established as part of Our Screen Heritage, supported by the BFI Screen Heritage Fund, awarding National Lottery funding.
The workshop was very encouraging, with lots of discussions between attendees sharing their experiences working with born-digital film related material or hopes to begin setting up the infrastructure to start collecting this type of material. The network’s first meeting will take place in early April, continuing quarterly, and we are excited to see where this journey takes us.
– Grace Johnston, Special Collections Digital Archivist
The Inside the Archive blog is supported by the BFI Screen Heritage Fund, awarding National Lottery funding.
