Be moved by the moving image!

If you’ve been watching the BBC this autumn, you may have caught the recent  ‘Reel History of Britain’ series, hosted by Melvyn Bragg, which looked at film archives from collections across Britain, and the power they have to connect us to the past.

Avid readers of The Brent Magazine will also know that Brent Archives has been lucky enough to be involved in the recent London’s Screen Archives project, which has funded  the digitisation of a number of films from our small collection of moving image archives. This has helped to preserve the films despite deterioration of the original acetate, as well as making them more accessible to archives users – and to you!

From home-recordings to local public information films, film archives offer a unique glimpse into the social history of Britain and record the changing face of your local area. We were delighted last week to be able to screen one of our newly digitised local recordings, ‘These Can Be Yours’, a wryly amusing public information film made by Wembley Road Safety Council in 1949. It proved a hit with the audience, and the fascinating discussion that followed the screening ranged from film archive conservation to traffic statistics to the changing perception of good manners! Thanks to all those who attended and made the event such a success. You can  view some of our recently digitised footage, including ‘These Can Be Yours’ at the London’s Screen Archives Youtube channel.

As a result of the Londons Screen Archives project, a new online catalogue was launched last month, allowing you to find out more about the moving image collections held in not-for-profit archives and museums across London. You can search the listings for all contributing collections at once, at www.londonsscreenarchives.org.uk. The catalogue will soon be linked to the catalogues of  public film archives across England, and the ‘union search’ facility will allow you to search the catalogues of collections at the BFI and regional film archives, as well as smaller collections across London, and find out how to access Britain’s rich screen heritage.