Strona główna / About the project.

CONSERVATION AND DIGITALISATION OF PRE-WAR FEATURE FILMS AT THE NATIONAL FILM ARCHIVE IN WARSAW

The project is co-financed from the European Regional Development Fund, Priority XI 'Culture and Cultural Heritage', within the framework of the Operational Programme - Infrastructure and Environment.

1. THE COLLECTION OF PRE-WAR FEATURE FILMS

The project "Conservation and digitalisation of pre-war feature films at the National Film Archive in Warsaw" relates to the most valuable collection in our archive.

  
fot. Krzysztof Szymański

It currently contains 159 Polish pre-war feature films. This unique collection has been growing since the National Film Archive was established. It is still being supplemented after the recent finding of  Polish feature films that have been considered lost since World War II (including: A Strong Man [Mocny człowiek] by Henryk Szaro 1929, People without a Tomorrow [Ludzie bez jutra] by Aleksander Hertz 1921).

During the Second World War, Polish cinematography sustained heavy losses. Film studios and laboratories were shut down, negatives and prints were lost, film production documentation (screenplays, editing lists, etc.) was destroyed. Soon after the war, a painstaking search began for the lost films. Many prints were miraculously saved, as they were kept by private persons or taken abroad. During over 50 years of its work of the National Film Archive has succeeded in recovering more than 70% of pre-war sound movies and, unfortunately, only 5% of silent movies produced before 1930.

The project 'Conservation and digitalisation of pre-war feature films at the National Film Archive in Warsaw' covers 43 titles from the collection (including one German movie, an important polonicum - Polish historical document). There was a single selection criterion - the number of prints in which a particular title has been preserved on nitrate base, i.e. the original media from the period when the film was produced. All these materials were in use before the war, therefore they are time-worn, damaged or have missing parts; technical defects were caused by improper storage and mechanical damage. The digitalisation, comparative studies and reconstruction of these materials will make it possible to produce a new copy of a given film in the fullest possible detail.

Three titles will undergo a complete reconstruction:

 

In addition, 40 titles will be digitalised and prepared for the reconstruction process.


List of films >>>

We hope that the project will be continued in the future, resulting in the digitalisation and reconstruction of all the films in the collection.


2. THE HISTORY OF THE PROJECT

The project 'Conservation and digitalisation of pre-war feature films at the National Film Archive in Warsaw' originated in 2006, following the recent recovery of several Polish pre-war movies, which were thought to have been lost (among others: Sir Thaddeus by Ryszard Ordyński 1928 and People without a Tomorrow by Aleksander Hertz 1921). Due to their poor technical condition, they had to be quickly preserved and secured. As envisaged in the initial version of the project, a digital film reconstruction lab was to be set up within the structure of the National Film Archive and outfitted with basic equipment.

In 2008, a grant awarded by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage under the Operational Programme - Development of Cultural Infrastructure and Art Education made it possible to convert several rooms at the Chełmska Archive into lab facilities and to purchase some of the equipment. In the same year, the project 'Conservation and digitalisation of pre-war feature films at the National Film Archive in Warsaw' was drawn up in a new and much extended version. It was submitted for funding under the Operational Programme - Infrastructure and Environment, XI Priority Axis - Culture and Cultural Heritage, announced by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage and co-financed with EU funds. The project received the required amount of points in a competitive process.

On 28th December 2009, the Minister of Culture and National Heritage Bogdan Zdrojewski and the Polish National Film Archive signed an agreement on the funding for the project 'Conservation and digitalisation of pre-war feature films at the National Film Archive in Warsaw'. The total cost of completing the project is estimated at 20 257 530.03 PLN. The overall EU funding amounts to 14 777 626.24 PLN.

3. PROJECT OBJECTIVES

The aim of the project is to set up a specialised infrastructure for the conservation and reconstruction of the oldest film materials and the digitalisation of a part of the Polish pre-war cinematography collection. Modern preservation materials, appliances and technology will enable the Polish Film Archive to perform, for the first time in Poland, comprehensive digitalisation and reconstruction of the oldest film relics. At the Film Restoration Lab, which is furnished with state-of-the-art equipment, extensive work will be undertaken by hired specialists and specially trained employees of the National Film Archive to preserve the collection of the most valuable Polish movies, in accordance with the same standards for the conservation and restoration of film archive materials as the ones observed by archives abroad. It is the most important task that the National Film Archive is currently faced with. The allocated EU funds will enable the National Film Archive to join in the pan-European process of digitalisation of the visual cultural heritage.


fot. Krzysztof Szymański

 

 

 

 


The Website is co-financed by the European Union from the European Regional Development Fund
within the framework of the Operational Programme – Infrastructure and Environment.