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The Open Archive - Reality or UtopiaBy Jan OlssonThe 20th century, now rapidly dissolving into the new millennium, inherited the momentum of modernity that had so drastically created new interfaces over the whole spectrum of public and private spheres in the last decades before the turn of the century. And the pace certainly has not slowed down when cinema blends into television, video and interactive media. The cinematic technology shapes both modernity and postmodernity. Moving images convey memories of now forgotten ways of living, working and behaving, and highlight styles and mentalities, in retrospect reminding us of what was perhaps not visible to the naked eye at the time, reflecting and giving form to realities and ideals of many kinds. The majority of film titles from the silent era are irretrievably lost, in spite of the archivists' heroic restoration efforts. How culturally important then, one could ask, are the films - factual or fictional, past or present - that have survived the demise? Have moving images, and not only silent ones, qualities that are more culturally enlightening than other types of sources? And are they actually sources, that is, objects that can be used for scholarly purposes, or solely for entertainment? And what kinds of responsibilities in relation to the academic community do archives, both corporate and public ones, have as `keepers of the frames'?
Moving Images - Sources of UnderstandingThe debate between historians and film scholars regarding the pros and cons of moving images as historical sources, has been going on for decades. Truth, and other non- compromising categories, defines an ideal to approach, irrespective of sources, whether printed, oral or visual. Today we tend to see history as part of a broader cultural framework. The construction of the past, and the past's many discourses are now more in focus than an imagined one to one relationship between facts and historical explanations. Given a critical awareness of faked newsreels, biased camera perspectives, ideological voice-overs et cetera, we should be able to scholarly benefit from one of the most neglected sources of our time, in spite of its predominance in the recent history of our culture. The montaged combination of many forms of expression, and its iconic ( to look like), indexical (being a trace of) and symbolic (based on conventions) qualities, are important issues to take into consideration.Documentaries always display a rhetoric. Reality cannot speak unmediated or uncoded. The distinction between fictional modes and documentary ones, has to do with make-believe and illusion on the one hand, and argumentative organisation on the other, a rhetoric; the predominant narrative mode surfaces in many types of non-fictional genres.
A Wealth of MaterialA group of scholars at Stockholm University approached the Sveriges Television Archives a year ago. It all started with a course on early cinema for doctoral students , and a search for pertinent material to screen in that context. Since I knew that the SVT Archive had acquired a major collection from our leading film company, AB Svensk Filmindustri, earlier AB Svenska Biografteatern, that is, the glorious Swedish Biograph, legendary for eminent directors like Victor Sjùstrùm and Mauritz Stiller, and illustrious stars like Greta Garbo and Lars Hanson, it seemed reasonable to - even unprofessional not to - try to get access to some of the titles. Over the years Svensk Filmindustri had acquired minor collections from many Swedish film companies. Most of that material ended up in the SVT archive. The bulk of the collection was the long running weekly newsreel, but also other kinds of film material. Browsing through the catalogue I discovered that interspersed between domestic titles there were quite a few fiction films from the years 1904-10, most of them produced by Path³, the leading international film company during that period. Path³'s production paved the way for a new exhibition culture with standing cinemas, and provided the emerging market with enough films for frequent changes of programmes.When we were allowed to screen the material we soon realised that many of the titles were totally unique copies, not existing in any film archives. Making the titles available on the scholarly market was our first joint effort. The result of that will materialise in the near future. Apart from this first interest in a small fraction of the holdings we tried to get financing for a major multidisciplinary research project. The first step involves converting the card catalogue and putting it on Internet, within the reach of scholars, and transferring the material to video format for scholarly use. This process has just started, thanks to a small research grant. Parallel to that work we will try to bring together a team of scholars, who will have access to the material for their research, and whose work, hopefully, will inspire colleagues from other disciplines - historians, ethnologists, anthropologists et cetera - to take advantage of moving images.
Access to History?The archival parameters for use of film and television material are, of course, different from country to country. In Sweden we have three main archives for moving images: the Swedish Film Institute, the Swedish National Archive for Recorded Sound and Moving Images (since 1978 it receives statutory deposit copies on video of what has been aired by Swedish based Television channels - both public service ones and commercial - films screened in movie houses, and, finally, films available on the video market) and the Sveriges Television Archives. All of these archives are for various reasons attractive to, and important for scholars. They are all entrusted with material which can be described as a vital part of our cultural heritage. All three have different policies for access, preservation and for billing. The SVT Archives' role is, of course, not primarily to provide service to scholars, but the acquisition of a major part of our visual past, creates obligations. The archive holds not only the complete run of our television history, but also substantial film holdings from the pre-television era. The archival philosophy and policy must take that into serious consideration.Not much scholarly work has been done in the SVT Archives so far. The distinction between scholarly work and creative programming is, of course, impossible to uphold. Compilations from the film material are an important part of our television history. And yet one is tempted to say that much more could have been done. During 1995 for instance, when the first 100 years of cinema was celebrated worldwide, not one of these fantastic productions, whose value is so obvious for us who work in early cinema, materialised. If we want to understand the society and culture we live in, we need to look both back and ahead. Inventive television producers and scholars approach the archival treasures from different vantage points. A forum for interaction, headed by the archivists, could probably be mutually productive. I am convinced that television archives have interacted with the scholarly community in many ways over the years. Today when air time has drastically increased, and when we can foresee new combinations of technology, perhaps, television, Internet and telephone technology, it becomes mandatory to allocate more scholarly energy into the research dealing with the information culture. That is why it is important for us academics to be part of the networks' network.
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