2014 Annual Report
FIAF – Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film
Národní filmový archiv – National Film Archive, Prague
1. Acquisitions of the year
Acquisitions to audio-visual collections through purchase, exchange, and gifts:
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35 mm: 280 prints of fiction films, 549 prints of non-fiction; 5 negatives of fiction films, 61 negatives
of non-fiction
16 mm: 48 prints of fiction films, 733 prints of non-fiction; 5 negatives of fiction films, 94 negatives
of non-fiction
Other formats (8 mm and 9.5 mm + DVD, VHS, Betacam SP): several items, mainly to the
collection of non-professional cinema
Acquisitions to audio-visual collections through legal and contractual deposit:
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795 items of fiction and non-fiction, features and shorts, professional and student production (23
TB); the format of professional cinema we accept is unencrypted DCP
Acquisitions to special collections:
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2,565 film stills, 273 posters, 660 promotional materials, 1,372 subtitle-, dialogue-, and montagelists
10 new interviews to the oral history collection
Acquisitions to the library:
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1,291 books and issues of periodicals, 240 clipping files for films and authorities, 26 CDs / DVDs,
42 scripts, 8 microfilm documents
2. Progress and problems in the field of preservation
In summer 2014, laboratories at Barrandov Studios in Prague were closed. This leaves the
laboratories in Zlín the last working laboratory in the Czech Republic. As our regular collaboration had
been established primarily with the laboratories in Zlín, we were able to continue preservation work
without complications. Following materials were preserved on polyester base:
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6 prints of fiction (8,986 metres), 28 prints of non-fiction (8,370 metres)
3 duplication prints of fiction (5,648 metres), 1 duplication print of non-fiction (1,394 metres)
2 duplicate negatives of fiction (3,134 metres), 19 duplicate negatives of non-fiction (6,192 metres)
1 print of 16 mm non-fiction (113 metres)
1 duplicate negative of 16 mm non-fiction (113 metres)
Other 31,561 metres of auxiliary material were produced (heads and tails, new optical sound prints).
5,285 metres of mould-infected material were demoulded. 265,118 metres of both 16 and 35 mm film
materials were cleaned in-house.
In collaboration with Jan Ledecký, we have tinted 3,784 metres of newly produced safety prints (of
nine individual films), according to the measurements taken on nitrate originals. We provided samples
of nitrate and contemporary tinted materials for research conducted by Alena Otmarová (Department
of Chemical Technology of Monument Conservation, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague)
on the impact of polymer layer and the conditions of deposition on the stability of colour films.
After several years of delays by administrative complications, we succeeded in choosing, through
public procurement, a supplier for construction of a new safety colour film depository and vaults. The
building will have separate sections for colour negatives and prints, reaching temperatures close to
0°C in those for negatives. It is planned to also house our digital laboratory in its developed state
(scanning facility and long term preservation solution). The building is scheduled to be finished before
the end of 2016, and we are currently planning and preparing for the moving of the concerned
collections and facilities.
In digital domain, we have continued building the digital laboratory and further developed long term
preservation solution. For the moment, we are still outsourcing digitization (in HD for television
broadcasting, cinema exhibition and DVD/Blu-ray editions, in 2K and 4K for special events and festival
exhibition). Currently, we are holding 23 TB of born-digital items and 19 TB of digitized items, on a
system consisting of on-line RAID-SATA and LTOs (we are currently using 60 % of the system’s
capacity). We are planning an investment in proper digitization workflow, as part of the new safety
colour vaults.
In the oral history department, 400 hours of interviews recorded on cassettes were digitized and
archived in WAV format (digitization for preservation and access).
In the special collections department, 20 film posters were restored.
3. Cataloguing, documentation, and research
Our cataloguing system for film collections does not allow for smooth transition to digital domain, and
we are currently working on a new solution. For the moment, metadata for digital items is kept in a
temporary database.
In the special collections department, several collections were processed and are now fully available
for access by researchers. In the oral history department, the interviews were transcribed for research
purposes (altogether 3,000 pages).
Digitization of films is performed on two levels at NFA: HD transfers and digital restoration in 2K and
4K. In 2014, almost 500 HD transfers were made (of which 80 were feature films), for television
broadcasting and screening in digitized cinemas. NFA participated in several digital restoration
projects and initiated others. We started cooperation with the Karel Zeman Museum on digital
restoration of the director’s three films. Jiří Menzel’s Closely Watched Trains (1966) were digitized and
restored with substantial financial support from Nadace české bijáky and in cooperation with the
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
We started a large-scale digital restoration project (ten Czechoslovak feature films) in cooperation with
the Norwegian Nasjonalbiblioteket and CESNET (Czech Education and Science Network). The project
is financed by EEA and Norway Grants in the Czech Republic and by the Czech Ministry of Culture,
and will be running until April 2016.
At the Karlovy Vary IFF, we premiered photochemical reconstruction of Old Gangster’s Molls (Milenky
starého kriminálníka, dir. Svatopluk Innemann, 1927) with newly composed music by trio Neuvěřitelno.
The film was later released for theatrical distribution, also in digital version.
4. Film showings, exhibitions, publications and educational activities
Our archival cinema Ponrepo (screenings seven days per week) held regular archival programme and
a variety of special programmes: retrospectives of Alfréd Radok and Jan Švankmajer, English Friendly
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programme “Czech Film Stars”, Visual Anthropology, Current Argentinian experimental film scene,
Cannes 2014 – Semaine de la critique, Cinefest, and others. In 2014, Ponrepo had 520 public
screenings with 14,471 viewers in total. In December, we opened a café in Ponrepo, available to
cinema audiences and the general public.
In November, we organized the annual conference of the Association INEDITS Amateur Film/Video in
Europe in Ponrepo. The conference focused on non-professional cinema in Eastern bloc countries
(November 30 – December 1). Home Movie Day (November 18) which we organised for the first time
was also focused on non-professional cinema.
Since 2014 NFA has been coordinating activities within the field of film education and runs several
programmes, workshops and courses for different age and profession groups (children, educators,
professionals) with rising interest from the audiences and course participants alike. These activities
take place mainly at Ponrepo, but also at other venues, including those outside of Prague.
We launched a new website (www.nfa.cz), with regularly updated information on our work and
activities.
Since early 2013, we have been working on a web portal for Czech cinema which should make our
collections, and institution in general, better accessible to the public. It is scheduled to open for public
in late 2015, and planned to bring complex information on Czech cinema industry, history and cinema
culture in general. Basic information in Czech is already published at www.filmovyprehled.cz
2014 marked an improvement in our publication activities. With books like Ej, bohatýre Makoviči
obrazoborče... (correspondence between script writer Jaroslav Žák and director Martin Frič), Atomy
věčnosti (monograph on Czechoslovak short non-fiction between 1930s and 1950s) or Kinematograf!
(studies on early cinema), we are considerably widening the generic range of our output. We also
continue with established editorial series, such as the monographs of digitized and restored films
(Menzel’s Closely Watched Trains, in 2014).
Editions of films on DVD and Blu-ray begin to play an important role in our yearly out-put. We have
started with Closely Watched Trains in 2014, but will intensify the work on editions of films for homeviewing in the coming years.
Quarterly peer-reviewed journal Iluminace dedicated the four issues of 2014 to film festivals, industrial
authorship, screen industries in the Eastern Europe and scriptwriting. Iluminace also celebrated its 25th
anniversary by inviting international guest lecturers to give talks to general public. Two lectures by
David Bordwell for the general public held on this occasion were awarded “Ecstasy of the Year” award
by the Czech Society for Film Studies.
5. Budgetary matters, relations with governmental authorities
NFA’s budget is usually covered by approx. 45 % from the government (Ministry of Culture) and 55 %
by grants and licensing of the films made during the Czechoslovak state monopoly on cinema industry
and released before 1964. In 2014, we received funding from several grant programmes to support
acquisition to audio-visual collections, growth and development of the digital laboratory, the film portal,
film education activities, individual publications and some of the film screenings.
In May 2014, a licensing agreement was signed between NFA and the State Cinematography Fund,
covering films made during the Czechoslovak state monopoly on cinema industry between 1965 and
1991. So NFA has become the only sales agent for Czechoslovak films produced and released during
the state monopoly system. Revenue will be used by the State Cinematography Fund to further
support contemporary Czech cinema.
6. International relations (FIAF and others)
FIAF´s president, Eric Le Roy, presented the FIAF Award to Jan Švankmajer at the Karlovy Vary IFF
in July 2014.
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In the framework of EFG 1914 project, we digitized and made accessible following materials related to
World War I: 17 films (approx. 3 hours), 379 photos, 6 posters, 6 production documents (41 pages
altogether) and 3,991 pages from 104 volumes of film magazines and 5 monographs. NFA
participated in dissemination actions of the project, published several press releases, screened
Czechoslovak films in Milan and Berlin, presented the EFG 1914 to high school history teachers and
informed the general public about the project through cultural programmes broadcasted by the Czech
Television.
Since 2013, we are participating in the three years project FORWARD – Framework for an EU-wide
Audiovisual Orphan Works Registry, aiming to create a EU wide, automated system to assess the
right status for all types of audiovisual works, including orphans.
Within the EEA and Norway Grants project on digital restoration, we have started close cooperation
with the Norwegian Nasjonalbiblioteket and colleagues based in Mo i Rana.
Among numerous retrospectives and special screenings held in many countries worldwide, one
festival should be highlighted: festival Another Look in Israel, which opened with the digitized and
restored Czech film All My Good Countrymen (1966) by Miloš Forman. Altogether, NFA has presented
over 200 Czech films from its collections within more than 80 film events around the globe during
2014.
NFA’s CEO Michal Bregant was elected member of Executive Committee of ACE (Association des
Cinémathèques Européennes), at the General Assembly in Bologna in July 2014.
7. Special events, and other achievements or difficulties not mentioned elsewhere
The European Orphan Works Directive (2012/28/EU) was implemented into the Czech legal system as
part of the copyright law in September 2014.
On January 1, 2014 the new extensively changed Civil Code came into force that changes (among
others) some of the conditions for contracts.
Since March 2013 NFA has been involved in a joint research project with FAMU (Film and TV School
of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague), dedicated to digital restoration of films. Since the
researchers (mainly cinematographers by profession) from FAMU depart considerably from the
professional ethics and principles that NFA holds indispensable, negotiations were led as to NFA
leaving the project in December 2014. Several FIAF member archives were informed about the
development of the disagreement between NFA and FAMU experts regarding the digitization and
restoration process. Discussions have been led, within and among professional organizations and in
the media, on the profession of film restorer, objective of film restoration, the role of authors in the
process, etc.
Reported by:
Anna Batistová, section manager for audio-visual collections
anna.batistova@nfa.cz, +420 778 488 016
February 27, 2015
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