The European Film Gateway 1914 project is digitising film and non-film material relating to the First World War in time for the Centenary.
The two year project began in February 2012 and consists of 26 partners working together, 21 of which are European film archives.
The project is an extension of the European Film Gateway, which ran from 2008-2011, and created an online portal providing access to “hundreds of thousands of photos, films, texts and other material preserved in European film archives”.
The European Film Gateway 1914 plans to build on the work of the 2008-2011 project. Amongst its main aims are:
– The digitisation of 661 hours of film and ca. 5.600 film-related documents on the theme of the First World War;
– To build a virtual exhibition using selected objects digitised in European Film Gateway 1914.
Film digitisation
European Film Gateway 1914 works with a variety of sources related to the First World War, including newsreels, documentaries and propaganda films.
The project also plans to give access to anti-war films that were mainly produced after 1918. This material is of significance as “only approximately 20% of the complete silent film productions survived in film heritage institutions”.
The project states that it has “set out to digitize a crucial part and a critical mass of these remaining moving image records, mostly undiscovered by the public”.
To find out more about the European Film Gateway 1914 project, visit the website here.
Images courtesy of the European Film Gateway 1914 project.
Posted by: Daniel Barry, Centenary News