Film, archive and digital culture

This course discusses questions to do with archives and digitalisation – questions that are relevant for documentary filmmakers, film producers, artists, curators, future teachers, librarians, film buffs, and cinephiles, among others. It discusses which of the world’s films are easily accessible – and which are running the risk of falling into oblivion. How is it that some films are stored in archives, whereas others are long since lost? From a historical point of view, what considerations have guided the building of the various film archives in the world? What is most important: to see to it that films are stored and protected, in order for them to survive for as long as possible, or to make them easily accessible and show them? And what does digitalisation entail in terms of future possibilities to experience and research films from the past? The course also discusses politics and power: Who decides what films should be stored for the future? And how do we choose what films should be digitalised, or what films should be made accessible to the public? The course explores the significance for film studies of physical and digital film archives, and raises questions about the materiality of moving images. The concept of archive is problematised and the students formulate questions on the basis of the course literature, in independent projects focusing on one or several digital film archives.