The New Zealand Film Archive

The New Zealand Film Archive has three principal functions—to collect, protect and project New Zealand's moving image heritage.

Established in 1981, the Film Archive is an independent charitable trust overseen by a Board of Trustees representing film, archival, Maori and community interests. The Film Archive's constitution (PDF, 76K) and kaupapa (PDF, 76K) express a unique commitment to collect, protect and project New Zealand's film and television history.

The collections of predominantly New Zealand film and video dates from 1895 to the present day. In the collections are feature films, documentaries, short films, home movies, newsreels, television programmes and film and television advertisements. A large documentation collection is also held, including publicity materials, stills, posters, production records and equipment.

The Film Archive maintains a kaitiaki role over the collections. This guardianship ensures the ownership of the original item remains with the depositor and copyright of the material is maintained by appropriate parties. In the case of material with Maori content, the Film Archive is actively developing relationships with whanau/hapu/iwi to ensure appropriate long term care and access. Items in the Archive collection are deposited by members of the public and industry voluntarily and without cost to the depositor.

The Film Archive draws on the materials from the collections for regular events. Guided visits and tailored screening programmes for education, community and touring groups are available.

The Archive also maintains two libraries consisting of a catalogue, reference books and periodicals, videos and viewing facilities. Commercial access to items in the collections is available in some instances.

As part of its commitment to reaching audiences nationwide, the Film Archive has an Auckland Office and co-ordinates a network of video access sites in art galleries and museums in Dunedin, Palmerston North, New Plymouth, Hamilton and Whangarei. The Film Archive conducts regular film screenings around New Zealand as part of Te Hokinga Mai and the Community Screenings programme.

The Film Archive is a member of FIAF (Federation Internationale des Archives du Film), AMIA (Association of Moving Image Archivists) and SEPAVAA (South East Asia and Pacific Audio-Visual Archives Association), and adheres to international standards of collection management, preservation and access.

visit http://www.filmarchive.org.nz/ for more details