FIAF Cataloguing and Documentation Commission Workshop:
"Film-Related Materials in Archives - From Acquisition to Access"
20-21 June 2025
Bologna (MAMbo at the Cineteca di Bologna)
Registrations are now closed. Selection to be announced by 27 April.
Presentation of the course
Photos, posters, press clippings, 3D objects, sheet music and many other materials are collected, catalogued, digitized and made accessible in and by film archives. These diverse documents are commonly grouped under the term “film-related materials”. However, each of these types of materials requires a completely different approach in terms of collection, digitization, and also cataloguing, and most of all, requires specialised and trained archivists. In addition, these departments within the film institutions are usually staffed with fewer people than the film departments.
With this workshop, the CDC would like to offer a place and framework in which precisely the specific issues of film-related materials can be discussed openly and experiences exchanged. After a successful workshop in Stockholm on cataloguing film related materials in 2023, we will broaden the scope and take the whole workflow from acquisition, preservation, cataloguing to access into consideration. We will also discuss oral history and immaterial film heritage.
Speakers
The classes (a mixture of lectures and workshops) will be taught by experts from the global network of FIAF archives, and other distinguished professionals in a relevant field.
Daily Schedule
20 June: Day 1 - Lectures
9.45 to 10.00: Welcome coffee/arrival of participants
10.00: Welcome by Gian Luca Farinelli and Anna Fiaccarini (Cineteca di Bologna/FIAF CDC) and presentation of some FIAF ressources
Keynote:
10.15-11.00: Christophe Dupin (FIAF): The FIAF Historical Archive: Documenting the First 90 Years of the Film Archive Movement
Morning session (chair: Anna Fiaccarini - Cineteca di Bologna):
11.00-11.20: Renate Kunz (Cinématèque suisse): Accessing and cataloguing digital promotional material
11.30-11.50: Mats Skärstrand (Swedish Film Institute): The Right Stuff
12.00-12.20: Murchana Borah (The Film Heritage Foundation): From Street to the Archive: How FHF Collects, Preserves, Restores, and Digitizes Film Posters
12.30 - 13.30: Lunch Break
Afternoon session (chair: Adelheid Heftberger - Bundesarchiv)
13.30-13.50: Peter Bubestinger (ArkThis AV-RD): Local and 'as-open-as-possible' AI setups: Reasons and Possibilities
14.00-14.20: Kay Forbister (National Library of Scotland): Cinema Sgire: Digital Solutions for Public Engagement in Remote Communities
14.30-14.50: Tabitha Austin (British Film Institute): Preservation/Restoration of Paper Material
15.00-15.30: Coffee break
Presentations from the Cineteca di Bologna (chair: Mats Skärstrand - Swedish Film Institute)
15.00 Cecilia Cenciarelli: Home to Archive: digitising and cataloguing the Bernardo Bertolucci Archive
15.20: Elena Correra and Elena Tammaccaro: Description and digitisation practices of photos at the Cineteca di Bologna and L’Immagine Ritrovata.
Curated Tour (Cineteca di Bologna)
16.30: Tour to the new vaults for the photos collections and the new digitisation department for film-related materials at the Cineteca di Bologna.
End of Day 1: ca. 17.30
21 June: Day 2 - Lightning talks/working groups
8.45-9.00: Arrival of participants,welcome coffee
Lightning talks (chair: Murchana Borah - Film Heritage Foundation):
9.00 - 10.00: presentations from the participants (max 5 mins per group/person)
10.00-10.15: Introduction and dividing the participants into three groups - World Café
10.15-11.00: Session 1:
Collecting and cataloging oral history related to film. Sharing best practices used in FIAF and other associations on audio recordings (Anna Fiaccarini, Murchana Borah)
11.15-12.00: Session 2:
Local “open” AI Setups (Peter Bubestinger, Mats Skärstrand, Adelheid Heftberger)
More practical insights and discussions on setting up "Ollama" and "OpenWebUI":
12.00-13.00: Lunch break
13.15-14.00: Session 3:
Access, Cataloguing and Preservation of Costumes (Markus Blomfeld, Swedish Film Institute)
14.15-15.00: Presentation of group work and closing remarks
Ca. 15.00 End of Workshop
Registration
Applications for registration were open until 20 April 2025. Note that if you are a member of the FIAF community and are logged in to the FIAF website, some of your data will already be filled in when you access the form. Successful candidates will be notified by email by 27 April. The course is offered free of charge and includes lunches and coffee breaks. Participants are expected to make their own travel and accommodation arrangements. Note that the course will be limited to 40 participants.
We welcome proposals for our lightning talks session (5 min input per talk), which can be submitted in the registration process.
FIAF will offer some financial assistance to a limited number of participants, to cover part of their travel and accommodation costs. More information will be available when registrations open.
Contact
For more information, please email cdc@fiafnet.org.
The workshop is organized by Adelheid Heftberger (Bundesarchiv, head of the CDC), Anna Fiaccarini (Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna, CDC member), Mats Skärstrand (Swedish Film Institute, CDC member), and Murchana Borah (Film Heritage Foundation, CDC member), with the support of the FIAF Secretariat and the FIAF Training & Outreach Programme.
