Archivists have traditionally said that they have five fundamental tasks: collect,
protect, preserve, restore and provide access. When the Finnish Film Archive
was founded after more than 30 years efforts in 1957, it was a private
association by a group of film enthusiasts including film makers, film critics,
film theater owners and film company people. They may have had some vague ideas
of providing access, or restore, or preserve films, but main challenge and
concern was undoubtedly to collect films and protect them from disappearing.
Academic interest in film was scarce. Before 1980’s only two doctoral
dissertations were made about film. First thesis at University of Helsinki was in
the field of aesthetics in 1949 about documentary film, second was an economical
and historical view to cinemagoers in Finland at Helsinki Business School in
1971.
In 1958, Finnish Film Archive was accepted to the International Federation
of Film Archives, FIAF, thus accepting basic rules of archiving, that is to say
policy of preserving. First set back occurred already in summer 1959. Fire in
Adams Filmi destroyed, not only company’s own films, but also part of film
archive collection and for example propaganda films of Foreign Ministry, collected
from embassies all around the world, including all copies of full length
nation-film Finlandia (1922). Only fragments
and cut-off scenes were found later from Suomi-Filmi collection.
In 1961 national documentary film committee defined, that “still existing”
films, recordings and photographs are “national property with cultural heritage
that is historically and artistically valuable”. Committee proposed to
establish a state institution to preserve this cultural heritage. In 1972
national film committee repeated the same hope. In 1979, the private Finnish
Film Archive became a public body operating under the Ministry of Education.
Finnish Film Archive was now by law a national storehouse of motion pictures,
with some possibility to manufacture film copies, organize special film programs
and exhibitions, start cataloging and indexing service plus a massive project
of total filmography of Finnish Films, and subsidize study and publication of
information and research about film.
A project preserving Finnish film heritage had begun in 1972. Guidelines
were drawn by National Archive and National Board of Antiquities. To put it
simple: Finnish Film Archive was the instrument for preserving national film
heritage. Thanks to the systematic preservation work, about 90 % of all Finnish
feature films exist today.
If we look back, we must admit, that some mistakes were made, like in every
project. At the beginning some copies were made in wrong format – this was
corrected very soon by re-copying long films, but not all short films. Secondly,
the process was not noted very well. For instance black-white copying destroyed
color information, of which references were mostly not written up. To me as
historian, it looks like there was a third problem. The project did not to
include making screening copies. If you ask anyone who took part, they would
answer, that the reason was simply financial. Ministry of Education gave money
only for preserving, not for anything else.
Of course I accept this explanation based on lack of resources. But as
historian, I must think also the ideology. Nobody thought that project did not concern
on access because it was time of ideology of preserving. For example, in 1970’s
studying film was universally difficult because a lack of screening copies.
Video changed everything from 1980’s on, but as we all know, very slowly. In
the old times, problem was not copyright restriction, but lack of copies. I
know that back in times in Finnish universities got easily copies from selected
collection of short films and film school could show archive films easily. I
also know that they have not been grateful enough for those who made it
possible.
Academic research on films started really at the end of 1980’s. Like
elsewhere, interests were soon something completely different that experts
thought. Classical Finnish films – in law makers’ mind old heritage films –
were soon put aside and studies concerned on advertisements, educational and
commercial short films, music of short films, censorship and so on. Unlike many
countries, Finnish Film Archive had these films or was ready to preserve them.
The students, mostly historians, were ready to collect and study films in
co-operation with archive that stored almost anything. Nobody could have
guessed 50 years ago what it is that students and researchers are interested in
future. Who know now what people are interested in 100 years. The problem is
even bigger at digital age, when we know for sure that all contents cannot be
preserved.
Old school ideologies are covered in Finland by law. Since 1984, legal
deposit has provided the archive with a full coverage of domestic film
production, regardless of genre or format. The archive's collections will come
to include at least 90 % of television and radio production as well. The decree
of legal deposit was updated to encompass all domestic audiovisual production
before the formation of the new establishment. Protection is extended from
films to radio and television on beginning of 2008. A new name was adopted at the
same time. This institution was called National
Audiovisual Archive, but new name from the beginning of 2014 is National
Audiovisual Institute.
Now we believe in digitalization. That is going to change our
ideology. I believe that archival idea
of collecting has changed completely. Today our ideology is, with certain and
many reservations, an access. We are not so much interested in collecting more film
copies but copyrights. The fact is that most of – not all – film copies are
soon becoming almost useless because all theaters are to be digitalized. That
is, if everything goes fine, no errors, no system errors or mistakes. After
digitalization of film, film copies are needed only for archival or museum screenings,
that’ll say for next 50 or 70 years at most. Film culture, as we know it, will
be a historical issue – but let’s be careful, it is still an important part of
heritage that must be preserved. Something might go wrong.
What is ideology of access now? By law, the National Audiovisual Archive's
main tasks are the acquisition, preservation and restoration of Finnish
audiovisual heritage. Access is not mentioned directly: other main tasks are
the promotion of cinema and audiovisual culture in general, and the screening
of films of artistic, historical or other significance. Even if not always
valued or even mentioned, research is still having its place in the law. But
priorities have changed. Ideologically access means more and more access for
the people and different audiences, not access for research that is pretty well
organized.
So when we talk about access we talk about promotion of cinema and
audiovisual culture plus exhibition. To provide access for those who want to
screen and see cultural heritage of Finnish films in digitalized film theaters,
archive has to digitalize its possessions. In Finland, this has been guaranteed
in last two years by buying a considerable amount of copyrights of biggest film
companies from cinema’s industrial times. After these financial and juridical operations,
archive is able to digitalize and share this digitalized product in all
possible ways: screenings, DVD’s, or even public share on Internet. We can help
film makers and TV-productions, but only if the price is reasonable. Thus, for
Finnish film history from 1919–1963 we have mostly challenges, and only few
problems still to be solved. For historian, that’s a paradise, partly because
the archive also holds a comprehensive collection of non-feature films.
As a film historian, I’m happy with opportunities this digitalization
opens. To exist is not the same than access, especially if we take seriously
expression that film could be accessible to, I quote archival wish from America
in 1970’s, “virtually anyone at anyplace”. This principle has been important
issue from beginning of my work here. With my good colleague Ilkka Kippola we
have for many years selected films from vault’s protected preservation shelves,
and through restoration, video copying and public exhibitions in our cinema or
festivals many of these films have got a new life and access to research or
wider use for film companies. Now technical quality in our adventurous and
liberating documentary history shows has grown up.
Adventurous and liberating? That is the passion of access. But in a way
it’s part of restoration, too. At the beginning I mentioned that all the copies
of film Finlandia from 1922 were
destroyed in a fire. Films decay and sometimes only cinematic remains are left.
What is created is not original film or even one of all of its various forms of
originality. Finland Calling, foreign ministry’s propaganda film from 1930’s
had at least five different versions? They are all originals. If censorship cut
scenes from film, what is original?
Usually we don’t think too much, we only decide what is original. In
archive work of restoration it is possible to use not only research but
speculation and imagination in fulfilling the missing parts. That is
adventurous. But the liberating thing here is that “original” is not a prison.
Restoration is always a new piece of art, not copy of original. Restored film
is a new type of film. After digitalization it’s even more of that. If it gives
you an idea of “first view of the film”, fine. But let’s admit it is not the
same.
My work here has been possible only with the help of skillful staff of
archive, and I’m not saying we are the only ones to do this job. Among many published
DVD’s a good example of that is National
Audiovisual Archive’s part of The European Film Gateway. National Audiovisual Archive’s input was
practical digitization project: Finlandia-katsaus, that is Finlandia-Newsreel,
was digitalized in its whole, all in all 700 newsreels from 1943 to 1964.
Let’s hope historians use this, because now its historical context is scarce.
There is an access for film education with digitalized material, which is published
on Elonet (www.elonet.fi).
New prospects are to be found for historians. Maybe it is possible now to
create Finnish film history on Internet, or maybe even introduce archival findings
and full documentaries for festivals and TV: better access leads us researchers
really to the sources, and I know there are film makers out there that are
interested in co-operation – not only because of these wonderful moving images
but because of the copyrights. We have not begun to fully exploit the resources
within the archive.
Maybe this wish will not come true? Maybe we will become a DVD-factory for
Finnish fiction film or simply “content providers” for someone else with more
ideas or resources? Maybe we have only watermark in the upper right corner? Archive
has to have technical skills and instruments, but does it become somewhat
commercial, selling this and that. Archives must have their identity because it
is something more than what we simply do in our daily jobs. For historian,
digitalization opens opportunities, adventurous and liberating, but they are no
way guaranteed.
The job of historian is promoting audiovisual culture. Historians in film
archives are bridging the past with the present. I hope we’ll find out how we
can shape and reshape the way we make sense of the past. In that way we
literally make history in digitalized future.
Jari Sedergren 4th October, 2012, at the conference of BAAC (Baltic Audiovisual Archival Council)
