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The conference is organised by the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the context of the International Film Festival of Ghent. The Commission organizes the Cinema Expert Group/Subgroup Film Heritage on 15 October in Brussels, in order to facilitate the attendance by international participants. ...

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In May the Danish Film Institute launched a new website about Carl Theodor Dreyer and his work. Audiences around the world are invited to explore the full extent of the famous film director's ingenious art. ...

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On 3 May, 2010 the Lithuanian Central State Archive started implementation of a 30-month project called Lithuanian documentaries on the Internet. The project is oriented toward the creation, expansion and promotion of Lithuanian digital Internet content to users. ...

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The CEN (Centre Européen de Normalisation) enquiry mandated by the Commission regarding the second of the European standards on interoperability of film databases finalised on 26 July 2009. Of the 25 CEN members, 14 agreed with the possibility of adopting the draft 'Film identification - Enhancing interoperability of metadata - Element sets and structures (prEN 15907)' as a European standard, 10 abstained and one is against. ...

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One year after the official start of the EFG project in September 2008, the groundwork is laid for a successful establishment of the EFG web portal, which will eventually give access to some 700.000 digitised texts, images and films kept in European film archives. A major task of the first year's work was the building of the EFG database structure, which will allow collecting and harmonising heterogeneous data from the contributing archives and will form the backbone of the EFG web portal to be launched in summer 2010.

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Editorial

Welcome to the 2nd issue of the European Film Gateway newsletter! Its main purpose is to provide up-to-date information on the project outcomes and to report about activities and events which concern the film archival community as well as the wider group of Europeana projects to which EFG belongs.

Copyright, for example, is a central issue for EFG and all those projects, whishing to make their cultural heritage available online, so we will regularly inform on relevant themes surrounding copyright. In this issue we give a brief overview of the Google Book Settlement and its impacts.

In each newsletter issue, one or two EFG partners present a highlight from their archives: an exceptional collection, a digitisation or restoration project, or any other important activity for saving and promoting European film heritage. This time our Swiss and Danish partners, the Lichtspiel - Kinemathek Bern and Det Danske Filminstitut introduce films from their collections.

The EFG newsletter is published biannually during the three-year EFG project duration. The 3rd issue will be out in February 2010.

We hope you enjoy reading!

One year after the official start of the EFG project in September 2008, the groundwork is laid for a successful establishment of the EFG web portal, which will eventually give access to some 700.000 digitised texts, images and films kept in European film archives. A major task of the first year's work was the building of the EFG database structure, which will not only allow to collect and harmonise heterogeneous data from the contributing archives but also forms the backbone of the EFG web portal to be launched in summer 2010.

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apply for
east european forum
and find financing and support for your creative documentary projects
application deadline: September 11, 2009 ...

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Europeana.eu, Europe’s cultural heritage portal has been launched in November 2008, offering free and fast access to about 3,5 million books, maps, photographs, films, recordings and archival documents. More than 1.000 libraries, museums, archives and audiovisual archives from all across Europe provided digitised items for the virtual library, some of which are world famous, other hidden treasures. But this is just the beginning: Europeana Version 1.0 is being developed and will launch in 2010 with links to about 10 million digital objects.

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The MIDAS project (Moving Image Database for Access and Re-use of European Film Collections) was initiated in 2006 as a pilot project in the MEDIA Plus programme of the European Commission. It is carried out by 18 institutions dedicated to collecting and preserving film heritage in Europe and coordinated by the Deutsches Filminstitut - DIF e.V. in Frankfurt. ...

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With entering the second project year in September 2009, the focus in EFG shifted from the basic groundwork carried out in the first project year to actual development and implementation tasks in the second and third project year. Today, the contributions of partner archives and the development of the front-end of the web portal is in full swing. All activities aim at making film archival material available via a single access point on the internet.

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In brief

On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Berlin International Film Festival, film producers worldwide, represented by FIAPF and European film archives, represented by ACE, signed a framework agreement setting out new arrangements for voluntary deposit of film and film materials in European archives. The new agreement replaces the model contract from 1971.

Over summer and autumn 2010, Europeana.eu is developing from a prototype to a fully operational site in a series of upgrades called the Rhine release programme. Along with several new and improved features on the portal, it will be accompanied by a series of events for both the public and Europeana’s network of partners. A virtual exhibition on the Europeana.eu website will be complementing the events, both tying into the theme of Art Nouveau.

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