European Film Gateway

The European Film Gateway (EFG) is a single access point to the digitized holdings of historical European film documents from numerous film archives and cinematheques, including over 600,000 individual objects from over 60 collections.[1] The European Film Gateway gives access to images, textual materials, and moving images. The vast contents include film stills, set photos, posters, set drawings, portrait photographs, scripts, correspondences, film censorship and visa rulings, out-of-print books, film programs and reviews, as well as newsreels, documentaries, commercials, and feature films. The portal facilitates access to the archives which hold the original materials.

European Film Gateway
URLwww.europeanfilmgateway.eu
Launched2008 (2008)

Background

The online portal European Film Gateway is the main outcome of the EU-funded project “EFG – European Film Gateway”. Working with 22 partner organizations from 16 European countries, EFG addressed issues for access to digital content, namely, technical and semantic interoperability, metadata standards, practices for rights’ clearance, and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) management of cinematographic works. The project was coordinated by the Deutsches Filminstitut (DIF) and funded by the European Commission under eContentplus, the Information and Communication Technologies Policy Support Programme (ICT PSP). It ran from September 2008 to August 2011 was supported by the Association des Cinematheques Europeennes (ACE) as well as the EDL Foundation.

Key issues

Technical interoperability and access

All metadata provided by the contributing archives is stored centrally in the EFG metadata repository, which was developed in the EFG project.[2] The EFG metadata model is mostly based on the EN 15907: Film identification - Enhancing interoperability of metadata - Element sets and structures standard. Also other models, such as FRBR as well as WPE defined by the OLAC have been considered during establishing the EFG data model.[3]

The multilingual and non-standardised metadata delivered by content providers is harmonised and cleaned before it is ingested in the EFG system. In contrast to the metadata, which is stored centrally, the digital objects remain on individual online platforms run by the archives. Deep links refer the user directly to the objects.

The EFG implemented the technology developed by the Digital Repository Infrastructure Vision for European Research (DRIVER) project. This open service system enables the creation and maintenance of infrastructures capable of supporting the construction of Information Spaces of digital objects collected from various archives. It also permits the creation of service-oriented applications where services can be shared and re-used in other contexts.[4]

IPR management and administration

The EFG project assessed copyright regulations and legal framework for online use of archival contents through research reports on open content models as well as working with organisations engaged with online publishing of copyrighted archival film material. EFG provided individual network partners with tools for consultations with representatives from rights owners’ and producers’ organisations in order to make the archival material available online.[5]

Follow-up project

EFG1914 is the follow-up project of EFG. It began in February 2012 and runs for two years. Coinciding with the centenary of the First World War, EFG1914 focuses on the digitization of films and other documents from and relating to the war, making the contents available through the European Film Gateway and Europeana.[6] Like EFG, it is funded by the European Commission and coordinated by Deutsches Filminstitut. The project consortium consists of 26 partners, 21 of which are film archives.

To date, only about 20% of the silent film production of the time remains safe-guarded in the archives and was largely unavailable to the public. EFG1914 significantly simplifies access to these films, covering various fields, from newsreels to documentary, fiction, and propaganda films. EFG1914 also includes anti-war films produced after 1918, which reveal the tragedies of the 1910s.

EFG and Europeana

The European Film Gateway is linked to Europeana, the digital showcase of Europe's cultural and scientific heritage. Europeana.eu offers search capabilities through millions of digital objects provided by Europe's museums and galleries, archives, libraries and audio-visual organisations.

Partners and contributors

InstitutionsCityRoleProject Partner
Deutsches FilminstitutFrankfurtCoordinator/Content ProviderEFG/EFG1914
Arhiva Nationala de FilmeBucharestContent ProviderEFG1914
Association des Cinémathèques Européennes (ACE)Brussels/FrankfurtOrganizational PartnerEFG/EFG1914
Athena Research and Innovation Center in Information Communication & Knowledge TechnologiesAthensTechnology ProviderEFG1914
Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée – Archives françaises du FilmBois d'ArcyContent ProviderEFG1914
Cinecittà Luce S.p.A.RomeContent ProviderEFG/EFG1914
Cinemateca Portuguesa, Museu do cinemaLisbonContent ProviderEFG
Cineteca del Comune di BolognaBolognaContent ProviderEFG/EFG1914
Cinémathèque Royale de BelgiqueBrusselsContent ProviderEFG1914
La Cineteca del FriuliGemonaContent ProviderEFG1914
CNR-ISTIPisaTechnology ProviderEFG/EFG1914
Det Danske FilminstitutCopenhagenContent ProviderEFG/EFG1914
Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum für Film und FernsehenBerlinContent ProviderEFG1914
Europeana FoundationThe HaguePromoting ConcertationEFG
Eremo srlCupramontanaProject Management ConsultancyEFG
Estonian Film ArchiveTallinnContent ProviderEFG1914
EYE Film Institute NetherlandsAmsterdamContent ProviderEFG/EFG1914
Fern Universität HagenThe HagueContent ProviderEFG
Filmarchiv AustriaViennaContent ProviderEFG/EFG1914
Filmoteka NarodowaWarsawContent Provider/ Associated PartnerEFG
Fondazione Cineteca ItalianaMilanContent ProviderEFG1914
Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IISErlangenTechnology ProviderEFG1914
Imperial War MuseumsLondonContent ProviderEFG1914
Instituto de la Cinematografia y Artes Audiovisuales – Filmoteca EspañolaMadridContent ProviderEFG1914
CulturArts Generalitat. Unidad de Audiovisual y CinematografíaValenciaContent ProviderEFG1914
Jugoslovenska KinotekaBelgradeContent ProviderEFG1914
National Audiovisual Institute (Finland)HelsinkiContent ProviderEFG
La Cinémathèque FrançaiseParisContent ProviderEFG
Lichtspiel- Kinemathek BernBernContent ProviderEFG
Lietuvos Centrinis Valstybés ArchyvasVilniusContent ProviderEFG
Hungarian National Digital Archive MANDABudapestContent ProviderEFG/EFG1914
Národní filmový archivPragueContent ProviderEFG/EFG1914
NasjonalbiblioteketOsloContent ProviderEFG/EFG1914
Österreichisches FilmmuseumViennaContent ProviderEFG1914
Reelport GmbHCologneTechnology ProviderEFG/EFG1914
Tainiothiki tis Ellados - Greek Film ArchiveAthensContent ProviderEFG

See also

References

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