70 Years of Filmarchiv Austria: New Cinema Hall is Inaugurated

This autumn, the Filmarchiv Austria turns 70 and is celebrating its anniversary with a new cinema hall: On January 24th, the 80-seat cinema salon will be officially inaugurated with the archive program "A Journey into Old Vienna" at the Vienna Metro Kinokulturhaus, thus situated between the historic hall (162 seats) and the Eric Pleskow studio cinema (49 seats). Technically, the new hall is equipped with both digital and historical projectors.

Filmarchiv Austria Turns 70 and Gifts Itself a New Cinema Hall

This will become evident on the opening evening when 35mm copies of historical films such as "Vienne: Retour des Courses" (1896), "Das Sandbad" (1907) or "Types and Scenes from Viennese Folk Life" (1911) will be shown via the projector equipped with original carbon arc light from the 1910s. Overall, the evening offers an encounter with 15 works that bear witness to the pioneer days of early cinema. The program is led by Filmarchiv Director Ernst Kieninger and Nikolaus Wostry, who runs the central film depot in Laxenburg.

Over 200,000 Films Stored in the Film Archive

Currently, the Film Archive, as the "central collection and documentation center for film," stores more than 200,000 films, of which more than 85 percent are from Austria. In addition, there are about two million photos and film stills, 48,000 film programs, 16,000 posters, and more than 40,000 books and magazines. The main locations include the Metro Kinokulturhaus, the depot in Laxenburg, and the Audiovisual Center in Vienna's Augarten. In line with the motto "to preserve and to show," the aim is not only to restore and archive Austria's extensive film heritage but also to make it accessible to the public.

(APA/Red)

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