History
The present Filmarchiv Austria was founded on 17 October 1955, as the Österreichische Filmarchiv (ÖFA) ("Austrian Film Archive").
The first reconstruction of film material by the ÖFA, in 1961, was the 1926 film version of Der Rosenkavalier. Other major reconstruction projects have included the first Austrian feature film productions, those of Saturn-Film; the oldest extant Austrian drama film, Der Müller und sein Kind of 1911; and the classics Orlacs Hände ("The Hands of Orlac") and Die Sklavenkönigin ("The Slave Queen" or "The Moon of Israel"), which without this work would have remained inaccessible to the viewing public.
The Filmarchiv Austria, together with Der Standard, is also responsible for the selection and production of Der österreichische Film, an authoritative DVD series of significant Austrian films, consisting so far of 50 parts.
In 1965 a systematic programme began of conversion of film prints on the highly unstable cellulose nitrate base, which remained in commercial use into the 1950s, to security film.
In 1968 new premises were found in the Rauhensteingasse in central Vienna, while new storage and exhibition facilities were established in the Altes Schloss ("Old Castle"), Laxenburg. In 1997 the Österreichische Filmarchiv changed its name to Filmarchiv Austria, and established new central facilities at the Audiovisuelles Zentrum Wien-Augarten.
In 2001 the Filmarchiv-Studienzentrum was opened in the Augarten premises, incorporating the Filmdokumentationszentrum, formerly the largest private collection of film-related material in Austria, founded in 1965 by Herbert Holba and the film historian Peter Spiegel, on the basis of an earlier collection begin in 1945.
Read more about this topic: Filmarchiv Austria
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