The letter N is brought to you by Ruth Jenkins, the Head of Library Services.
The North West Film Archive rescues and ensures the survival of moving images about the North West of England for the education and enjoyment of the region's people - both today and in the future.
Founded at Manchester Polytechnic in 1977 as a project to research the region's film and cinema industries, the NWFA is now one of the UK's largest public regional moving image archives, holding over 31,000 reels of film and videotape from early 'animated pictures' to BBC regional television collections and contemporary video productions.
Thanks to the support of Manchester Metropolitan University, and over 1,000 depositors, the NWFA has established a collection which is both regionally specific and internationally significant.
The moving image collection includes cinema newsreels, documentaries, educational films, travelogues, advertising and promotional material, corporate videos and regional television programmes - alongside hundreds of films shot by local families and enthusiasts. The North West is vividly captured in both professional and amateur footage - a powerful record of modern urban society in moving pictures. Complementary collections of photographs, ephemera and oral histories relating to the film and cinema industry are also held.
Moving images - captured on all film gauges and videotape formats - are extremely fragile and unstable. Regional films are often the most at risk as frequently only one copy was made or has survived. The NWFA technical team has all the specialist knowledge and equipment for handing this material, and everything is stored in a purpose-designed suite of vaults. In addition to regional professional recognition, the NWFA is a member of the UK Film Archives Forum, is approved by The National Archives as a designated respository, and has been awarded membership of the International Federation of Film Archives.
The Calling Blighty Films
The Calling Blighty series of 12 minute films, made in 1944-46, shows servicemen (and a very few women) in the Far East recording a message to be seen by their wives and families in local cinemas back home. – a sort of one way Skype of their day, these are remarkable and moving documents.
This new project, by Prof Steve Hawley (Manchester School of Art), aims to trace relatives of as many as possible of some 190 Sheffield, York and South Yorkshire servicemen (and one woman), and hold a screening event at the Showroom Sheffield, where an edited highlights film will be screened, and clips of the servicemen will be shown to their relatives. Watch a short trailer here.
Channel 4 recently made a documentary about the project. Watch it on demand here.
Read this touching story that was uncovered with the help of the NWFA.