The Commission for Programming and Access has recently distributed among the FIAF archives the results of the survey which had been done in 1992, ten years after the first survey (only on programming) produced by the Cinémathèque de Toulouse.
During 1992 and up to August 93, the Commission received 76 answers to the questionnaire, with a participation rate of about 83% between FIAF members, provisional members, associates or subscribers.
The results of the survey were presented by Catherine Gautier, who made an eight-page document, accompanied by the original questionnaire and 8 statistical tables which summarize the answers to the survey.
The document is divided in nine sections:
I. Screening Organisation
With regard to the screening organisation, the survey shows that 57 archives organise regular screenings open to the public, which means about 74% of the participants.
The regularity of those screenings varies, depending on the affiliates, from about one screening per week (Wellington, Wien-FA, Montevideo SODRE, Bangkok) to more than ten a day (when you have several film theatres in one city) in Mexico (CN and UNAM) and Montevideo CU.
II. Financing of the Screenings
In relation to the financing of the screenings, although it is sometimes difficult to determine all the costs involved in their organization, the receipts are lower in 32 cases (including the 3 archives which offer free screenings and MOMA, where the admission fee to the screenings is combined with the one to the Museum). Finally, 10 archives have a balanced budget.
III. Making up the Programs
More than 80% of the 57 programming archives focus their programs on special themes. About 80% also show previews or hitherto unreleased films. The same percentage takes into account current events to prepare their programs. Nearly all the affiliates work with other cultural institutions.
The percentage of the screenings devoted to silent films varies from 0% (Seoul) to 40% (Brussels). Amsterdam, Montevideo SO and NY Anthology have a percentage between 30 and 35%. On the other side of the spectrum, we find Bangkok (1%), Jerusalem (2%), Washington / Los Angeles AFI (1%) and Washington NA (1%). More and more, affiliates have musical accompaniment for silent movies (only 16 never, or nearly never, have it).
Showing national productions constitutes the basis of programming in Bangkok, Seoul, Tokyo and Sâo Paulo ("peculiar films"); classics are the basis in Moscow, Oslo and Stockholm; and bringing back the feeling of theatrical performances and reviewing forgotten films is the philosophy in Amsterdam. Several film archives are looking for a balance between the production periods, genres and countries covered by the history of cinema: Berkeley, Brussels, Bologna, Habana, Jerusalem, Lausanne, Lisboa, Madrid, Montréal, Toulouse, Helsinki, Rio. For Kobenhavn, to program is to show "interesting" films, for Buenos Aires and Quito the philosophy of programming is linked to the availability of the copies...
Nearly all affiliates try to make up for the deficiencies in local distribution.
IV. Origin of the Copies
Regarding the origin of the copies, 45% of the archives rely on their own collections to do their programming and 40% are using a large percentage of them. Some affiliates (Barcelona, Bogotá FP, Valencia and Washington / Los Angeles AFI) barely touch their own holdings (most of the AFI holdings are deposited with the LOC).
When compared to the results of the 1982 Survey, one can see the affiliates have a greater tendency to use copies from distributors.
Also compared to the results of the 1982 Survey, one can find a strong tendency towards reduction of the freedom of screenings on the archives' premises. Asking permission to the copyright holders has become a general practice. Some exceptions, like Belgrade, Brussels, Luxembourg, Moscow, Prague and Warsaw, act by virtue of an implicit agreement with local distributors.
V. Audience Information
Nearly all the film archives provide information to their audience weekly, monthly, bimonthly or quarterly (most of them, monthly).
More than 90% of the affiliates advertise their programs in the press.
Only 8 archives distribute a presentation leaflet or program notes on each film. Only one (Lisbon) uses for that purpose original texts prepared specifically by its own programmers.
VI. The Public
With regard to the public, the average attendance per screening varies from 250 spectators (Mexico CN) to 30 (NY Anthology). The majority of the affiliates (34) have between 55 and 130 spectators per screening.
No selection is made by the archives in Bangkok, Budapest, Brussels, Den Haag, Harare, Lausanne, Luxembourg, Moscow, Ottawa, Reykavik, Rome, Stockholm, Valencia, Warsaw, Washington NA, Wellington, Wien FM.
Most of the affiliates make sure they deal with serious research, ask the students for references, etc. In the case of Amsterdam and Rio de Janeiro, priority is given to the study of their collection or to projects supporting their own archive's interests.
Access to national production is favoured in Bangkok, Bois d'Arcy, Brussels, Buenos Aires, Glasgow (local), Lima, Lisboa, Madrid, Montevideo CU, Montréal, Oslo, Praha, Rio de Janeiro, Sâo Paulo, Sofia, Torino, Toulouse, Warsaw and Wien FA.
Most of the archives only give access to projection copies. Exceptionally, and for cataloguing and other reasons, preservation copies are made available in 20 archives.
Fifty-one archives have a special projection room for researchers, 66 have viewing table(s), 60 have monitors or a projector for video and 27 show nitrate copies to researchers.
Out of 74 valid answers, 28 archives give free access to all researchers for viewings on their premises, 27 archives give free access only to students (Bangkok, Berlin, Den Haag, Istanbul, Koblenz, London IWM, Montréal [with references], Rochester [local students], Torino, Warsaw, Wellington, Wien FA and FM) or to national researchers (Habana, film makers of ICAIC, and Lima) or foreigners (Kobenhavn), or when it concerns video viewings (Los Angeles UCLA, Seoul). Most of the remaining archives grant important fee reductions for students.
Out of 73 valid answers, 59 affiliate members perform for free the preliminary work done for the researchers. Only 14 ask for money.
Even considering that the figures related to the number of films viewed by researchers each year are often presented with different criteria, the differences in the figures are enormous. From 15 (La Paz) to 6 000 films (Washington LOC) viewed; from 4 (Valencia) to 6 000 (Washington NA) researchers per year.
VIII. Access to FIAF Archives
Loans between archives are common practice, based on FIAF rules, since its creation. The frequency of loans is determined by the nature and importance of the members' collections, as well as by geographical factors, which may be more or less favourable to exchanges.
Some archives borrow few films (sometimes none at all) from their colleagues for programming, whilst other affiliates answer they have never received any requests for loans. Temporary loans between FIAF archives are done for free, the freight charges being for the borrower. In 1992 only Rochester seemed to charge handling costs for outgoing copies. United States archives have recently agreed to generalize this practice, with handling service fees varying between US $80 and US $250.
More and more archives seem concerned with the respect for the deadlines given for returning the copies and require that technical conditions for projecting and handling films meet precise criteria. Some affiliates found their loan policy on reciprocity (Latin America).
Out of 75 valid answers, 36 archives always require the copyright holder's permission. Only ten do not follow this practice.
Most of the affiliates do no limit loans to national production although there, also, the nature of the collections is determining, and some archives say they mostly loan their national production: Athens, Bangkok, Berlin, Dublin, Habana, Istambul, Mexico CN and UNAM, NY MOMA, Rio de Janeiro, Sofia, Tehran and Washington NA.
IX. Diffusion
The question concerning distribution practices by the affiliates, whether commercial or not, has often been interpreted broadly: some archives reckon they do non-commercial distribution by circulating a number of copies which are lent, for free or against payment, to film-clubs, universities, etc. Others, like Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, NY MOMA and Wiesbaden have a catalogue of films (usually in 16 mm) for which they have acquired the non-commercial rights for their country.
The other affiliates who reckon they do non-commercial distribution are: Beijing, Beograd, Bologna (500 films lent per year), Budapest, Gemona, Glasgow (16 films), Habana, Jerusalem, Kobenhavn, Koblenz, Lausanne (exceptionally), Los Angeles UCLA (some programs), Madrid (indirectly, through the Federation of Film-Clubs), Mexico UNAM, Montevideo SODRE (800 16mm films lent for free), Montreal (some copies for teaching of film making), Moskva, Munich (one film), Quito, Reykjavik, Rochester, Sao Paulo (sometimes), Washington AFI, Wellington.
On the other hand, some affiliates, well known for their long tradition on this matter, have reserved their answer or misunderstood this question.
The Categories Game
After the proposal made by the Commission to all FIAF archives to play the so-called "categories game" in order to establish a centennial program based on five different ways of approaching the history of film, the anwers received represented a great variety of points of view and a great variety in the number of the quoted titles (from 10 to 100 titles per category).
Gabrielle Claes is finishing the work to propose some programs based on the answers received that could be programmed and (or) circulated among archives during the Centennial years. A publication shall be sent to the 40 archives who want to participate before the end of this year.
Workshop on Programming and Access
The Commission is also working on the preparation of a large Workshop on Programming and Access that will take place in Los Angeles during the next FIAF Congress. Further information will be sent soon.