European Film Gateway - EFG1914
>>> Watch films onlineBetween 1914 and 1918, a vast number of films were produced in which the events of the First World War could be captured "in motion." Today, less than 20% of all the films produced during this period survive. The remainder therefore constitutes an invaluable record of this earth-shattering moment.
Within the framework of the project EFG1914, over 700 hours worth of related fiction and documentary films from the years before, during and after the First World War have been digitised in high resolution and made freely available on the internet, thereby offering, for the first time, a comprehensive picture of this epoch-making event in moving images. In addition to the films, almost 6000 related non-film documents, such as photos, censorship records and posters, were scanned and published in order to deepen our understanding of cinema culture in relation to the First World War.
The materials provided come from the collections of 21 film archives in 14 different European countries. The Austrian Film Museum actively contributed to the project by offering numerous rare films from its collection, including all its issues of Kinonedelja (Kino-Week), Dziga Vertov's first newsreel series.
By drawing on the expertise of each individual participant, the project also served as a means of facilitating quality standards and "best practice" models for the digitization of archival film materials. Only by so doing can an acceptable result be guaranteed, which meets the high standards set by film archives and museums.
All digitised materials were made available through the websites of the European Film Gateway and the European digital library Europeana in time for the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War in 2014
For more information about the project as well as a complete list of participating institutions, please visit the project's official website: project.efg1914.eu
