24/04/2012, London/Guetersloh. The British Film Institute (BFI) has signed a long-term framework contract with the global media service provider arvato Entertainment Europe for the provision of scanning and digital restoration services for content held in their archive. The National Archive of BFI contains one of the most significant collections of film and television heritage resources in the world.
Established in 1933, the BFI National Archive and its related collections comprise the whole history of British film and television production, all aspects of the life and history of Britain as captured on film and an internationally-renowned collection of world cinema. It contains 60,000 fiction film titles, on all gauges of film and formats, from 1895 to the present day. Beyond that 120,000 non-fiction titles, 700,000 British television programmes, 20,000 unpublished film scripts, five million photos, 25,000 film posters, 25,000 press books and other items such as programmes, tickets, autographed letters, promotional materials, personal memorabilia and company papers. It also contains recordings of the proceedings of the two Houses of Parliament.
“The BFI wanted to make its moving image collection available to audiences through the widest range of platforms and technologies and arvato fully understands the care and expertise needed to deliver this goal not only today but for all future generations”, explained Bob Nichol, Business Development Manager at arvato Entertainment Europe. The Digitisation & Media Archiving Services team of the company around Kelvin White, Director Business Development, began the tender process in August 2011 and developed an end-to-end solution for the BFI.
“We are pleased to welcome arvato Entertainment Europe as a trusted partner in this huge task of preserving the National Collection ranging from the earliest days of filmmaking to the present day. The collection is of national and international importance not least for the cultural breadth and depth of the material that it contains”, explained Charles Fairall, Head of Conservation at BFI. Sven Deutschmann, CEO arvato Entertainment Europe, is delighted with the partnership: “It is an excellent sign that the BFI has chosen us and further proof that our integrated solutions approach has again been well received.”
About arvato Entertainment Europe
arvato Entertainment Europe offers its business partners in the Games, Video, Audio, Sport and TV/Broadcast industries a wide range of services and solutions. Its European presence covers six countries. More than 1,500 employees in Europe provide the highest standards of service to their customers, and have been doing so for more than 50 years. arvato Entertainment Europe is a market leader in integrated solutions across the entire value chain, from digitalization, replication and e-commerce to Fulfillment, Distribution/Supply Chain Management and Electronic Content Distribution. All these processes are supported by innovative end-to-end IT systems. arvato Entertainment Europe is part of arvato AG, a leading internationally networked provider of outsourced services.
About the BFI
The BFI is the lead body for film in the UK with the ambition to create a flourishing film environment in which innovation, opportunity and creativity can thrive by:
- Connecting audiences to the widest choice of British and World cinema
- Preserving and restoring the most significant film collection in the world for today and future generations
- Investing in creative, distinctive and entertaining work
- Promoting British film and talent to the world
- Growing the next generation of film makers and audiences
