On this page you’ll find information on how you can take part in sharing, supporting and enriching London’s historic moving image collections.
Undocumented
Get involved with London’s Screen Archives’ and The New Black Film Collective’s exciting new project, Undocumented. This project seeks to address the lack of Black stories in London’s screen archives, and we will be running a programme of screenings, events and digitisation throughout 2024 with the support of the BFI, awarding National Lottery funding and The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Events & screenings coming up
20 November | 4 pm – 7 pm @ John Harvard Library, Southwark: Home Movie Viewing Event
27 November | 4 pm @ Stratford Library: Blink Twice
29 November | 3 pm @ Stratford Library: Newham Archives Tour
29 November | 4 pm @ Stratford Library: Goodbye Julia
5 December | 7 pm – 9 pm @ Bernie Grant Arts Centre: Drylongso
London’s Screen Archives Conference 2024
28 November | 9.30 am – 5 pm @ London Museum Docklands:
We’re delighted to announce the 2024 London’s Screen Archives conference will take place at London Museum Docklands this November, with artist filmmaker John Akomfrah delivering a keynote fireside chat with Film London CEO Adrian Wootton.
The conference will be centred around ‘Undocumented’, an LSA project which seeks to address the gaps in representation in our film archives in London, delivered in partnership with The New Black Film Collective and supported by the BFI, awarding National Lottery Funding.
Curated for those in the archive sector, museums and heritage, artists, filmmakers and students interested in heritage, the programme will include panels and presentations on the themes of Black home movies, community engagement, decolonising archives, and creative use of archive material. See programme below, more speakers to be announced soon.
Tickets include a vegetarian/vegan lunch and refreshments throughout the day. LSA members receive a 50% discount and students receive a 75% discount on the general admission price. LSA Champion Members are eligible for free tickets, please contact screenheritage@filmlondon.org.uk for more information on how to claim your free ticket. We want to make this event as accessible to all as possible so if you need any financial assistance to attend this event please contact screenheritage@filmlondon.org.uk.
Communities on Camera
6 December | 4 pm @ St Michaels and All Angels Church, N16 7ED
Did you know that video footage only lasts about 30 years unless it’s stored properly? This means anything shot on video from 1994 or earlier is already at risk of deteriorating!
You are invited to bring your own home movies and join us in a discussion about how to preserve these vital records for future generations. London’s Screen Archives (LSA) will be present throughout the day, offering insights into the significance of celluloid and vintage video film formats. They’ll provide video players and small gauge viewers, so you can watch your home movies, even if you don’t have access to the equipment at home. We’ll also be screening films from LSA’s collections that explore Black heritage in London, highlighting the rich and diverse narratives that have shaped our communities.
By safeguarding these films—whether footage of significant events or mundane clips of daily life—we are preserving the evidence of how we’ve built our homes, nurtured our communities, and loved radically.
Drop in at any point throughout 4pm-7pm.
Screenings and archive packages
London’s Screen Archives can come to you with a bespoke programme of classic home movies, silent-era newsreels and stunning amateur footage, all specially curated to delight your audience. In the past we’ve work with the Museum of London, Chocolate Films, the Thames Festival Trust, and a wide range of schools, museums and libraries to curate archive packages that awe and inspire. Get in touch to find out more.
Donating films
From professional productions to amateur home movies, London’s Screen Archives considers all moving image precious and we want to work with you to preserve it. If you have a collection of films or even just a single tape or digital file that you think may be of interest, please complete this form and we will get back to you. Even if your donation does not fit the network’s collection policy, in many cases we will be able to provide you with advice on what to do next.
We particularly welcome donations from diverse communities and can offer free digitisation as part of our Undocumented project – click here for more
LSA moving image donation form
Cataloguing
Join our gang of online cataloguers. On any film’s record page on this site you can add information to our records or provide a more in-depth catalogue entry by clicking the
icon. All entries are reviewed before publication; you’ll find a selection of films where we need your help on our LocalEyes page.
Job Opportunities and Volunteering
All job opportunities with London’s Screen Archives are advertised on the Film London Job Opportunities page. Any jobs, volunteering, and training opportunities will be announced in our monthly newsletter.
Training
An Introduction to Identification and Handling of Archive Film & Video
Learn how to identify and handle archive film and video in this practical, one-day workshop run by London’s Screen Archives. This workshop is designed for archivists, librarians, curators and anyone working in heritage who wants to extend their skills into archive film and video.