Mediatheque

The Mediatheque will open at BFI Southbank on 14 March 2007, making available hundreds of titles from the BFI National Archive at the click of a mouse - for free. The Mediatheque's digitised collections will grow each month to provide an unrivalled portrait of Britain across the history of film and television - from Blackfriars Bridge (1896) to Little Britain (2004). For further information see BFI | News | BFI Southbank

The Mediatheque's collections will prioritise films and TV programmes not currently available on DVD. Highlights in the opening programme will include:
East is East (1917)
The Fugitive Futurist (1924)
The Scarlet Woman (1924)
Underground (1928)
The Informer (1929)
One Family (1930)
New Architecture at the London Zoo (1937)
London Town (1946)
Pool of London (1950)
Seven Days to Noon (1950)
The Pleasure Garden (1952)
Naked - As Nature Intended (1961)
The Small World of Sammy Lee (1962)
Sparrows Can't Sing (1962)
The Colony (1964)
Primitive London (1965)
Les Bicyclettes de Belsize (1968)
Leo the Last (1969)
The Bill Douglas Trilogy (1972-81)
Lizzie Dripping (1973-75)
Penda's Fen (1974)
Wuthering Heights (1978)
Staying On (1980)
28 Up (1984)
On the Black Hill (1987)

as well as old favourites including The 39 Steps (1935), A Canterbury Tale (1944), The Blue Lamp (1949), The Belles of St Trinians (1954), Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960), Elgar (1962), Witchfinder General (1968), Monty Python's Flying Circus (1970), The Railway Children (1970), Nuts in May (1976) and Victoria Wood - As Seen on TV (1986).

ChristineCB

What a treat! There are some real treasures.

brighteyes

Sorry to not understand but will we be able to'download' them or just watch them on our computers?

tvden

yes I was going to ask the same question it would be great if they can be downloaded to disc

Brief Encounter

I'm guessing you can only watch them there.

julian_craster

You will have to go there to view them !
(this avoids issues regarding bootlegging.......)

Mediatheque

Titles are only available to view in the Mediatheque - and not online - because of rights issues and security. A large number of rightsholders - from BBC to Granada, MGM to Canal + - have enabled their films and TV programmes to be accessed in the Mediatheque free of charge.

The BFI does, however, offer films to download at BFI Download Space - Catalogue listing . We are also increasing the number of free downloads available from the Creative Archive - BFI | Creative Archive Licence Group | All Titles

Hackett

I do hope you get to pop in and enjoy them Christine. Bye the Bye what are the buses like to London from your place?.

Steve Crook

It's best to sit on the top deck, or you get your feet wet

Steve

noglea

I think that the Mediatheque sounds a really good idea. There are already quite a few titles there that I would like to see and I know that more will be added soon.

I have a question. Will be films on there for a limited amount of time and then be replaced by other titles or will they stay on there and just have the new titles added?

Mediatheque

Our plan is to keep titles in the Mediatheque as long as rightsholders will enable us to do so. We will launch new collections each month, enabling the Mediatheque's archive to keep growing (c1000 titles by the end of the first year of activity).

In addition to the opening programmes (see link) our current plans include an on-going complete retrospective of Play for Today, an extensive collection of non-fiction films shot in India prior to Independence and a collection of 25 British silent feature films.

www. bfi.org.uk/mediatheque

penfold

No further comment necessary really.....

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

Hackett

Well a quote from John Cleese comes to mind. When he was asked on the long running radio programme "DESERT ISLAND DISCS" which book he would like to have to go with the Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare he replied "Dolly Partons autobiography, because if I lost it it wouldn't matter".

theuofc

This is grand news! How will one view the films? Are there separate booths for screening films? time or film limits per day for each user? does one book ahead or wait in line?

Thanks.

Barbara

Mediatheque

The Mediatheque is an open space with 14 viewing stations equipped with 24" screens. Each viewing station can accommodate between 1 to 4 people. Users will be limited to a 2 hour viewing period - it can be extended if no one else is waiting. You can turn up on the day or book in advance by calling 020 7928 3535. The Mediatheque opens on 14 March. Further details at BFI | Southbank | Mediatheque . The website is currently rather rudimentary, but will develop extensively over the next few months.