The work of collecting and archiving centres on audio-visual media with regional reference points. Noteworthy here are the bequests of the following film production firms in Lower Saxony:

• "Filmaufbau GmbH Göttingen" (1946-1960: the films "Wir Wunderkinder" aka "Aren’t We Wonderful?", and "Buddenbrooks", inter alia)
• "Junge Film-Union" (1947-1952: the film "Die Sünderin" aka "The Sinner", inter alia)
• "Kipp-Filmproduktion"

In addition, systematic collections of cinematic collateral are kept up to date. These include press reviews, photos and posters.
Celluloid film copies are stored in an air-conditioned section of the archive.
The collections are registered in a classified database catalogue and can be used on the premises.
There are facilities for viewing films recorded in generally available formats as well as for VHS, S-VHS and DVD versions.

Open Mon-Thurs 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Visits by prior arrangement only.

Work in the Cultural Archive is closely interlinked with the training in the information management course of study (formerly library science and general documentation) offered by the Information and Communications Department of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Hanover: On the one hand, trainees and diploma candidates engaged in this course of study regularly work in the Cultural Archive; on the other, the Director of the Cultural Archive offers here an “audio-visual media” workshop consisting of four sessions.

In addition, the Cultural Archive supports research and teaching in particular in the History Department of the University of Hanover (focal point: films as historical sources) and in the courses on media studies offered by the Hanover University for Music and Drama.

The Cultural Archive also houses the Gesellschaft für Filmstudien e.V. (Society for Film Studies). Externally funded projects carried out by the Society include an exhibition in 1991 on the history of cinema in Hanover (“Lichtspielträume – Kino in Hannover 1896-1991”), an exhibition in 1995 on a century of film-making in Lower Saxony (“Wir Wunderkinder. 100 Jahre Filmproduktion in Niedersachsen”), and a documentation covering 1933 to 1945 in the “Deutsche Filmografie”, a nationwide database project of the Kinematheksverbund, the umbrella organization of German film archives and film libraries.

The Cultural Archive is currently working on “Film und Geschichte” (“Films and History”), an externally funded project to set up a multimedia learning environment (www.geschichte.uni-hannover.de/~kultarch/). Film materials are explored here in their historical context, and documents and working aids are made available – as well as films, some of them compressed, and/or film clips. Besides basic texts, the focus is on the topics “Germany after 1945” and “Lower Saxony film history”.

© 2002-2008 Netzwerk Mediatheken / Network of Multimedia Resource Centres