Landesarchiv Schleswig-Holstein
- Landesfilmarchiv - /
Schleswig-Holstein State Archives
- State Film Archives -

Prinzenpalais
D-24837 Schleswig
Tel.: +49 (0)4621 86-1800
Fax: +49(0)4621 86-1801
E-Mail: landesarchiv@la.landsh.de
www.landesarchiv.schleswig-holstein.de

Opening hours:
Mon-Fri 8.30 a.m.-5.00 p.m.

General Tasks
The Landesfilmarchiv is a department of the Schleswig-Holstein State Archives. It finds and acquires hitherto non-archived films relating to Schleswig-Holstein, gives them restoration and conservation treatment, catalogues them and, within the terms of any copyrights held by others, makes them available for public use. In addition, film editions are produced from the Archive’s own collections.

• Collecting and Conserving Films about Schleswig-Holstein
  
  
• The Collections
  
  
• Cataloguing and Accessibility
  
  
• Use Profiles
  
  

Since 1988 the State Archives in its function as Landesfilmarchiv has been the central location in Schleswig-Holstein for the permanent preservation of regional (i.e. Schleswig-Holstein-related) film documents. In film-conserving it cooperates with other archives, in particular with the Federal Archives. Such cooperation also helps to avoid the unnecessary multiplication of work involved in double-archiving. The Landesfilmarchiv acquires films that reflect with optimum authenticity the region, its people, the state of its buildings and structures, and life and work in Schleswig-Holstein. Films are actively solicited and are preserved with backup copies in their original format. The acquisition of the film base – i.e. the negative or some other image carrier approximating the original – is the preferred aim. Often there is a long way between acquisition and the completed process of archival preservation: especially in the semi-professional or amateur sector, the Landesfilmarchiv receives a lot of unedited and silent film material which is of great documentary value and which requires careful examination and restoration treatment. There now exist high-quality user copies of all films preserved.

The historical resources comprise films whose content relates to Schleswig-Holstein. The focus is on the documentary sector. In keeping with the specific aim of preserving endangered film material, a distinctive feature of the collections is the number of short and little-known film documents they contain – most of the major cinema productions being already preserved and available in the German archives and film institutes with a national scope of activity. The dates of the films run from 1895, the year that motion pictures were born, to the present day.

The major institutions or producers in Schleswig-Holstein whose collections are preserved in whole or in significant part include: the companies Nordmark-Film (Kiel) and Jupiter-Film (Hamburg and Tremsbüttel); the Schleswig-Holstein State Parliament; the Landesbildstelle Schleswig-Holstein (Schleswig-Holstein Media Center); the Filmgruppe (film department) of the Schleswig-Holstein State Police; the Studentenwerk (Student Services) of the Christian Albrechts University of Kiel; the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Film (Film Project Group) of the Christian Albrechts University of Kiel; the Landwirtschaftskammer Schleswig-Holstein (Schleswig-Holstein Agricultural Association); the Marschenbauamt bzw. Amt für Land- und Wasserwirtschaft Heide (Marshlands Office and/or Land and Water Resources Management Heide); the Wasser- und Schifffahrtsamt (Water and Navigation Office) Kiel-Holtenau.

In recent years the Landesfilmarchiv has also developed a number of historical focal points using acquisitions of widely diverse provenance, many of them single items and unique historical specimens. Among these are: regional film documents dating back to the Weimar Republic and the Nazi period, including the early years of the Nazi movement in Schleswig-Holstein, war devastation and reconstruction of Kiel and Lübeck as well as film material on the British occupation; films made by amateurs and covering in particular local events of the 1930s to the 1950s; industrial films originating in the 1920s to the 1990s and particularly covering shipyards and other production centres; promotional films, in particular featuring advertisements of Kiel businesses and local tourism publicity originating in the 1920s to the 1970s; social education films made by Heinz Rathsack in the 1950s and 1960s; archaeological films made by Kurt Denzer in the 1970s and 1980s; nature conservation films made by Klaus Dürkopp in the 1980s and 1990s; films about Schleswig-Holstein and its people – documentaries or feature films with plots – running up to the present day.

Television programmes are archived in the broadcasting archives of the broadcasting networks and should be looked for there.

The cataloguing of the film collections includes the basic film data plus a brief summary of the content and a description of the individual subjects contained. This makes it easy to locate even brief documentary scenes by person or place or subject. A printed index is available at the Landesfilmarchiv and in bookstores for €15.20 (Dirk Jachomowski: Landesfilmarchiv, Findbuch des Bestandes Abt. 2002. ISBN 3-931292-592). All films are available for viewing in the Landesfilmarchiv reading room. Borrowing and copying charges are listed in a special publication (Entgeltordnung of 1 October 2005) of the Schleswig-Holstein State Archives, available on request. Use is subject in all cases to the copyright status (individually checked) of the required film. For the majority of the films the Landesfilmarchiv has the rights of use. For specifically designated use of the material requiring a rights contract, high-quality magnetic scanning equipment (Betacam SP or DigitalBetacam) is available.

The use profile of old film material differs in most cases from that of current productions. In recent years there has been a growing awareness that, in addition to their original purpose, films acquire after the lapse of a few years a new importance that was in most cases not originally intended: the importance of a historical source. Accordingly, the use of individual subjects from old documentary films now constitutes a substantial proportion of regular use. This applies both to television stations and to independent film-makers.

This new form of use is supplemented by screenings of the films at special theme-focused events at universities, schools, cultural institutions, associations and municipal cinemas. Public presentations of historical film material are also organized by the Landesfilmarchiv itself together with various partners: for example the “Gaff Sail Cinema” project (Gaffelkino) in the autumn of 2005, which was held for the second time in cooperation with the Cultural Film Promotion Society of Schleswig-Holstein at Kiel’s new Germaniahafen (harbour). At this former ship-building site, audiences sitting in front of a gaff sail screen can follow events that happened on the spot 70 years ago. To a limited extent, film documents are also edited onto VHS or DVD. Seminars on cinematic analysis are put on with groups of university-level students or pupils or other groups. These seminars focus on films as a source of local and regional history chiefly covering everyday life, industry, technology, mentality, etc. in historical perspective; training in the critical analysis of the medium of films as source material is included.