Where there’s docs there’s archives. Where there’s archives there’s docs. That is very much underlined at Sunny Side 2025, where the whys and wherefores of archive usage will be put under the microscope over the next two intensive days (May 25 and 26).
Today’s Archive Showcase (25 June, 10.15 Auditorium) gathers leading execs from six top archives: AFP, BFI, GETTY IMAGES, GP Archives, INA, LOLA Clips – who, over the course of an hour, will present their archival holdings and details of how to access/work with them. “The first ever Archive Showcase will be an opportunity for these collections to tease the audience with their offerings, each with a distinctive collection and ‘personality,’” comments session moderator Louise Rosen.
Later today, Archive Producer & Copyright Clearance Specialist Elizabeth Klinck will host a First Nations & Archives discussion in which reps from international Indigenous film collections from Australia, Canada, and France will discuss how best to access, protect, share and repatriate their audiovisual collections, as well as assess the bureaucratic barriers related to copyright and clearances in national and commercial television archives. Speakers are Cyrille Lollivier, Directeur Commercial Valorisation des Fonds, GP ARCHIVES; Nic Meloney, Executive in Charge of Production, CBC – CANADIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION; Marissa McDowell, Executive Producer; Producer Barbara Hager, ACIMOW MEDIA LTD; and John Harvey, Director
The examination of all things archive continues on May 26 with a keynote address by acclaimed US director/producer Dawn Porter (The Lady Bird Diaries, Bobby Kennedy for President) who will share her experiences working with archives, and present her latest film (Winnie and Nelson) about the late Nelson Mandela. Co-produced by Time Studios and Partners In Kind, the doc will look at the powerful love story between a young Winnie and an older Nelson, arguing that while he has assumed heroic status, she remains a misunderstood figure in history.
Later, the Archives & Africa session (May 26) will focus on the management of archives across the African continent, asking who is preserving them and with what resources. And what policies exist for their preservation, restoration, and promotion? The session promises an “open discussion about the realities, challenges, and local and international initiatives aimed at rehabilitating and valuing African audiovisual heritage.” Speakers include Archival producer Marion Isaacs, director Dawn Porter (Trilogy Films) and INA Director of Heritage, Mileva Stupar.
Before doors opened on the SSD Summit, Elizabeth Klinck reflected to Business Doc Europe on core aspects of the archive industry. First of all, are filmmakers really aware of the great archive resources available to them?
“Many filmmakers are aware of the large, well-known archive companies that can be used for online searches and immediate delivery,” she answered. “But it is the role of the archive producer to introduce them to the myriad of smaller private and public sources where some of the true gems reside. Whether that is a municipal archive like the archive in a small town in France that housed the Krafft footage that was explored by Werner Herzog in his documentary Into the Inferno in 2016, or the richness of international private collections, of small regional archives, of labor union, or of corporate or NGO holdings.”
On the flip side, archive companies know the value of their assets to national and international productions and are keen to promote themselves accordingly, Klinck argues. “Archive companies are effectively utilizing social media platforms, newsletters, advertisements in the trades, reach-outs at international film and television markets to make filmmakers aware of their wares,” she points out. “This is especially true of the smaller boutique and specialized holdings type of archive. The larger archives offer training webinars in AI, specialized searching, sessions on how to best use the new technology they have on offer for the public and for the use of professionals like editors and archive producers.”
Four or five years ago was deemed to be a golden age for the sector as the pandemic was disrupting work practices everywhere. Has the archive industry retained much of that business? “The interest and audience are still high for archive-driven projects whether it is a music doc, celebrity bio pics, true crime, or high budget natural history series. What has changed is the economic landscape for funding said documentaries and the dominance of streaming platforms in the documentary marketplace. The recent challenges to public broadcasting funding in countries like the US and across Europe are being felt in our sector,” she says.
“There will always be a variety of genres and styles on offer…but archive-driven projects offer a veracity and a greater semblance of the truth in a time when so much misinformation and so many ‘untruths’ are flooding the zone,” Klinck underlines how archive will always remain an essential resource to creative docmakers.
“The audience demographics have stretched into younger audiences. And the variety of formats means there are many different platforms to enjoy and explore and experiment with shorter format archive-driven docs. The big elephant in the room will be the impact of AI on documentary filmmaking. It has definitely had an impact of stock film and photo collections. What happens in the next few years will be very interesting to observe,” she signs off.
