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Birmingham ARTICLES

Film and TV archives will be on stream at new library

18th February 2010

Hours of classic films, television and home movies will be available at the touch of a button at Birmingham's new central library. The library, which is due to open in 2013, has teamed up with the British Film Institute to open a 'Mediatheque'.

Visitors to the new library that is being built in Centenary Square, will have free access to some of the rarest titles in the BFI's National Archive.

It is described as being a 'digital jukebox' of rarely seen material.

An "exciting" attraction

The British Film Institute opened its first Mediatheque at its Southbank building in London in 2007. There are individual viewing stations where visitors can digitally dip into a selection of archive material from what is described as one of the world's most significant film and television collections.

They are being set up in other parts of the country and the facility in Birmingham is set to be one of the largest.

History on film

BFI Director, Amanda Nevill said they wanted to give people across the UK the chance to have unprecedented access to their national film and television heritage "regardless of where they live or where the material is held".

She said film provided a "tantalising" view of how people in Britain lived, worked and played over the past century or more.

Brian Gambles, Assistant Director for Culture and Head of Libraries at Birmingham City Council said it would become and "exciting and invaluable attraction for our visitors. "

There will also be a collection of regional material.

Partners such as Media Archive for Central England and Screen West Midlands will help provide a record which chronicles the region's history and culture.

Source: BBC