European archives release vintage films online

By Charles Masters

PARIS (Hollywood Reporter) - Where do you go if you want to watch rare archive films such as a 1916 document about life on a German submarine or John Ford's 53-minute Western "Bucking Broadway" from the following year?

Until now, the answer would have been a trip to one of the film archives that house these prints, respectively London's Imperial War Museum and the French Film Archive.

But that is about to change with the launch in April of a Europe-wide video-on-demand platform bringing together content from 37 film archives and cinematheques across the continent. And the good news for film buffs is that it's free.

European Film Treasures, as the site will be known, is the brainchild of Serge Bromberg, founder of Paris-based historic film and restoration specialist Lobster Films. The European Union's MEDIA Program has pledged to put up half of the approximately 500,000 euros ($725,000) needed to fund the project for its first year.

European Film Treasures is hoping to tap into a chunk of the huge audience for free on-line video sites like YouTube and Bebo. "The difficulty today is not so much to find old films and restore them, it's finding an audience for them," Bromberg says. "These are some of the best films shot in Europe over more than 80 years, but it's often difficult to convince people to see films like these."

Each partner archive will propose films, and a jury of historic film specialists will decide which to include on the VoD site based on criteria such as historical interest and artistic quality. Footage will be accessible for streaming only, not download, but the site may in the future extend to associated DVD sales.

Films will be available in their original language with translation where needed into English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.

The site is expected to launch with about 100 titles, but the aim is to include as many as 500 films once fully loaded. Lobster is coming up with original music to accompany silent films.