The Austrian Film Museum collects amateur films in the small-gauge formats 8mm, Super 8, 9.5mm, 16mm and 17.5mm. If you decide to give your film collection to the Austrian Film Museum for long-term archiving, we will inspect, catalog, document, and safeguard it for future generations. Under specific legal and ethical conditions, the films are accessible for research, education, and curatorial projects.
In a variety of collecting campaigns and projects, we focus on private historical documents and strive to preserve films for the future. The collection call Regenbogenfilme has been ongoing since 2023 in collaboration with QWIEN – Center for Queer Culture and History. The initiative collects amateur films documenting lesbian, homosexual and trans* life. For the project on the margins : the city (2018-2019), contemporary formats of private images, such as smart phone movies, were collected for the first time and set in relation to small-gauge analog films in the Austrian Film Museum's collection. Between 2014 and 2018, the collection call VIENNA MOVES! collected amateur films made in Vienna.
Amateur Film Collection
Donations
What Do We Collect?
Alongside the films themselves, the Austrian Film Museum's collection also includes accompanying materials such as handwritten notes, film catalogs, handbooks, scripts, photographs, photo albums and letters – as long as they are related to the collected films.We are also interested in amateur filmmaking equipment and tools. These include movie cameras, film viewers, splicers, title-making tools, animation kits as well as other technical accessories used in amateur film practices. These objects provide valuable insights into how amateur filmmakers worked and the technical possibilities available to them.
Amateur films contain unique regional and biographical information essential for the scholarly cataloguing and interpretation of the collections. Personal conversations with depositors are important for documenting the persons, locations and events in the films, and the filmmakers themselves.
If you have amateur films or a film collection from a family archive or estate, the Austrian Film Museum would like to hear from you. We are happy to advise you about a potential donation.