Local Life on Film - working in partnership

A great deal of work has been done in recent years to save as much old cine film of local life as possible and to make its images available to the bublic. Several organisations are working in partnership to make this possible.

Trilith

Somerset Film and Video

Dorset Record Office

Wiltshire and Swindon Record Office

Somerset Record Office

South West Film and Television Archive

Trilith and Somerset Film and Video are charities undertaking a wide range of media work. As part of this, they undertake the outreach work in local communities necessary to ensure that archive films can be saved and seen again.They find films, arrange their preservation in a suitable public archive, organise copying, provide local shows, make publicly available archive videos and set up access points where the public can view archive material. They also encourage the creation of new archive and use archive film to inspire creative work, such as poetry and music for soundtracks.

As registered charities, they always respect the rights of film owners and set out to work with them to ensure the future of their films.

The Record Offices are the official local authority public archives and are concerned primarily with the preservation of material relevant to the history of their areas, including film.

The South West Film and Television Archive is a regional archive, concerned specifically with moving image and with the whole of the South West.

Film found be Trilith and Somerset Film and Video is, dependant upon the owner's wishes, deposited for preservation in the appropriate Record Office, the South West Film and Television Archive or, in the case of dangerous nitrate film and items of exceptional national relevance, in the National Film and Television Archive.

IF YOU KNOW OF ANY FILM OF LOCAL LIFE IN DORSET, SOMERSET, SWINDON AND WILTSHIRE THAT SHOULD BE SAVED AND SEEN AGAIN PLEASE CONTACT TRILITH.

Basic catalogue information is available here on films located to date by Trilith and Somerset Film and Video and on other films held by the Record Offices.

NB Please bear in mind that however comprehensive a catalogue is, it is impossible to anticipate all the possible lines on enquiry so if you do not find what you are looking for here, it is worth contacting Trilith as personal knowledge of the collection may yield the information that you seek.

The South West Film and Television Archive, which holds a large collection of film and television material, is not able currently to provide information for inclusion other than films deposited by Trilith. It is hoped that a listing of its relevant material will appear on the website in due course.

For further deatils of film and copyright issues, please contact Trilith.