National Film and Sound Archive facts for kids

"NFSA" redirects here. For the non-deterministic finite state automaton, see Non-deterministic finite automaton.

Quick facts for kids
National Film and Sound Archive of Australia


Established	5 April 1984 (1984-04-05)
Location	McCoy Circuit, Acton, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Type	Audiovisual Archive
Collection size	4 million+ items
Owner	Government of Australia
Nearest parking	Free parking surrounding the building on Liversedge Street

The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) is Australia's special place for keeping and sharing films, TV shows, sounds, and more. It is located in Canberra. From 1999 to 2004, it was known as ScreenSound Australia.

The NFSA collects, protects, and shares a huge national collection. This includes film, television, sound, radio, video games, and new types of media. It also keeps related papers and objects. The collection has items from the late 1800s, when recorded sound and film were just starting, all the way to things made today.

The NFSA collection began in 1935 as the National Historical Film and Speaking Record Library. It was part of the Commonwealth National Library back then. In 1984, it became its own independent organisation. On October 3, 1984, Prime Minister Bob Hawke officially opened the NFSA's main building in Canberra.

History of the NFSA

The work of the archive officially started on December 11, 1935. This was when the National Historical Film and Speaking Record Library was created. It was part of the Commonwealth National Library. After World War II, the Library's Film Division continued this work.

For almost 50 years, the NFSA was part of the National Library of Australia (NLA). Then, on April 5, 1984, it became a separate government organisation. An Advisory Committee was set up to help guide the new institution.

In 1999, its name changed to ScreenSound Australia. In 2000, it changed again to ScreenSound Australia, National Screen and Sound Archive. But in December 2004, it went back to its original name, National Film and Sound Archive.

In 2000, ScreenSound joined the PANDORA Archive. This project, started by the NLA in 1996, saves websites.

Later, in 2003, the NFSA became part of the Australian Film Commission. This was a group that helped fund and promote films. People like filmmaker Martha Ansara worked to make the NFSA a separate, independent body again.

In 2007, the government announced a new agency called Screen Australia. This agency would combine the Film Finance Corporation, the Australian Film Commission (including the Archive), and Film Australia.

After elections in November 2007, the new government kept a promise. They made the NFSA a statutory authority. This means it became an independent body, like other big cultural places such as the National Library of Australia. The National Film and Sound Archive Act 2008 became law on March 20, 2008. It officially started on July 1, 2008, with celebrations held that day.

First Board Members

When the NFSA became an independent authority, its first board members were:

Chris Puplick AM (chair)
Deb Verhoeven (deputy chair)
Jill Matthews
Grace Koch
Catherine Robinson
Andrew Pike OAM
Philip Mortlock

History of the Building

NFSA building, fronting onto McCoy Circuit

The building where the Archive moved in 1984 used to be the home of the Australian Institute of Anatomy. This was from 1931 to 1984. It originally held a collection of anatomy items from Sir Colin MacKenzie.

The building is often called art deco. Its style is "Late 20th Century Stripped Classical." This means it looks like buildings from ancient Greece and Rome, but simpler and more modern. It has a balanced front, a flat roofline, classic columns, and a main entrance in the middle.

Inside, the decorated entrance hall shows pictures of Australian plants, animals, and Aboriginal art. There are also face masks of famous scientists from the late 1800s and early 1900s on the walls. These are a reminder of when the building was the Institute of Anatomy.

The building also has a beautiful courtyard and a theatre. In 1999, the building was made bigger to fit the growing Archive. The new part was designed to match the Art Deco style of the original building. In 2024, the NFSA won an award for renewing the building.

Leadership and People

Board Members

The NFSA is managed by a board, as it is an independent government body. As of June 2024, the board members are:

Annette Shun Wah (chair)
Lucinda Brogden (deputy chair)
Kylie Bracknell
Karina Carvalho
Sachin Job
Jaclyn Lee-Joe
Carol Lilley
Joe Thorp

Management Team

The CEO handles the daily running and future plans of the NFSA. Here are some of the past and current CEOs:

Michael Loebenstein (2011– January 2017)
Meg Labrum, Acting CEO (February-September 2017)
Jan Müller (October 2017 – December 2020)
Nancy Eyers, Acting CEO (January – September 2021)
Patrick McIntyre (October 2021 – present)

Collections

The NFSA collection has over four million items. These include sound recordings, radio shows, television programs, films, video games, and new media. Besides discs, films, videos, and tapes, the collection also has other important items. These include personal papers, photographs, posters, scripts, costumes, props, and old equipment.

Some important items in the collection are:

The Cinesound Movietone Australian Newsreel Collection (1929–1975). This has 4,000 newsreel films and documentaries. They show major events in Australian history, sports, and entertainment. This collection is on the Australian Memory of the World Register.
The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906). This was directed by Charles Tait. It was the first full-length story feature film ever made in the world. It is on the International Memory of the World Register.
The oldest surviving Australian sound recording. This is "The Hen Convention," a song recorded in 1896. It is now part of the Sounds of Australia.
The oldest surviving film shot in Australia, Patineur Grotesque (1896). It shows a man on rollerskates in Sydney.
Original costumes from Australian films like The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Muriel's Wedding, Elvis, and Picnic at Hanging Rock.

NFSA Player

In June 2023, the NFSA launched the NFSA Player. This is a new online platform for watching content. The first collection, Buwindja, had 17 titles. They were chosen to match the 2023 NAIDOC theme, For Our Elders.

In July 2024, NFSA Player added 34 more titles for rent. These included true crime, mystery, stories of migration, and early films by famous Australian artists.

Video Games

The NFSA started collecting Australian-made video games in 2019. New games are added every year.

In 2022, the NFSA joined with ACMI and The Powerhouse. Together, they acquired the popular video game Untitled Goose Game. This game was made by Australian developers House House.

In 2024, the NFSA published the first international survey on video game preservation. They worked with The Strong Museum of Play (US). The survey called for more international teamwork to help save video games.

Public Programs

The NFSA offers public programs at its building in Acton. These include new and old film screenings at Arc Cinema. There are also discussions, conferences, and live music events.

Free public areas include The Library, which was updated in 2024. It holds over 280 items from the NFSA collection. The Mediatheque is a lounge that shows highlights from the archive. The Theatrette shows free documentaries.

Partnerships

The NFSA is a main partner of Sustainable Screens Australia. It is also a founding member of the Australian Media Literacy Alliance.

Government Funding

In April 2023, the Australian Government announced a big investment. They gave $535 million over four years to eight National Collecting Institutions. The NFSA received $31 million of this money. NFSA CEO Patrick McIntyre said these funds would help them make the national collection easier to find and access for all Australians.

Fantastic Futures Conference

In October 2024, the NFSA hosted the Fantastic Futures 24 Conference. This was the first in-depth event in Australia and Asia-Pacific. It looked at how AI affects galleries, libraries, archives, and museums.

Learning and Media Literacy

The NFSA has a student program called Media and Me. It takes place at their Acton headquarters. Students learn about storytelling through animation, advertising, gaming, social media, film, and music. They also explore how media has changed over time.

Special Collections

The Film Australia Collection has over 3,000 Australian documentary and educational programs. These cover a century of government-made films (1913–2008).
Sounds of Australia is the NFSA's collection of sound recordings. These recordings are important to Australian culture and history. It started in 2007. Each year, the public suggests new sounds, and experts choose the final ones.
NFSA Restores is a program to make old Australian films digital. They are restored to the best quality. This allows them to be shown on big screens in modern cinemas.
The Oral History Collection holds recorded interviews with people.
The Non-Theatrical Lending Collection includes films shown for non-commercial reasons. These are used by schools, community groups, and other organisations.
The Australian Jazz Archive started in 1997. It has published and unpublished recordings of Australian jazz bands and musicians. It covers Australian jazz since 1920.

Preservation

Films are made digital to help preserve them. This means the original film does not need to be used as often. The oldest films, some over 100 years old, were made on nitrate cellulose film. The NFSA has about 10,000 cans of this type of film.

Nitrate film looks very bright and colourful. However, it can easily catch fire. If not stored correctly, it can also break down and become brittle. It needs to be kept cold and dry, but not too dry. Curator Jeff Wray believes it is important to keep the original films. He says they hold a lot of information about colour and technology.

Some nitrate films include footage of the Bodyline cricket series from the 1930s. Also, the first feature film ever made, The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906), is on nitrate film. In May 2024, the government gave $9.3 million to help preserve these films.

Australian Screen Online

Australian Screen Online (ASO), also known as Australian Screen, is an online database run by the NFSA. It helps promote and educate people about Australian cinema and television. It offers free online access to information worldwide.

ASO provides information and clips from many Australian films and TV shows. These include feature films, documentaries, newsreels, short films, and animations. This is a team effort with the National Archives of Australia, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, SBS, and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS).

The educational parts are for teachers and students. They include film clips with notes written by experts. The website launched on July 18, 2007, with over 1500 clips. It has won many awards for its educational content and design. The website was updated in 2009. New features included interviews with filmmakers, news, and detailed profiles of people like producers and directors. At that time, about 90,000 people visited the website each month.

Friends of the NFSA

Friends of the National Film and Sound Archive is a group of volunteers. It is run independently. Its goal is to connect the Archive with film and sound communities and the public. The group is based in Canberra and has a branch in Melbourne. Andrew Pike helped start it in 1999/2000. He was president for many years and is still a patron. Other patrons include Bryan Brown and Patricia Amphlett ("Little Pattie").

Awards

Ken G Hall Film Preservation Award

The Ken G Hall Film Preservation Award started in 1995. It honors people or groups who have done great work in saving films. This includes new ideas, research, helping films survive, and raising money.

2012 Susanne Chauvel Carlsson
2011 David Hannay
2010 Patricia Lovell
2009 Ian Dunlop
2006 Paul Cox
2005 Phillip Noyce
2004 Graham Shirley
2003 Tom Nurse
2002 Judy Adamson
2001 Murray Forrest
2000 Anthony Buckley
1999 Joan Long
1998 Not awarded
1997 Kodak Australasia
1996 Peter Weir
1995 Alan Rydge and Rupert Murdoch

National Folk Recording Award

The NFSA National Folk Recording Award started in 2001. It celebrates excellent Australian folk music recordings. Winners are chosen from recordings sent to the National Folk Festival in Canberra. Judges include people from the National Folk Festival and ABC Radio.

2013 Not a Note Wasted by Luke R Davies and the Recycled String Band
2012 Carried in Mind by Jeff Lang
2011 Love and Sorrow by Kavisha Mazzella
2010 A Voice that was Still by Chloe and Jason Roweth, with Jim McWhinnie
2009 Urban Sea Shanties by Fred Smith and the Spooky Men's Chorale
2008 The Next Turn by Trouble in the Kitchen
2006 Diamond Wheel by Kate Fagan
2005 Songs of the Wallaby Track by Dave de Hugard
2004 The Fig Tree, a musical companion to Arnold Zable's book produced by The Boite
2003 Swapping Seasons by Kate Burke and Ruth Hazleton
2002 Bagarap Empires by Fred Smith
2001 Follow the Sun by Seaman Dan

Cochrane-Smith Award for Sound Heritage

This award honors someone who has greatly helped save and recognise sound heritage. It is named after Fanny Cochrane Smith. She is on the only known recording of Tasmanian Aboriginal songs and language.

2012 Ros Bandt
2011 Bill Armstrong
2010 Karl Neuenfeldt

Orlando Short Film Award

The Orlando Short Film Award celebrates Australia's best short films by LGBTQIA+ filmmakers. It recognises different cultures and the role of film in the community.

2012 Craig Boreham Writer and director of Drowning
2011 Grant Scicluna Writer and director of Neon Skin

Award for an Emerging Cinematographer

This award started in 2010. It is called the NFSA and Australian Cinematographers Society John Leake OAM Award for an Emerging Cinematographer. It helps new cinematographers (people who film movies) improve their skills. It is given each year at the Australian Cinematographers Society Awards. The award is named after John Leake, a co-founder of the Society. The first winner was Kirsty Stark.

Preservation Award

The South East Asia Pacific Audiovisual Archives Association (SEAPAVAA) NFSA Preservation Award recognises great efforts in saving or promoting audiovisual archives in the region. It is given at the yearly SEAPAVAA conference.

2012 Kae Ishihara

Exhibitions

The NFSA has created several exhibitions:

The Art of Sound, shown with local art galleries.
Starstruck: Australian Movie Portraits, with the National Portrait Gallery of Australia. This exhibition first showed in Canberra from November 10, 2017, to March 4, 2018. Then it toured Australia.

Since August 2018, the NFSA has shown temporary exhibitions in its gallery:

Australians & Hollywood, from January 21, 2022, to January 28, 2024.
Heath Ledger: A Life In Pictures, from August 10, 2018, to February 10, 2019. This was developed by the Western Australian Museum.
The Dressmaker Costume Exhibition, from April 18 to August 18, 2019. This was created by FilmArt Media.
Game Masters: The Exhibition, from September 27, 2019, to March 9, 2020. This was developed by the Australian Centre for the Moving Image.
Mervyn Bishop: The Exhibition, about Aboriginal Australian photographer Mervyn Bishop. It ran from March 5 to August 1, 2021. This exhibition included items from the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the NFSA.

In 2023, to celebrate 100 years of radio in Australia, the NFSA created a digital exhibition called Radio 100.