World Libraries: Library of Congress and French archive INA exchange cinema and TV treasures

Franco-American relations have reached new heights because of a cultural gift exchange between the world’s largest library and the premiere audiovisual archive in France. The Library of Congress and the French Institute National de l’Audiovisuel (INA), in an unprecedented collaboration, will exchange up to 500 hours of digitized film and television content over the next three years, reflecting how the United States and France have been portrayed in each other's media.

Librarian of Congress James H. Billington and INA Chairman and CEO Mathieu Gallet officially presented each other with the first set of programs in a special ceremony held on February 1st 2012 in the Library's Thomas Jefferson Building.

"The Library's collaboration with INA will allow researchers to gain valuable insights from the depiction of the American experience over the past 110 years through the lens of another culture," said Billington. "The outcome of our efforts to preserve our nation’s audiovisual heritage will be the opportunity to share our collective creative memory with the world, reflecting our common humanity and celebrating our uniqueness."

The initial titles selected for the cultural exchange are mainly news programming, documentaries, educational films, travelogues and home movies.

Offerings include: films from the Library’s Paper Print and George Kleine collections, including "Scene from the Elevator Ascending Eiffel Tower (1900), "Battle of Flowers from Nice Carnival (1903), and "A Trip on the Riviera" (1914); U.S. government-produced films such as the Department of Defense’s "This is France" (1958); travelogues and home movies such as "Prowling Around France with Will Rogers" (1927); education films including "French Influences in North America" (1951) and "Modern France" (1965).

Among the French titles are "Norman Mailer" (A2-1980), "Washington cité impériale: 2e partie: Quand la ville parle" (A2-1981), "Arthur Miller" (A2-1988) and "Prix Nobel: Toni Morrison" (A2-1998).

The digital files will be available for research in the Library's Motion Picture Reading Room and INA's consultation center at the Bibliotheque Nationale de France in Paris. A wide selection of public-domain titles will be made available for global online access via the World Digital Library.

Within the next six months, the Library and INA will independently organize their own committees of scholars and researchers to study and report on the progress of the agreement. These committees will advise on future content selection and programming.