A bit later than usual, but in April it was finally time for the annual EUscreen Symposium! This time we were warmly welcomed by Filmoteka Narodowa Instytut Audiowizualny (FINA) in Warsaw, Poland to discuss the topic of Reframing Openness – Empowering Authenticity and Reuse in Audiovisual Heritage. In a rapidly evolving social and technological landscape, film and audiovisual heritage institutions face urgent questions about how to preserve the authenticity of the archive and its collection while embracing openness, innovation, and reuse. Not only do EUscreen and FINA share the common goal of preserving the authenticity of the archive, they have also been long-term collaboration partners. And after multiple years of less active collaborations, during the symposium FINA announced that they will officially reinstate their membership of the EUscreen Network! Take a look back at a wonderful two days with us.
Audiovisual heritage and new cultural loops
After Johan Oomen (EUscreen Foundation Chair) and Tomasz Kolankiewicz (Director FINA) opened the symposium, we kicked-off with the incredibly insightful keynote by Alek Tarkowski (Open Future Foundation). Alek shared his insights around Audiovisual heritage and new cultural loops. Heritage institutions are grappling today with a familiar question – how to keep collections open and reusable – in a fundamentally unfamiliar context. Their challenge is dealing with new cultural loops: new reuse patterns for heritage and creative work that are emerging today. These loops are shaped by emerging Artificial Intelligence technologies, but also by changing user behavior or the continuing platformization of the web. Alek offered his ideas how the heritage sector can function within the new cultural loops, and play an active role in shaping them. He focussed on governance models tied to the concept of digital commons, and infrastructural solutions built on a vision of public AI. These approaches allow institutions to remain open without becoming invisible infrastructure for commercial AI. ⬇️ download powerpoint ⬇️
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Public Access & Copyright Law
Following the keynote, it was time for the first of four panels, namely Public Access & Copyright Law, moderated by Bart Meletti. This panel explored how EU copyright law shapes public access to audiovisual heritage. Is the current copyright framework fit for purpose to facilitate preservation, responsible innovation and reuse in the age of AI? Do we need to rethink copyright law or do existing frameworks offer sufficient flexibility and safeguards?
Stef van Gompel (VU University Amsterdam) discussed the changing role of audiovisual archives in times of digitisation and AI and what this means for public access to archived film footage. Adelheid Heftberger (German Federal Archives) described her experiences with “systematic rights clearance,” which were gathered in a five-year project. In this process, more than 20,000 so-called out-of-commerce works were registered on the EUIPO portal, enabling the Federal Archives to present over 10,000 video streams in their Digital Reading Room. ⬇️ download powerpoint ⬇️ And finally, Ksenia Kakareko (University of Warsaw) focused on copyright law not only as a set of constraints, but also as a legal framework that enables audiovisual archives to preserve works, provide access to collections and support certain forms of lawful reuse by researchers, educators and creators. ⬇️ download infographic ⬇️
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Integrity of Audiovisual Content in the Age of AI
We concluded day 1 with the panel Integrity of Audiovisual Content in the Age of AI, moderated by Elżbieta Wysocka. AI tools allow the large-scale generation of reasonably good metadata and open new possibilities for describing and reusing digital collections. At the same time, this is a critical moment to better understand the current technological revolution, to choose wise strategies and appropriate tools, and to build the partnerships that will be necessary in the years ahead.
Joanna Kaliszewska (FINA) presented FINA’s approach to implementing AI-based tools for digital preservation and discuss our path toward developing a better understanding of how AI can support archival processes. ⬇️ download powerpoint ⬇️ Marta Materska-Samek (Jagiellonian University) then brought industry data into dialogue with archival values, asking what it means to be ‘open’ when a platform algorithm determines what is findable, what feeds an AI model, and what remains effectively invisible. ⬇️ download powerpoint ⬇️ From Ilana Diamant (independent producer) we heard about historical imagery and how AI is changing perception of the past and present, historical distortion, and how filmmakers maintain authenticity. Fabio Paul Bedoya Huerta (Trust in Archives) spoke about practical tools for informed AI choices in audiovisual archives and why archives need shared guardrails now. ⬇️ download powerpoint ⬇️ Finally, Montse Bailac (3Cat) shared a method developed to help 3Cat professionals assess the potential risks of projects involving the use of AI and how it promotes a training programme designed to inform employees about AI applications, associated risks, and the need for responsible use. ⬇️ download powerpoint ⬇️
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Collaboration & Participatory Practices
Day 2 started with the panel Collaboration & Participatory Practices, moderated by Marco Rendina. This panel explored collaborative and community-driven approaches to collecting, preserving and providing access to audiovisual heritage — and examined how new technologies, including AI, can support or complicate these efforts. The panel examined the practical, ethical and technological dimensions of co-creation — including questions of trust, representation, algorithmic bias and sustainability — and considered how institutions can meaningfully empower communities as co-stewards of their audiovisual heritage in an increasingly AI-mediated landscape.
We first heard from Jolė Stimbirytė & Laura Kerušauskaitė (Lithuanian Central State Archive) introduced introduce their virtual audiovisual archive E-kinas which brings together three integrated archives: film, photography, and audio documents. ⬇️ download powerpoint ⬇️ We then moved on to Żaneta Żegleń (IMPULSE) who presented how through collaborative workshops and experimental immersive environments, IMPULSE investigates how archives can move beyond traditional gatekeeping roles and support more participatory approaches to discovering, interpreting and reusing cultural heritage. ⬇️ download powerpoint ⬇️ Daniel Chavez Heras (King’s College London) addressed when moving image archives purchase AI services, they receive outputs but the knowledge of how those outputs were produced remains with the vendor. Each token bought is capacity not built. The Intelligent Systems for Screen Archives (ISSA) project explores an alternative. ⬇️ download powerpoint ⬇️ Concluding this panel was Elspeth Vischer (Nerve Centre) where she discussed the ethical and political dimensions of the Northern Ireland Now project, and how a collaborative approach can democratise media within the Digital Film Archive in fascinating ways that involve learning for everyone involved. ⬇️ download powerpoint ⬇️
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Upskilling the Archives
The final panel of the symposium Upskilling the Archives was moderated by Maja Drabcyzk. As the digital landscape evolves, the role of the archivist is shifting from traditional stewardship to technology supported dynamic data management, digital preservation and ethical access and reuse. This session brought together a panel of international experts to tackle the “skills gap” head-on. The speakers bridged diverse perspectives—from large-scale international associations, national policymakers and institutions to specialised collections—to discuss how we can realistically evolve our professional toolkits ensuring that the core archival mission is intact. Agata Krawczyk (Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage), Virginia Bazan-Gil (FIAT/IFTA), and Marco Rendina (Istituto Luce – Cinecittà) shared their insights in a lively discussion.
