Submitted by admin on April 23, 2009 - 00:25
16-mm Films and Film Libraries
The use of 16-mm films was fostered by the introduction of non-flammable acetate film, by the use of films for training during the Second World War, and by the establishment of the National Film Library by the Department of Education. The Library began in a small way in 1942 and was fully established in 1945 and is now one of the largest in the world. From 1942 to 1963 the Library was directed by W. B. Harris. It lends films free of charge to about 4,000 organisations and schools and, from a stock of some 25,000 prints covering more than 4,000 titles, issues about 200,000 reels of film a year. The National Film Library also assists the Federation of Film Societies, which comprises 56 film societies with a total membership of about 3,500. Smaller and more specialised 16-mm film libraries include the Services Film Library, the libraries of the Department of Health and the Department of Agriculture, and the film libraries of some oil companies, diplomatic missions, and church groups. There are also several commercial film libraries which hire out 16-mm copies of feature films. The National Film Archives are housed in the National Film Library. The archives was established in 1961 and is controlled largely by the Archives Branch of the Department of Internal Affairs. Unfortunately most of the early films made in New Zealand have been destroyed. Those that remain include a few newsreels, such as of the Napier and the Murchison earthquakes, four of Rudall Hayward's films – The Te Kooti Trail, Bush Cinderella, On the Friendly Road, and Rewi's Last Stand, Pauli's Under the Southern Cross, and Pacific Films' Broken Barriers.