Reimagining the Film Archive
The Box Plymouth opened in 2020 and has facilitated many projects and exhibitions that are significant to the culture and history of the city. One of those, Reimagining the Film Archive, is a decolonisation project that Soundview are delighted to have been documenting – watch the video here.
Reimagining the Film Archive has been made possible by funding from the British Film Institute (BFI), and this has allowed The Box to bring in three researchers – Priscilla Igwe, Tania Nana and Matt Tiller – to access the archive and interrogate the footage through the lens of decolonisation. No mean feat, as this archive is home to over 250,000 titles, making it one of the largest regional film archives in the UK.
What is Decolonisation?
Each researcher’s BFI commission takes them down a different path. Priscilla Igwe aims to ensure that the footage in the archive truly reflects and represents the people of modern Britain. Tania Nana is exploring the representation of black women within the archive, and Matt Tiller‘s proposal looks at building on the Jack Leslie campaign – a football player who was picked for England, and then dropped without ever playing a game, due to the colour of his skin. This kind of work that The Box and the researchers are doing is called decolonising. Decolonisation is not the erasing of history, as Priscilla Igwe points out, but rather making history more balanced. The research conducted within this project aims to draw out and catalogue the diversity within the archive.
A still of one of the clips found in the box’s film archive
Why is This Important?
As a business SoundView champions diversity, inclusivity and equality, aiming to do what we can to bring more balanced representation within the media. Working with organisations such as The Box, who share our values is important in our mission to create more equitable content. It’s crucial to remember that archive film is of its time, and views and attitudes change through the decades. What might have been acceptable in the 1960’s for example, may not be today and when sharing content from the past we must always be mindful of the potential for causing offence and upset.
Discrimination is not a thing of the past. Racism, homophobia, ageism and other forms of harmful biases still exist. There are many things we can do, and changes we can make, to bring more inclusivity and equality for everyone and we will continue to to do what we can to make that difference. To find out more about the history, education that The Box has on offer, click here.
