The Archival Film Collections of the Swedish Film Institute constitute one of the oldest film archives in the world. Our mission is to collect, catalogue, preserve and give access to Sweden's film heritage, by which we mean all Swedish and foreign films released in cinemas in Sweden: feature films, non-fiction films, animations, commercials, news-reels etc.
In order to ensure that Sweden's film heritage may also be accessed by future generations, we preserve our films in specially designed cold-storage vaults for maximum longevity. For further information on our storage facilities, read more under Conservation.
Films that are damaged or incomplete need to be restored and duplicated before they can be presented again. For further information on our restoration and duplication activities, read more under Preservation.
Collection policy
The criteria, principles and ethical codes that guide each section of our mission are collected in our document Policy of the Archival Film Collections of the Swedish Film Institute. We are a member of the international federation of film archives, FIAF.
Films from the collections are screened at Cinemateket
The viewing prints in the collections are mainly screened at Cinemateket, which organises cinema screenings in Stockholm, Göteborg and Malmö. Prints from the collections are also screened at festivals, cinemas and other FIAF venues.
The Film Archive in Grängesberg
The Film Archive in Grängesberg takes care of Swedish films on small gauges never released in cinemas, such as commissioned films, industrial, educational and amateur films. This activity is from 2011 no longer handled by The Swedish Filminstitute but by The National Library of Sweden.
On filmarkivet.se
On the new web site filmarkivet.se you have the opportunity to see unique archival moving image material that otherwise are rarely accessed; mainly shorts, non-fiction films, news-reels and commercials; films that reflect the transformation of Swedish society over the last century. Some 300 films are available when the site is launched in February 2011, a figure that will doubled before the end of the year. The entire site is available in Swedish only, and none of the films have sub-titles. Filmarkivet.se is a joint project initated by the Swedish Film Institute and the National Library of Sweden.
The restored version of "Flickan i frack" (Karin Swanström, 1926) was first screened in June, 2008. ©1925 AB Svensk Filmindustri.