Danish Film Institute Film Archive (Det Danske Filminstitut Filmarkivet)

History and Founding

The history of Denmark's national film archive begins with the establishment of the Dansk Filmmuseum (Danish Film Museum) in 1941, which started collecting films and cinema-related materials. Early collections were kept in various improvised wartime locations before being organized and catalogued in the early 1950s, at which point the collection held approximately 1,700 film items. In 1964 the Film Museum became a government institution and legal deposit of Danish films became mandatory. In 1996, a new Danish Film Act merged three institutions — Det Danske Filmmuseum, Statens Filmcentral, and Det Danske Filminstitut — into the Danish Film Institute (DFI), under which the Film Archive became a department. DFI is located at Filmhuset on Gothersgade in central Copenhagen and is an institution of the Danish Ministry of Cultural Affairs.

Collections and Holdings

The Film Archive holds more than 40,000 titles, including Danish features, documentaries, short films, animation, weekly journals, and international features with Danish subtitles. Danish films produced with government subsidies since 1984 are deposited as new screening prints; basis materials (master positives) have been required since 1991. The nitrate film collection — films produced before 1950 — is preserved in a dedicated Nitrate Archive at Store Dyrehave near Hillerød, north of Copenhagen. The main film collection is held in 3,000 square meters of climate-controlled storage in Glostrup, outside Copenhagen.

Notable Materials Related to Journalism and Media

The Film Archive's Library and Videotheque, located at Filmhuset, holds 55,000 books and subscribes to approximately 240 film and television periodicals. It maintains extensive clippings collections of newspaper coverage of Danish and international cinema — representing decades of Danish film journalism — as well as film programmes, lobby cards, promotional materials, and souvenir programmes for Danish films. Screenplays for approximately 800 Danish silent films and 12,000 international features are held, along with post-production materials. These resources are used by researchers, journalists, and filmmakers.

Access and Usage

The Film Archive is open to researchers and screeners. Films from the archive are lent to the DFI's Cinemateket (film museum/cinema) and to film organizations and festivals in Denmark and abroad. Digital materials are increasingly accessible through the streaming platform danmarkpaafilm.dk. The library is open to the public at Filmhuset, Gothersgade 55, Copenhagen. Contact for archive inquiries: filmarkivet@dfi.dk.