Greek Film Archive Ταινιοθήκη της Ελλάδος (Tainiothiki tis Ellados)

History and Founding

The Greek Film Archive (Ταινιοθήκη της Ελλάδος, Tainiothiki tis Ellados) traces its origins to 1950, when the Athens Association of Film Critics established a cinema club dedicated to collecting and screening films. In 1963, the institution was formally constituted as a foundation by Royal Decree 105/1963, with Aglaia Mitropoulou—its founding president—playing a pivotal role. Her friendship with Henri Langlois, director of the Cinémathèque Française, enabled the archive to acquire a significant body of early films. Since 1983, the Greek Film Archive has been a full member of the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) and is also a founding member of the European Film Gateway. It is registered as a non-profit cultural foundation and receives an annual subsidy from the Greek Ministry of Culture. Since 2009, the archive has been housed at the Lais venue in the Kerameikos neighborhood of Athens, which includes two indoor cinemas and an outdoor screening space.

Collections and Holdings

The archive holds the largest and most important film collection in Greece: over 7,500 foreign titles and more than 2,500 Greek titles spanning feature films, documentaries, and short films. Notable holdings include a unique collection of Greek silent feature films and a considerable collection of newsreels. The archive also holds approximately 7,000 photographs from Greek films, 10,000 from foreign films, around 5,000 stills and programs, some 800 Greek and 1,500 foreign film posters, and personal archives from pioneers of Greek cinema, including the personal archive of Aglaia Mitropoulou. The archive possesses a collection of pre-cinematic apparatuses such as zoetropes, kinetoscopes, praxinoscopes, magic lanterns, and early cameras and projectors.

Notable Materials Related to Journalism and Media

The archive's library holds a wide collection of out-of-print cinema-related books, Greek film catalogues, and magazines, directly accessible to the public. The newsreel collection documents Greek public life and current events across the 20th century.

Access and Usage

The archive hosts film screenings, festivals, and educational programs in cooperation with the Greek Film Center and the Thessaloniki International Film Festival. It collaborates with the University of Athens (Communication and Mass Media Department) and Panteion University on educational projects at graduate and postgraduate levels. The library reading room is open to researchers and the public.