"Over the past few years, I have been lucky to have been part of many projects in local film, music and arts industries - yet few have been as rewarding and enriching as the work I’ve been able to do with Northern Ireland Screen and their Digital Film Archive. Featuring everything from news reels to short films, home movies to live TV broadcasts, the Archive catalogues aspects of our history, culture and heritage, as far back as the invention of cinema itself. Having the opportunity to explore, re-shape and re-contextualise these materials in some of my own projects has been an enlightening experience.

In this video, I discuss how I came to first collaborate with Northern Ireland Screen, dissect some of my own videos and highlight several of my favourite clips discovered through my research. I hope I am able to give some insight into how invaluable a learning tool the Digital Film Archive is for filmmakers, historians and students alike. " text by Colm Laverty