The National Film and Sound Archive has long been a vital source for those looking to learn about and engage with modern Australian history, and in recent years it has earned a reputation as a boutique entertainment destination for visitors and locals alike.
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The archive has existed in one form or another since the 1930s, and it currently has offices in Sydney and Melbourne, as well as a strong online presence and outposts in every other state and territory.
For the past 30 years its headquarters have been located at the former Institute of Anatomy building in Acton, a stunning example of 1930s art deco architecture and a visitor attraction in itself, right in the heart of Canberra's CBD.
Prime Minister Bob Hawke launched the NFSA at the building in 1984, declaring it, "A new kind of national institution; an institution devoted to the popular cultural expression of our age and dedicated to the preservation of some of the best manifestations of Australian character and Australian imagination".
Since then, the NFSA's collection has been growing exponentially – it now holds more than two million items ranging from the very earliest pieces of film and sound recording from the late 19th century all the way through to the films, television programs and recordings being produced today.
Together, the collection forms a picture of Australia, its people, and our way of life.
"I don't think you can understand as a people how we lived, how we loved, how we struggled and how we succeeded without looking at the way we expressed ourselves, and our voices and our images as captured on film and recorded sound," NFSA chief executive Michael Loebenstein says.
"The remnants of the first ever feature film anywhere in the world, which was The Story of the Kelly Gang, made in Australia in 1906, is really as much a document of its time as the Magna Carta or the Federation documents for Australia," NFSA senior film curator Meg Labrum adds.
"The notion of film or sound being seen as a historical equivalent to an artwork or a book has taken a long time."
Visitors to the Acton headquarters can engage with the NFSA's collection through a series of rotating visitor programs catering to almost every niche interest imaginable.
The Front Room is the latest screen and sound experience at the archive, where you can explore the history of sound, music and broadcast by listening to radio broadcasts on the 1950s-era radiogram, watching classic TV in the lounge space or playing CDs at the listening post.
Fans of vinyl and the history of sound recordings can come along to The Vinyl Lounge, held on the first Friday of every month, and hear some of their favourite pieces on the archive's pure analogue sound system.
"The Vinyl Lounge is basically like a typical 1970s listening room," Loebenstein explains.
"You come in, you bring your own records or there are milk crates with records from the collection scattered around the room, and people play their favourite tracks and talk about why that music matters to them.
"It's a great opportunity for people just to get together and listen to music, which is something that very rarely happens now in the age of the iPod and the iPhone."
Then there's the Arc Cinema, one of the most beautiful cinema venues in Australia, which plays a revolving program of films and documentaries from the collection on weekdays from 9am to 5pm. Special screenings are held regularly to showcase some of the restorations completed by the archive, both in digital and original vintage film formats.
"We increasingly focus on doing programs that are unique, where we really give people insight into the hidden treasures of the collection," Loebenstein says.
"We do a regular series called Black Chat where we invite Indigenous filmmakers and Indigenous curators to talk about their work and their art.
"Three to four times a year we host a series of concerts with well-known and eminent Australian composers and songwriters where it's almost like Inside the Actors Studio – artists come in and talk about their craft and play a really intimate gig for Canberra audiences."
The NFSA also allows the public to engage with its collection through exterior displays, both throughout Canberra and the nation.
"The NFSA ideally is everywhere," Loebenstein says.
"As an example, the biggest exhibition that we've got on at the moment is a collaboration with the National Museum of Australia. Over the next couple of years curated selections of very rare films from the period between 1912 and 1918 that we have digitised for the Anzac centenary are on display in the main hall of the museum.
"The display changes every couple of months, so every museum visitor gets an insight into the extremely rare and precious film collection of the NFSA."
Labrum says that in recent years the NFSA has had to become more dynamic about the way it adds to its collection, to ensure that it is preserving the very best of what is created by Australians in the digital age.
"One of the big challenges now is the way that the digital world has exploded," she says.
"We're constantly trying to get closer to the filmmakers of today, not just the mainstream but the independent, and the sound performers as well. We look back fondly to the old days of film on reel and cassettes because they were kind of finite. But now everybody can be creating something that might well be worthy of being preserved and looked at and listened to again in the future."
Australian film and sound has certainly come a long way since The Story of the Kelly Gang, but the role of the National Film and Sound Archive remains the same as it was in those very early days.
"If you look at the purpose of archives and museums it's always so that future generations can not only hold us accountable, but actually understand what made us," Loebenstein says.
"For the 20th and 21st century it is audio-visual media that does that, not only because it's such a truthful and complex and granular record, but because it is what entertained us – it is our dreams, not only our reality. It is the soundtrack of our lives."
WHAT'S ON AT THE NFSA
Disney Classics at Arc
April 20-24
The NFSA continues its program of school holiday Disney Classics with screenings at Arc Cinema, all part of the 2015 Centenary of Animation. Catch The Lion King, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mulan and Tangled. All screenings commence at 10am and tickets are $5.
70 Years After Liberation: German Concentration Camps Factual Survery
April 23
See this ambitious documentary based on the digitally restored footage of Allied troops liberating Nazi concentration camps in 1945. This screening will commemorate the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Belsen concentration camp and will be followed by a Q&A with Canberra woman Helen Lewis, author and daughter of Allied armed forces cameraman Mike Lewis.
The Vinyl Lounge
May 1
From 5.30 to 6.30pm, this free event will bring some vintage grooves to the NFSA. Come along to enjoy a glass of wine and some nibbles while you listen to what's spinning on the turntables.
Reconciliation Week at NFSA
May 27-29
The NFSA will commemorate Reconciliation Week with a series of special screenings celebrating Australian screen treasure David Guilpilil. See Walkabout on May 27, The Tracker on May 28 and Charlie's Country on May 29. Classic Indigenous short films will also be screened throughout each day.
W: nfsa.gov.au
