With support from the NZ Lottery Grants Board, the Jonathan Dennis library opened in May, honouring the first director of The Film Archive from 1981 to 1990.
The new reference library lets researchers and the public view a massive range of materials including photographs, posters, publicity files, private papers and ephemeras.
Some examples in the collection include photographs and posters from the silent 1927 epic by Rudall Hayward, production papers and photographs from Goodbye Pork Pie, and press and publicity files on screen personalities like Peter Jackson, Gaylene Preston and Taika Waititi.
Chief Executive Frank Stark says there are around 900 linear metres of books, periodicals, photographs, press clippings, manuscripts, scripts, sound recordings, and artefacts in this specialist collection.
“Not only does it document screen culture, the history and technology of the moving image in New Zealand and overseas, but it’s also unique within New Zealand. It is a heritage resource of national significance.”
