Journal of Film Preservation - FIAF

EYE’s Desmet Collection inscribed on
UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register
Sandra Den Hamer
News from the
Affiliates
Amsterdam
Jean Desmet (1875-1956) fut le
premier grand distributeur de films
et propriétaire de salles aux Pays-Bas.
Il possédait aussi une importante
collection d’objets liés au cinéma.
Depuis 1957, celle-ci était conservée au
Nederlands Filmmuseum (actuellement
EYE Film Institute).
La Collection Desmet compte environ
2.000 affiches et presque 700 photos.
Riche en documents en papier, elle
réunit 933 films, la plupart des années
1907-1916 et souvent des copies
uniques. On y trouve des chefs-d’œuvre
de D.W. Griffith et de Louis Feuillade,
des films avec Asta Nielsen et Lyda
Borelli, ainsi que des productions de
Gaumont, Edison et Pathé.
Dans les années 1980, la collection fut
restaurée. Les films montrés dans des
festivals renouvelèrent et élargirent
nos idées au sujet du cinéma muet.
Notamment, ils témoignent de
l’utilisation de techniques de mise en
scène sophistiquées et de la recherche
de méthodes pour obtenir des images
en couleur.
En mai 2011, la Collection Desmet a été
inscrite dans le Registre de la mémoire
du monde de l’Unesco, qui inclut des
documents culturels dont l’importance
exceptionnelle est reconnue (voir le site
www.unesco.org).
EYE Film Institute Netherlands – qui
est en train de s’installer à Overhoeks
(Amsterdam) – est le résultat de la
fusion récente de plusieurs institutions:
Filmbank, Holland Film, Nederlands
Instituut voor Filmeducatie et
Filmmuseum.
The Desmet Collection at the EYE Film Institute Netherlands has been
inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. This was
announced on 25 May 2011 by the Director-General of UNESCO, Irina
Bokova, in Paris. The entire collection will become part of this prestigious
UNESCO programme, which assists countries in safeguarding and sharing
their documentary heritage. The Jean Desmet Collection includes many
films from the early years of cinema that were once presumed lost. Beside
its relevance to film history, the collection forms an equally important
cultural and corporate archive. Film pioneer Jean Desmet (1875-1956) was
the first major distributor and cinema owner in the Netherlands.
UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register, a list of documentary history,
honours treasures of cultural importance, and includes books, archival
records, and film and sound recordings that are of exceptional significance
for the world. The Register includes Anne Frank’s diary, the Magna Carta,
and the Gutenberg Bible.
Now these are joined by the collection of Jean Desmet, which has been held by
EYE Film Institute Netherlands (formerly the Nederlands Filmmuseum) since
1957. The vast collection contains, among many other items, masterpieces
by D.W. Griffith and Louis Feuillade, films with Asta Nielsen and Lyda Borelli,
and productions from the film companies Pathé, Gaumont, and Edison.
The film-historical
significance of
the Jean Desmet
Collection is
acknowledged
worldwide. A large
number of the films
in the collection of
the Netherlands’
first professional
distributor are
unique copies
(i.e., the only copy
preserved in the
world). Among the
more than 900 films
dating from 1907-1916 are masterpieces that had not been seen for
decades. These discoveries have cleared up a number of misconceptions,
and the film-historical appreciation of historical genres such as Italian diva
films, German melodramas, and French comedies has been changed once
and for all.
In most countries, three-quarters of the films produced during the silent
film era have been lost due to neglect. Because Desmet kept almost
43 Journal of Film Preservation / 85 / 2011
Jean Desmet’s Nederlandsche Bioscoop-Bond (Netherlands
Cinema League) union membership card, 1934.