Abstract / topic summary
The panel will present the current activities, tools, and international collaborative projects developed within the FIAF Cataloguing and Documentation Commission, focusing on standards, interoperability, and access to moving image metadata and film-related documentation.
The Commission works to support the exchange of knowledge, methodologies, and technical solutions in the areas of film cataloguing, archival documentation, preserving authenticity and integrity collected objects and data management. Its activities include the development of international standards and guidelines for describing moving image collections, improving interoperability between archival systems, and facilitating quality of data and access to filmographic and contextual documentation related to cinema production, distribution, exhibition, preservation, and research.
The presentation will introduce the ongoing development of:
- New edition of the FIAF Moving Image Cataloguing Manual, including work on its online version, revised structures, expanded chapters, and enhanced digital interface. Special attention will be given to issues such as carriers and item-parts description, agents and variants modelling, and the implementation of flexible cataloguing frameworks adapted to complex archival collections.
2. The panel will also discuss technical initiatives connected to Linked Open Data and semantic interoperability, including the redevelopment of FIAFcore, the transformation of vocabularies into SKOS, mapping workflows between international archival datasets, and the use of triplestores and data analytics tools.
3. Film Restoration Documentation Part II focuses on developing standardized, data-driven methodologies for documenting film restoration workflows within archival systems. A key objective is to structure restoration processes as Preservation Events, enabling integrated documentation of source materials, workflows, technical processes, decision-making, intermediate elements, and final restored versions within collection management systems.
Speaker summaries
Elżbieta Wysocka
Elżbieta Wysocka is a restorer and researcher specializing in film, video and digital art. Trained in painting conservation and intermedia, she authored award-winning MA and PhD theses on audiovisual and media art preservation. She has led national and international projects in film restoration, digitisation, cataloguing and digital preservation at the at the National Film Archive – Audiovisual Institute. She also guided the development of the Media Asset Management at FINA. A member of the FIAF Cataloguing and Documentation Commission, she also worked as film restorer at Deutsche Kinemathek (FFE Program). Since 2024, she has been Deputy Director at FINA, where she oversees the Digital Archive, Digital Collections and Digitisation.
Adelheid Heftberger
Dr. Adelheid Heftberger is the Deputy Head of the Department for Audiovisual Media at the German Federal Archives (Bundesarchiv) in Berlin. Previously, she worked as a researcher, curator, and archivist at the Brandenburg Center for Media Studies in Potsdam and at the Austrian Film Museum in Vienna. She holds a PhD in Slavic Studies and a Master’s degree in Comparative Literature from the Universities of Innsbruck and Vienna. In 2016, she completed an M.A. in Library and Information Science at Humboldt University of Berlin. Dr. Heftberger is currently Head of the FIAF Cataloguing and Documentation Commission and is an active advocate of the Open Science movement.
Paul Duchesne
Paul Duchesne is a film archivist and developer at the National Film and Sound Archive, formerly of the Open Science Lab at the Technische Informationsbibliothek in Hannover. He is also an active member of the FIAF Linked Open Data Task Force, including contributing heavily to the forthcoming FIAFcore ontology for film archives.
