Founded in 1935 and in the care of the British Film Institute (BFI), the archive holds one of the largest and most diverse moving image collections in the world. Over 1.4m film and television items spanning 1895-today are preserved alongside extensive paper-based Screencraft collections, documenting the processes behind a century of screen production.

Espen Bale

Espen joined the BFI National Archive in 2013, and in his current role as Cultural Sales Officer licenses moving image materials to galleries, museums, lower-budget filmmakers and students for a wide range of projects. He also licenses and supplies still images from the BFI’s database of digitised Screencraft materials, and handles loan requests from FIAF archives around the world.

Simon McCallum

Simon has spent 20 years bringing the riches of the BFI National Archive to a wider audience, working across BFI digital platforms, cinema seasons and broadcast partnerships. As Producer within the access and licensing team, he collaborates with production partners to develop creative projects from docs to XR. His feature documentary credits include Executive Producer for BFI on Explorer and Endurance and Archive Consultant on Queerama, Arcadia and Freedom: 50 Years of Pride.