Page 5 - RD_March_2013.pdf

study or preview by one or a few people internally. It is simple to register and to
request through NFSA website and deliveries are rapid.

For audience showings, loans are made from (almost) all of the Non-Theatrical
Lending Collection (soon to be re-named Screen Lending Collection) and from many of
the regular
collection’s
‘Access’ copies.
The regular
collection (often
just called The
Collection)
mainly contains
Australian
material in all
formats including
much 35mm; the
Screen Lending
Collection holds,
from the past 70
years, mostly
international material in 16mm and varied video formats. The important difference
between the two collections is that showing from the regular collection almost always
requires clearances from owners while the Screen Lending Collection has almost all
been licensed for showing under non-theatrical conditions. The borrower will in each
case need to meet registration conditions, which differ between the two collections.
For theatrical shows, anyone can borrow any film, in whatever medium, from the loan-
out copies in either Collection, almost always after negotiating with the copyright
owners. The Archive may help but does not act for the borrower in those negotiations,
which can often be tedious, bewildering or expensive, or all of those (voice of
experience!). Thus, theatrical showings can be achieved, and in all the formats, but the
theatrical borrower will need time, money and specialised industry knowledge.
Non-Theatrical Borrowing

By contrast, borrowing for non-theatrical shows from Screen Lending Collection is
straightforward. Remember, ‘non-theatrical’ means that there is no form of ticketed (or
quasi) admission, even if the organization itself is non-commercial; simply, money must
not be a condition of entry. Any non-commercial entity can register under conditions
which are sensible, then exercise borrowing quite easily on-line or by phone or email.
Thousands, increasingly Australian, of short and feature films may readily be booked
from the on-line catalogue. The descriptions have been made over the years so may
vary in helpfulness to any one borrower. There are guide pages; for background and