Det Danske Filminstitut: Early Documentary and Fiction Films and Trailers

>> View collections on EFG  The collection of the Danish Film Institute available on EFG contains a number of early documentary films, which display the life and look of the Danish society in the period of 1906 to 1940. Among the 300 films are straight depictions of modern production equipment and trade, as well as more propagandistic titles and news items. The over 50 early fiction films available are a raw collection of short films that give an impression of what early audiences were entertained by. In addition, around 700 teaser previews of the films available in the Danish Film Institute's educational distribution can be found on EFG. The latter collection contains current films that are chosen mainly for their value in education and general audience informative qualities. Read more about the Danish Film Institute's contribution to EFG on DFI's website.
 

 
Detailed description provided by the archive:
A large collection of early documentary films of all genres. As with the Peter Elfelt films, this collection displays the life and look of the Danish society, industry and people in the period 1906-1940. It contains films that are straight depictions of modern production equipment and trade, as well as more propagandistic titles and “news” items. It is a collection that, apart from scholarly study, will also be of interest to a general audience looking for images from specific geographic locations as well as how different professions went about their work a century ago.
 
Early fiction films, mainly out of copyright (1903-1928), are both an impression of what early audiences found entertaining, but often also remain entertaining. There are examples both of serious melodramas, as well as outrageous and astonishing comedies and stunt performances. Since the early 20th Century the fiction film has been the stable of cinema culture, a dominance that continues to this day. These films are from a number of genres, and many of the main titles are for copyright reasons not possible to display. The collection is therefore mainly interesting from an entertainment angle, since the lack of completeness makes it less useful as in academic terms.
 
Educational film previews from the DFI VOD platform Filmstriben (www.filmstriben.dk), provide teaser previews of the films available in the DFI's educational distribution. The collection contains current films that are chosen mainly for their value in education and general audience informative qualities. The films are non-commercially available in complete form in the Danish school and library system by subscription.