South West Film & Television Archive / Swfta

The Box Plymouth Film Archive is the regional film archive for the South West UK.

ABOUT US

The South West Film and Television Archive is the regional film archive for the South West of England and is one of the largest regional film archives in the UK. SWFTA is a member of the Film Archives UK (FAUK), a member of the BFI’s Film Audience Network (FAN) and will become part of The Box Plymouth set to open in 2020 housing Plymouth Museums Galleries Archives. SWFTA holds one of the UK’s significant screen heritage collections.

SWFTA was established in 1993 after Television South West or TSW lost its ITV franchise. Together with the Westward Television collection and the combined programme libraries of both broadcast entities, the charity also houses the regional BBC library and has over 1000 other film and television collections which date from the 1890s.

SWFTA is an independent registered charity and a non-profit making company limited by guarantee. It is governed by a board of directors who are also trustees of the charity. The archive is managed by archivists and ex-television professionals and supported by volunteers.

SWFTA's primary acquires, preserves and provides access to the regions visual moving image heritage through public exhibitions and screenings, community projects, inhouse producing and sales as well as working with filmmakers, broadcasters and other regional and national film archives.

SWFTA contributes to the BFI's Britain on Film and has digitised over 750 title to-date.

SWFTA has an agreement with the University of Plymouth and works with the Plymouth College of Art.