Wednesday, November 16, 2011

KAVA buys more rights to the Finnish film heritage

On 16 November KAVA (the National Audiovisual Archive of Finland) has bought from Suomi-Filmi company rights to over 150 Finnish films from the silent era to the 1970s. This is in continuation to the purchase on 29 August 2011 from Finnkino of 300 Finnish feature films that were produced from the 1930s to the 1980s. The whole number of Finnish feature films is 1300.

The incentive to the acquisitions is KAVA's decision to start digitizing in 4K the Finnish film heritage. It makes more sense for the government to fund such a project when it also owns the rights.

The recent purchase includes over 150 feature films produced by the Suomi-Filmi company, and other feature films the rights of which had been transferred to Suomi-Filmi. Also included is a big number of short films and commercials.

Tv rights remain with YLE the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation. The rights to dvd's already published remain with Finnkino during a period of transition.

Among the treasures purchased are the majority of the Finnish silent feature films, the oeuvre of Valentin Vaala (such as Loviisa, for many the all-time best Finnish film), and many other prominent films such as The White Reindeer.

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