Norwich Heritage Economic and Regeneration Trust’s (HEART’s), Digital Heritage Project has released 9 newly digitised archive films showing how we used to celebrate Christmas on both sides of the channel – which can be viewed online now at www.archivealive.org.
Take a nostalgic look at these wonderful festive films made in East Anglia and Upper Normandy, France, from 1930 to 1970 to get truly into the Christmas spirit.
Filmed in colour and black and white, the films are a selection box of real life Christmas stories drawn mostly from home movie collections preserved at the UEA’s East Anglian Film Archive (EAFA) and Rouen’s Pôle Image.
These films are the latest to be added to the unique Archive Alive website launched in October, which showcases some fascinating moving image records of our lives during the last century. You can see how families celebrated Christmas throughout the years and also watch some special celebrations for disabled children and those unlucky enough to be in hospital over the holiday. And of course, Christmas shopping features in the films – it seems that buying underwear for their ladies has been a Christmas conundrum for men for many years!
Films from East Anglia include: The Blaxland family Christmas (1930); A Christmas party for disabled people (1954); Baby’s first Christmas (1964); Christmas at Kelling (1964); and Christmas shopping in Curls (1963); whilst the selection from France features: Noël (1948); Joyeux Noël (1952); Julien & Sébastien celebrate Christmas (1967) and Noël (1970).
Jane Jarvis, Digital Heritage Project Manager said: “I am sure we all have very special memories of our childhood Christmases – writing to or visiting Father Christmas, hanging up your stocking and then the magic of Christmas morning. But how wonderful that some of these memories have been captured on film, preserved and now digitised for more people to share. I hope all generations will enjoy watching these clips – with the added bonus of seeing how the French used to celebrate – the wonder of Christmas can be seen on the faces of children wherever they are!”
Norwich HEART’s Digital Heritage Project is currently working with EAFA to digitise hundreds of archive films from Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire from as far back as 1896. With an aim of bringing the archive alive, the Digital Heritage Project is working with two major film archives from both sides of the channel, EAFA and Rouen based, Pôle Image Haute-Normandie.
In October 2012, the Digital Heritage Project launched its new website www.archivealive.org which showcases a vast and impressive collection of East Anglian and French films which are an important part of our social history and heritage. More film clips will be added to the site over the coming months. This project is made possible via EU funding from the Interreg IVA Channel Programme within the scope of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
For further information on the Digital Heritage Project please contact project manager Jane Jarvis on [email protected].
About Norwich HEART
Norwich Heritage Economic and Regeneration Trust (HEART) is a private, charitable trust set up to act as an umbrella organisation for all of the heritage on offer in Norwich. We strategically plan, regenerate, manage and promote Norwich’s heritage and act as a best practice model internationally for developing heritage as a social and economic regeneration vehicle. HEART receives core funding from Norwich City Council and further project funding from a variety of sources which has to date included the European Union, HM Treasury, the East of England Development Agency and Norfolk County Council.
About the Digital Heritage Project
Norwich HEART is partnering Pole Image Haute-Normandie as part of their Interreg Channel Partnership, Digital Heritage.
The East Anglian Film Archive is the moving image archive for the region. The Archive is owned and operated by the University of East Anglia (UEA) www.eafa.org.uk
Pôle Image Haute-Normandie is a non-profit organisation funded by the Region of Upper Normandy and The Minister of Culture and Communication for its missions in favour of cinema, audiovisual production and photography www.poleimagehn.com
Interreg IVA Channel Programme is funded by the European Union, within the scope of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The programme aims to promote emergence – between the French and English parties – of a space of common citizenship fostering a sense of belonging to a cross-border area, and endowed with a specific identity
