EFG1914 Project website

Digitising Film From and About the First World War

To watch films digitised within the EFG1914 project, please visit: >> THE EUROPEAN FILM GATEWAY – FIRST WORLD WAR FILMS

About EFG1914

EFG1914 was a digitisation project focusing on films and non-film material from and related to World War I. It started on 15 February 2012 and ran for two years until 15 Feburary 2014. 26 partners, among them 21 European film archives, were working towards the following main goals:

To digitise 661 hours of film and ca. 5,600 film-related documents on the theme of the First World War

To give access to the material through the European Film Gateway and Europeana

To build a virtual exhibition using selected objects digitised in EFG1914

Project results

Digitised 701 hours of film and ca. 6,100 film-related documents from and about the First World War digitised

Given access to ca. 740 hours of films and 6,100 film-related documents through the European Film Gateway and Europeana

and through the European Film Gateway and Europeana Built a Virtual Exhibition using selected objects digitised in EFG1914



EFG1914 covers all the different genres and sub-genres relevant in that time: newsreels, documentaries, fiction films, propaganda films. Moreover, EFG1914 also gives access to anti-war films that were mainly produced after 1918 and which reflect the tragedies of the 1910s. This material is of special importance since only around 20% of the complete silent film production survived in the film heritage institutions. Therefore, EFG1914 set out to digitize a crucial part and a critical mass of these remaining moving image records, mostly undiscovered by the public.

EFG1914 was the follow-up project of EFG – The European Film Gateway (2008-2011). The main outcome of the EFG project is the online portal The European Film Gateway, which gives access to several hundreds of thousands photos, films, texts and other material preserved in European film archives. More information on the initial EFG project can be found here.