Kinolibrary Film Archive

Low rise jeans, thin eyebrows, an Oasis reunion… it’s safe to say that the 90s are back and better than ever, so this month we’re spotlighting our Cool Britannia collection. Featuring musicians of the moment like the Spice Girls, Pulp and the aforementioned Oasis alongside the iconic supermodels Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell, our 90s showreel perfectly captures the cultural zeitgeist of London at the time. Known as a decade of incredible fashion innovation, our collection also contains behind-the-scenes footage of designers and catwalks at the time, including Alexander McQueen in his studio. It was also a period of rapid change in technology and modern living, and our collection features footage that captures changing London neighbourhoods, as 90s mobile phones, computers and corporate offices.

This month we are spotlighting our footage of the famous (or infamous) island. Our footage of Ibiza is fantastically varied, spanning the decades from the 1960s up to the late 1990s. Our 1960s dreamy home movies of Ibiza capture the spirit of British holidaymakers on early package holidays, and many of these clips are available in 4K from 35mm. Moving into the 1990s, our extensive collection shows holidaymakers become ‘Brits Abroad’ as well as Ibiza's more glamorous side. It includes well-known clubs like Pacha, Privilege and Cafe del Mar, interviews with prominent DJs at the time including Danny Rampling along with frenetic and hedonistic clips from iconic superclubs like Amnesia and Space.

We are so excited to share a new collection with the world! Dick Jewell is a renowned artist and filmmaker with a passion for subcultures and nightlife of the 80s and 90s. Most of his collection has never been made commercially available until now. We are in the process of digitising his films so we can exclusively bring his unique footage to you, ready to licence. Including 1980s skinheads along with 80s underground hip hop scenes from London clubs. There is 90s Ibiza, raves, Flesh at The Hacienda, and extravagantly costumed clubbers from the unparalleled club night Kinky Gerlinky (we’ve already spotted Sinead O’Connor, Boy George and Leigh Bowery so far). With so much more of the collection yet to explore, we’ll be uploading new content to our website as we discover it.

This month we are spotlighting our fabulous Disco footage. In the style of Studio 54, this collection captures the spirit of disco inferno in the 70s and 80s in stunning 2K and 4K quality. Filmed in underground LGBTQ+ clubs in the US where the genre was originally pioneered, as well energetic venues across the world including the UK and Germany. The majority of this collection is shot straight on the dance-floor giving an immersive, authentic feel. Come for the moves, stay for the spandex!

Jamaican sound culture has long been a staple of culture in the UK. Ska concerts, reggae venues, dance halls and sound system clashes all have offered a space for the Jamaican diaspora living in Britain to connect, create and relax.

In an often hostile society for Black people throughout the decades, dance halls in Britain operate as sites of healing and spiritual nourishment. Governed by their own politics away from mainstream society, these spaces offer a sustaining resource against a backdrop of oppression. 

Our footage wonderfully captures how important these spaces are for expression and kinship. It witnesses the wonderful artists, emcees and DJs, and those enjoying themselves in the dance. 

Celebrating the legacy of films by Menelik Shabazz, whose complex and sensitive polyphonic works rage against mainstream media’s myths about Black communities in London. 

His first documentary Step Forward Youth (1977) is a film about London born Black youths splices together bedroom interviews, reggae parties, journeys to school and makeup sessions. Young people discuss the issues they face in the different spaces that they navigate. Interspersed with clips from work, school, parties, and high street scenes, it is a deft and layered immersion into the actual and interior worlds of its subjects. Step Forward Youth also contributed to the repeal of the sus law in 1981, which was routinely abused to stop and interrogate Black people in public.

Blood ah go run (1981) takes the New Cross Massacre as its central issue. It follows protestors from south-east London to Westminster as they chant against the racist attack and police negligence that saw a lack of a thorough investigation or arrest. The film highlights the disregard of the arson attack that tragically killed 13 young people aged between 14 and 22 by government officials and the media, and the strength and resistance of those who fought for justice.

The People’s Account (1987) gathers oral testimonies about the broadwater farm uprising, which took place in a housing estate in Tottenham in 1985 after astonishing acts of police violence against the Black community. It offers a dynamic, living document and oral archive that contests the two dimensional articles and reports that criminalised the Black community and those involved in the uprising. 

Shabazz will be remembered for his unflinching yet sensitive filmmaking which favoured a multi-voiced approach, and which handled painful topics with so much compassion and grace. 

In the early 1990s a new sound was emerging in the underground raves of London.

In a shared squat in Stoke Newington a group of DJs met and connected over a love of music and disillusionment with the commercial clubbing scene. For them, mainstream clubs were too clean-cut and restrictive and house music lacked hardcore edge.

Dubbed Chris, Aaron, and Julian Liberator, the trio started playing illegal Squat parties and sweaty basement clubs as The Liberator DJ Collective. They became architects of a new sound, and filled derelict, industrial spaces with what they called ‘acid techno’.

They fused acid with chunky techno and high adrenaline trance, and their hybrid, gritty sounds reflected the architecture of the warehouses and basements they were played in. The parties began in large house parties that would host live punk bands downstairs (accessible via a fireman’s pole erected through a hole cut into the floor) but, by the middle of the decade, turned into large-scale events that would attract thousands of revellers.

The scene developed via an illegal network of parties. Organisers would often break into spaces on the night, and party goers received the location of the rave via a pre-recorded partyline at the last minute.

‘Questslove’s explosive new documentary Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) uncovers the mystery and wonder of 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. Dubbed the black Woodstock, the event was attended by over 300,000 festivalgoers and featured performances from over 30 giants of soul.

It features an excavated treasure trove of footage that had been sitting in the festival producer’s basement for some 50 years, alongside some brilliant Kino footage, to tell the tale of a festival that defined not only a generation, but an era.

The archive transports you viscerally to the action of those sun soaked days in Harlem where rich and tender sounds of the likes of  B. B. King, Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, and Sly and the Family Stone resound in the summer air. Summer of Soul captures a turning point in history, and reinstates a moment of cosmic cultural importance back into collective memory.

Legend of British cinema Menelik Shabazz sadly passed in June. He leaves behind a great legacy and will be remembered for his sharp vision and triumphant works centering Black narratives, celebrating Black culture and fighting for Black liberation.

Working as a writer, director and producer, Shabazz was a trailblazer and his stories have shaped the landscape of British cinema. He remained radical throughout his career, which began with documentary Breaking Point: The “Sus Law” in 1978, which scrutinised the police stop and search policy. He went on to join the Black Liberation Front, and direct ‘Blood Ah Go Run’ in 1982, a documentary on the response in the Black community of the New Cross Fire.

Shabazz co-founded the Ceddo Film Video Workshop in 1982 with a vision to empower Black film production, training and film screenings, and founded the BFM International Film Festival in 1999.

The writer, director and producer had relocated to Zimbabwe to work on a new project, The Spirits Return, his first full-length fiction feature in 40 years. He will be sorely missed, but will remain an inspiration for future generations of filmmakers, and his work will continue to empower, challenge and liberate.

Do you have a passion for archival film and excellent organisational skills? Then look no further than this brilliant role...

Kinolibrary is an independent agency representing remarkable and rare archive footage from around the world. Founded by an award-winning team, our boutique service offers free research to help you find exceptional and inspirational clips from our archive. Our collections span the world and tell a century of stories from 1890s trick films to 1990s rave footage.

Kinolibrary is recruiting an Archive Assistant to join our team. You will be responsible for ensuring our clients are able to find the clips we are looking for through effective scanning, master clipping, shotlisting and Youtube clipping.

Responsibilities

Film handling and scanning (training provided)

Returning and retrieving reels from offsite storage unit

Assisting with cataloguing of footage

Creating high resolution clips

Uploading content to online platforms (including YouTube)

Shotlisting films as required

Knowledge, skills, experience

Highly organised with the ability to prioritise tasks

Aptitude for technical tasks

A passion for film and history

Meticulous attention to detail

Good writing, numeracy and IT skills, particularly Excel

Self-motivated

Knowledge of Final Cut Pro X and basic HTML and CSS coding is desirable

Good at problem solving

Excellent communication skills

Proven ability to work to tight deadlines

We welcome and encourage applications from candidates who are under-represented in the creative industries.

Please note that the company reserves the right to withdraw this listing prior to the official closing date, therefore we recommend getting your applications in early.

50 years on, Apple TV+’s new lively and colourful 8-part documentary series 1971:The Year that Music Changed Everything is a lucid immersion into what proved to be a riotous and  explosive moment in music, politics and culture.

Densely packed with rich and often rare archival footage, the docuseries thrusts us headlong into the fray. It features unpolished studio sessions, frank interviews, intimate backstage moments and heaving protests, situating you at dizzyingly close proximity with the people and events that it narrates. 

In a year when a number of incredibly major albums were released, 1971 impressively conjures the zeitgeist. It shows how music played as catalyst, reaction and soundtrack to the political consciousness and cultural revolutions of the time, as political events and music swirl in the same sea. 

Structured around themes as opposed to operating by a chronological timeline, the documentary draws events and artists as locus points, mapping their intersection with ideas. Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’ and John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ are played with a backdrop of disturbing clips of bombs going off in Vietnam and footage of Veterans discarding their medals in protest. Gil Scott Heron’s ‘The Revolution Will Not be Televised’ is accompanied by a strip of cartoons and commercials, and Bob Dylan’s ‘George Jackson’ is played over the funeral of the Black Panther and murdered Soledad brother activist. It also notes how female musicians like Carole King and Joni Mitchell broke the mould in their aching vulnerable lyrics, accompanied by footage of Women’s Liberation Marches, proto-reality show An American Family, which for the first time, showed the dissatisfaction of the housewife of traditional suburban, consumerist, nuclear family.

Kinolibrary is a growing community of passionate people, proudly bringing unseen and rare archive footage to media productions across the world. We work with many film collections and filmmakers offering an eclectic array of high quality historical films from illegal raves in the 80s and the mean streets of New York in the 70s to the modernization of 60s Dubai and underground punk home movies.

Are you a confident communicator who can use your creative and flexible approach to ensure our clients receive the very best, bespoke solutions? Can your brilliant analytical skills support and develop an evolving sales strategy? Are you highly organised with a good memory when handling dozens of accounts daily? Are you looking for an opportunity to make a real impact within an exciting. non-corporate, growing company and to be given the freedom to help shape our success as a leading provider of amazing archive footage?

We are looking for a friendly and dynamic Account Manager with an entrepreneurial spirit who excels at building and maintaining meaningful client relationships, working on projects ranging from Hollywood blockbusters to museum exhibitions.

Role:

● Consistently meet and exceed sales targets ● Rigorously pursue all sales leads and maximise business opportunities within our existing client base ● Seek out new business opportunities, hitting and exceeding outbound sales targets ● Deliver flawless client-support throughout the sales process and nurture strong and loyal relationships with our growing client base ● Work with the rest of the Kino team to evaluate and improve systems to make Kinolibrary a leading supplier of archive footage ● Forecast and track KPIs throughout the sales process ● Collaborate with the Sales Manager to develop and improve sales strategies ● Maintain accurate and full client data within our CRM system ● Position offers a hybrid of office-based and remote working opportunity

Skills and Experience

● 2+ years of sales experience as an Account Executive or Account Manager or similar role with a track record of meeting and exceeding targets ● An excellent communicator and negotiator who easily builds rapport and adapts to the needs of each individual client

● A helpful team member who demonstrates agility when working with new ideas and processes ● A highly organised and accurate worker who keeps a cool head under pressure ● A natural problem solver who enjoys working in a small team and has the drive to make meaningful contributions to the success of the company. ● Industry knowledge of footage licensing is desirable but not essential.

Full Time - Basic 45K p.a. (65K + OTE) uncapped bonus

Approaching the commemoration of 20 years since the 9/11 attacks, we’ve been looking back on our New York City archive from the 1990s and 2000s, including time-lapses, driving footage, bustling Manhattan and more. Our archive also features the World Trade Centre via breathtaking aerials and evocative skylines from its construction onwards, as well as footage of New York throughout the attacks, including the emergency services, reactions from New Yorkers, and the Towers themselves. For program-makers looking to commemorate the events, this vivid and arresting archive is a vital resource to place the tragedy in its historical context.

1970s Aerials of the Twin Towers at night

2000 New York skyline

Spring 2001 drive along Broadway

Times Square in Spring 2001

‘Sisters With Transistors’ is a love letter to the liberation of technology. Revelling in the achievements of ground-breaking women such as Delia Derbyshire, Clara Rockmore and Daphne Oram, to name a few, the film tells “the story of dreams enabled by technology” in what has been described as visual music composed from archive.

Documenting the untold history of electronic music’s female pioneers, it stitches together an archival dreamscape. The film operates by a poetics of imagination, hashing together archive clips of nuclear tests, avant-garde dance and women’s liberation protests around footage of the musicians and equipment that they used. Archive is also used to illustrate the sounds that cultivated an aesthetic interest in abstract sound - Delia Derbyshire speaks of listening to the air raid siren, and being mesmerised by the sound. This composition communicates the visions of the incredible women pioneers it describes, holding you in a subconscious soup of imagination.

‘Sisters With Transistors’ traces how technology allowed these women to circumvent the obstacles and gatekeepers of traditional music composition. At the time, electronic music was seen as an open genre where the old and oppressive power structures no longer applied. 

Disrupting patriarchal historicity, there is no singular hero of ‘Sisters With Transistors’. Instead, there are visionaries that are responding to a shared dream or train of thought, whose visions interweave fluidly.

The filmmaker Lisa Rovner has explained that the archive materials actually drew the narrative of the film. Discovering the women in the archive led her to understand that these artists were acknowledged and celebrated in their time, but have been written out of history. The importance of documentation and preservation has never felt more pertinent.

Lovingly and meticulously made, and featuring a wealth of archive from Kinolibrary, ‘Sisters with Transistors’ will cradle you in an audiovisual pool and change the way you think about sound and listening.

Our collections feature their fair share of cultural icons and landmarks, but sometimes we like to celebrate those idiosyncratic cultural cul-de-sacs which don’t get as much attention. Take the Gilroy Garlic Festival, for example. Our archive dunks you into the heady stench of sizzling, barbecuing, roasting garlic, amid music and merriment in 1980s California. Now drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, in 1980 the annual Festival was just beginning. Here are some clips to give you a taste!

From farming...

Via the factory..

To the Festival!

Don Letts’s archive is testament to the profound cultural exchange between the black and white youth of London in the late 1970s and early 1980s. 

Armed with a Super 8 camera, Letts recorded influential figures of London’s most prominent two countercultures of the time; Reggae and Punk. 

Their ideological meeting place was in youth rebellion and social action. Against the backdrop of social fragmentation and rampant unemployment, Reggae and Punk rallied against a system which seemed to offer no social mobility, opportunities or future. 

Punk predominantly represented disaffected white youth, whose aesthetics reflected the chaos and decay that they saw around them. Punk forged its own methods - built upon refuting traditional rules and a DIY philosophy. Don adopted this attitude in his filmmaking.

Roots reggae and dub has a long history of social commentary, and criticism of hypocrisy in government and social organisation. When it was imported into the UK with Jamaican musicians, its scathing indictments of corruption were applied to Britain, with its overt and covert racist practices, and economic and social marginalisation. 

Punk predominantly represented disaffected white youth, whose aesthetics reflected the chaos and decay that they saw around them. The stomping ground of the Punk movement was The Roxy, a basement club in which bands including Generation X, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Slits and The Clash played. Don toured with The Clash, band managed the Slits, and DJed at the Roxy, playing heavyweight dub tracks in between sets and, in doing so, has been said to have turned a whole generation of Punks onto Reggae. 

Don went with John Lydon to Jamaica in 1977, and recorded the encounters of Jamaican artists and the previous Sex Pistols frontman, including U-Roy, Prince Hammer and The Congos.

Rastafarian rebellion runs through the veins of Jamaican bass culture, and music is often punctuated with calls to ‘burn down babylon’. Don filmed Jamaican reggae musicians in Jamaica and the UK.  His archive bears witness to the lifestyles and indelible messages of these artists, from the commanding chants of Prince Far I and the defiant dub poetry of Linton Kwesi Johnson to the antidotal verses of Big Youth and Culture.

Followers of the Punk and Reggae movements found common ground, being united in their disenfranchisement with mainstream culture and rejection of the status quo. Both countercultures called for destruction and reformation of current unjust and unfair systems of oppression, and built an aesthetic of expression, protest and expansion.

In the 1970s and early 1980s a vibrant new subculture was emerging from the Black and Latino communities in the Bronx. 

Disenfranchised and marginalised by mainstream society, young people forged their own currencies of social capital. Hip hop redirected the latent energy and frustration with urban life, and resulted with competitions of creativity, flair, and style, producing a vibrant underbelly of cultural activity. Graffiti, rap, and breakdancing were all articulations of this same emphatic force. 

Hip hop’s energy spawned new art forms, engendering new ways of perceiving, responding to and engaging with public space. Breakdancing, a type of dance which combines elements of martial arts, mime and acrobatics, brought crews together in parks and venues to compete against each other.

Graffiti was a way for young writers to inscribe themselves onto the walls and subway trains of the city, and to creatively reclaim public space. 

Gangs ecologies, initially formed to ensure territorial safety, transformed into groups of community organising and grassroots political action. The Black and Puerto Rican people of the Bronx were united in their resistance against the oppression of white ‘American Yank’, and desire to create a better environment for their people.

Hip hop  travelled to all parts of the city, via the graffitied trains, breakdancing competitions and block parties, eventually gaining international recognition as a valued New York cultural export, and attracting people from all over the world.