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Digital Restoration 

of the Czech Film 

Heritage

Thanks to the project and support by the Czech Ministry of Culture, the National 
Film Archive (NFA) has become a sponsor of the so-far largest digitisation 
project in Czech film history. A total of 14 films and film programmes underwent 
a demanding process of digital restoration so that they could re-appear in Czech 
and foreign cinemas in a quality corresponding to their premiere showing.  
The selected films include Czech film classics of various genres, such as Adéla 
ještě nevečeřela (Adela Has Not Had Supper Yet), Starci na chmelu (Hop-Pickers),  
Tři oříšky pro Popelku (Three Hazelnuts for Cinderella) or Ikarie XB1. The project 
was accompanied by many film showings and educational activities for the 
general and expert public, which took place in the Czech Republic as well  
as abroad. In addition to the digitisation and return of films back to screens,  
the project also focused on edification and publication of popularising and 
technical texts and books, research and PR activities.

“The most visible component and the main objective of the project was 
undoubtedly the digital restoration itself and returning the restored films back to 
cinemas. However, a great significance for the NFA consisted also in establishing 
specific cooperation with our project partners, the Norwegian National Library 
and the CESNET association. This cooperation laid down important foundations 
for the NFA’s further development in the complex field of digital archiving which 
I consider probably the most critical topic for the upcoming years.”

Matěj Strnad, digitisation coordinator and NFA audio-visual collection 
development specialist

“Vast historical research and a detailed analysis of the film materials stored 
(not only) in the National Film Archive enabled us not only to make the films 
accessible in their original form, but also to learn more details about our film 
history.”

Tereza Frodlová, film restorer, NFA

Project promoter  
National Film Archive (CZ)

Partners
Norwegian National 
Library (NO)

CESNET (CZ)