Periodicals Collection
The collection of Austrian and international film periodicals housed by the Austrian Film Museum includes more than 400 different titles (approximately 150,000 individual issues) in more than 20 languages. It is continually expanded through donations and purchases.
The online database provides a closer look at these holdings.
The existing titles cover a wide range of disciplines (aesthetics, history, technology, theory, etc) and, together with the Film Museum library, form an important source of research. Holdings range from complete collections of classic and widely influential film magazines such as Cahiers du Cinéma, Positif, Sight & Sound, Film Comment, Film Culture, Filmkritik and Variety, to rare magazines that are otherwise not accessible in Austria: i.e., early U.S. periodicals from 1908 to 1935, or a large collection of Andy Warhol's Interview (from its inception as a pure film magazine through the early 1980s). Short-lived titles which nonetheless have great significance for film history are also represented, for example, Close Up (UK, 1927–33), Experimental Film (USA, 1930–34), La Revue du Cinéma (France, 1946–49), Film (West Germany, 1963–71), Afterimage (UK, 1970–87), Kintop (Germany, 1992–2005), Meteor (Austria, 1995–99), or cinéma (France, 2001–07).
German and Austrian film magazines (from the early days as well those currently still in existence) are another focus of the collection. Also, the border regions between film and the visual arts are represented through titles such as October, Texte zur Kunst, Camera Austria and Springerin. Other magazines currently being subscribed to include Cineaste, Cinema Scope, Film Quarterly, Journal of Popular Film and Television, The Velvet Light Trap, Film History, Cargo, epd film, Filmbulletin, Filmdienst, Trafic, and many others.
The database does not provide information about the specific content of individual issues; inquiries should be directed to the International Film Periodical Index issued by FIAF – a continually updated database of film magazine articles since 1972 which is available online at the Film Museum library.
The development of this digital database has been funded by the Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture.
