reeltoreel

Reeltoreel is a digital platform and preservation initiative dedicated to digitizing, cataloging, and providing access to historical film reels and related audiovisual materials. It supports high-quality digital transfers, standardized metadata, and careful rights management to enable both research and public viewing while protecting intellectual property.

Since its founding in 2019 by a coalition of national film archives, libraries, and universities, Reeltoreel has prioritized early cinema, newsreels, and regional repertory footage. The project coordinates cross-institutional digitization efforts, stores master files in secure repositories, and builds a centralized catalog that is searchable by title, date, creation company, format, and contributor.

The platform emphasizes interoperability and preservation standards. Metadata follows established schemes such as Dublin Core and PREMIS to support future preservation actions and scholarly reuse. Digitization workflows aim for archival-quality masters in lossless or near-lossless formats and include quality control, color correction, and color management.

Access to materials varies by rights status. Public-domain items may be streamed openly, while for licensed or restricted items users apply for access through partner institutions. Reeltoreel also hosts educational resources, curatorial notes, and contextual essays to support teaching and research.

Reeltoreel has collaborative projects with universities, film schools, and museums. It serves as a resource for researchers studying film history, media pedagogy, and restoration practices, and supports public exhibitions and digital screenings.