FOCAL Awards 2026 Booklet by FOCAL International

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The FOCAL Awards 2026 Host: Ria Hebden

We are delighted to welcome presenter, broadcast journalist and media trailblazer Ria Hebden as host of the FOCAL International Awards 2026.

A dynamic and influential voice across television and radio, Ria has presented on many of the world’s most influential platforms, from BBC One and ITV, to Good Morning America, interviewing global icons including Jennifer Aniston, Harrison Ford and Sigourney Weaver.

Beyond her broadcasting work, Ria is a passionate advocate for greater representation in the media industry and is building systems for lasting change. In 2016, she founded Wonder Women CIC, an inspirational network dedicated to championing diverse women in mid-to-senior television roles through networking, mentorship and increased visibility. She further amplifies these voices through The Wonder Women TV Podcast, which features candid and inspiring conversations with successful industry leaders.

A committed supporter of diversity and female leadership, Ria brings energy, insight and authenticity to everything she does. These qualities closely reflect FOCAL’s mission to celebrate excellence in archival storytelling and the creative use of footage worldwide.

FOCAL International Team: Kay Page - Managing Director Sebastian Martin - Business Coordinator

FOCAL International Executive Council Members: Amanda Huntley, Ben Jones, Bobby Dicks, Brid Dooley, Camille Carlier, Helen Walker, Jo Griffin, Kate Griffiths, Kathy Manners, Martin Lisius, Obi Adumekwe, Richard Goldthorpe, Richard Remsberg

Video Editor: Sebastian Martin

Programme Designer: Adrienne Kuster

Photography: Shutterstock & Picsel

Film Crew: Stone & Glow

A Message From FOCAL:

We are delighted to welcome you to the 23rd Annual FOCAL International Awards. For more than two decades, these Awards have been a cornerstone of the archive world, shining a light on the extraordinary power of archival footage in storytelling, education, and the preservation of cultural memory. Year after year, they celebrate not only the material itself, but the expertise, care, and commitment of the people who bring archives to life.

The exceptional number of entries we received this year sends a powerful message. This is an industry proud of its work, confident in its craft, and keen to celebrate excellence. It also speaks to the remarkable depth, diversity, and global reach of talent across our community. Archival work is, by its very nature, collaborative. Researchers, archivists, producers, rights specialists, restoration and preservation experts, technologists, and storytellers all play a vital role. No single discipline operates in isolation. It is the combined knowledge, skill, and dedication of these professionals that ensures archival footage continues to inform, inspire, and endure.

On behalf of FOCAL International, I would like to offer my sincere thanks to everyone who submitted their work, to our expert juries who undertook the rigorous task of judging, and to our wider community for continuing to champion the value and importance of archives. We are also delighted to be partnering with the National Film and Television School and INA, and its school and training centre INA Campus, on our Student Jury Award, reinforcing our commitment to nurturing and inspiring the next generation of archive storytellers.

This evening, we celebrate not only the shortlisted nominees and winners, but the shared creativity, collaboration, and resilience of our industry. So, let’s keep telling those stories, keep championing our archives, and keep pushing this vital work forward.

We hope you enjoy the evening - and that you’ll help us spread the word to inspire the future of archive storytelling.

Kay Page - Managing Director

Thank You To Our Jurors:

Adam Dunlop, Alex Bingham, Alfie Newson, Anastasia Stankovsky, Andrew Stevens, Angela Saward, Barbara Gregson, Ben Jones, Brandon Krajewski, Camille Carlier, Charles Fairall, Charlotte Mackie, Claire West, Corentin Jouzel, Daniel Glynn, Daphné Puissant, Daria Svitailo, David Diarrassouba, David Parsons, Eleanor Wass, Elizabeth Bowley, Erik Lucassen, Espen Bale, Evangeline Rouse, Fiona Kelly, Francis Jones, Gonzalo Chacón, Gregor Murbach, Guillaume Boure, Harleena Gill, Harry Benbow, Harry van Biessum, Helen Carr, Helen Upcraft, Holly Webster, Jackie Clary, Jacqui Gupta, James Macmillan, Jane Fish, Jo Stones, John Craighead, Josh Clark, Kalbir Dhillon, Kate Coe, Kate Lingley, Kathy Manners, Kieran Jackson, Lee Shoulders, Linda Chibani, Louise Lavoinne, Luke Smedley, Luna Jagger, Lyn Morgan, Marta Houske, Massimo Moretti, Matthieu Miseré, Maria Farres Fernandez, Marie-Laure Avezoux, Molly Qualter, Monika Prieschl, Morgane Barrier, Nell Cunningham, Nicola Gallani, Nicolas Ricordel, Orianne Bastar, Patrick Burton, Paul Collard, Paul McClintock, Rachel Matthews, Raelene Rawlings, Rami Abdul-Hadi, Raye Farr, Razib Chatterjee, Richard Goldthorpe, Richard Higgins, Rose Poulot, Rory Carruthers, Sam Quinn, Shane O’Sullivan, Sheila Maniar, Sienna Park, Signe Loven, Simon Clark, Simon Withington, Sophie Fisher, Suzanne Brière, Thomasin Summerford, Val Evans, Valentina Rossetto, Wilma Demel

FOCAL International Lifetime Achievement Award 2026: Jane Fish

Jane Fish has dedicated more than forty years to the Imperial War Museums (IWM). She is a trusted advisor to researchers, archive producers, and broadcasters in the UK and internationally, guiding them on content, historical context, and copyright, and overseeing research, access, supply, and licensing. Across decades of technological change and organisational restructure, she remains a constant source of expertise, adapting processes from analogue to digital and developing new approaches to meet complex project demands.

Jane has led and contributed to major initiatives to improve access to IWM’s film holdings, including successive developments of IWM Film, and continues to be a thoughtful advocate for the ethical use of archive footage, presenting on the subject and helping shape policy.

A longstanding supporter of FOCAL International, Jane has served on its Executive Council, Events Committee, and FOCAL International Awards jury, championing the responsible and creative use of archive film. More recently, she focuses on cataloguing IWM’s original film paperwork, enhancing understanding of both the historical context of film production and the evolution of the museum’s collections.

Jane Fish said:

“I am stunned and delighted to receive this award from FOCAL, which I humbly accept. I see this award not only as an appreciation of my long career though constantly changing times for both archives and archive users, but also as a tribute for the work done by all archive staff to make their content available for users.”

FOCAL International stated:

“We are delighted to celebrate Jane’s incredible contributions to FOCAL and also honour her dedication to IWM and the wider industry.

For nine years, Jane has been a cornerstone of FOCAL, serving on the board from 2013 to 2022 and expertly chairing the Events committee through several transformations.

Known for her integrity, wisdom, and positive spirit, Jane elevates every meeting with thoughtful questions and constructive dialogue. Her generous mentorship and unwavering support continue to shape FOCAL’s success and strengthen our community.

Jane’s contributions are further celebrated through the wonderful accolades she has received from colleagues and peers at IWM and beyond.”

Best Archive Restoration and Preservation Project or Title

African Jim

(also known as Jim Comes to Jo’burg)

Production Company: R3store Studios

Synopsis: Originally released in 1949, Jim Comes to Jo’burg-also known as African Jim-was the first feature-length entertainment film made with a black cast and specifically for black audiences in South Africa.

Archival Highlights: The film has only previously been available in a poor quality SD version, this is the first time it has been scanned and restored in 4K and made available to the public for the first time since its initial release.

The First Aerial Journey Across Europe

Production Company: GP archives

Synopsis: Embark on a 90-minute journey aboard two airplanes making the first ever filmed air raid across Central Europe. Alternating between aerial and ground shots, the director and cameraman fly over ten countries and reveal striking landscapes still deeply marked by the traces of the First World War.

Archival Highlights: This restoration faced a double challenge: To reconstruct a film for which there was no narrative thread and very few intertitles and to carry out 4K digitization and complete digital restoration of all the material.

The German Retreat and Battle of Arras

Production Company: IWM (Imperial War Museums)

Synopsis: The restoration of Battle of Arras (1917), completes IWM’s thirty-year project to digitally restore the Big Battle Films (Battle of the Somme, Battle of the Ancre); a groundbreaking trilogy of factual films.

Archival Highlights: IWM’s restoration of the 16 coloured shots and red intertitles marks a revival of the original nature of the film - no coloured version has been available since the tinted nitrate print was withdrawn from use before the Second World War. The general restoration work to make the film complete, to repair damage and rectify defects has greatly improved the viewing experience.

Riso Amaro

Production Company: Cineteca di Bologna

Synopsis: An ambiguous affiliation to the neorealist movement. To give the whole thing a sense of unity, Giuseppe De Santis resorts to torrid eroticism, making use of the unusual gathering of women at work.

Archival Highlights: The 4K restoration of Riso Amaro (Giuseppe De Santis, 1949) was carried out by the Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna, in collaboration with Cristaldifilm, using the best available elements preserved at the Cineteca Nazionale. The original camera negative, incomplete and missing 7 of its 14 reels due to severe chemical deterioration, was supplemented with a lavender print held by the Cineteca Nazionale and produced in 1994.

Sterne by Konrad Wolf, 1959

Production Company: L’Immagine Ritrovata Group, DEFA Stiftung

Synopsis: Inspired by the recollections of Bulgarian screenwriter Angel Wagenstein, Sterne, set in 1943, tells the tragic love story of Ruth (Sascha Kruscharska), an imprisoned Greek Jewish teacher, and Walter (Jürgen Frohriep), a German sergeant posted in a Bulgarian transit camp.

Archival Highlights: This project, through the 4K digitization and restoration, aims to return one of Konrad Wolf’s most important works to its original splendor. Sterne is the first film by a German director to address the deportation of Jews to the Auschwitz extermination camp. Given its significant historical and social importance, the restoration of this film will allow it to be seen and appreciated by a new generation of viewers.

Best Use of Footage in Advertising or Branded Content

ABinBev “Cheers to Bars”

A journey through the moments large and small that happen in bars, starting with a nod to legendary historical venues such as the iconic underground haunt CBGB, The Cavern Club, home of The Beatles, and The Freemason’s Arms, the birthplace of soccer.

Directors: Henry Joost, Rel Schulman | Producer: Alexandra Nish | Footage Archive Producer: Maureen Cavanaugh | Footage Archive

Researchers: Craig Phillips, Jen Tam, Itzel Sarabia, Brandi Self, Chelsea Zerbe, Aaron Sharper, Mike Kho | Archival Sources: Individual Personal Collections, Getty Images, Magnum Photos, Alamy | Production Company: PS260, STALKR | Country of Production: United States

Brompton ‘Life Unfolded’

As the brand turns 50, Brompton launched its landmark birthday with ‘Life Unfolded’, a campaign written by The Liberty Guild which celebrates the unique brilliance of the Brompton bicycle. The centrepiece of the campaign is this film which draws down on the Brompton archives to celebrate their unique heritage.

Director: Oliver Murray | Producer: James Bolton | Footage Archive

Producer: Oliver Murray | Archival Sources: Brompton Folding Bikes, Private Archives of Cycling Enthusiasts | Production Company: Mythsmyth, The Liberty Guild | Country of Production: United Kingdom

Danette “Top of the Pop”

“Danette’s famed tagline, “We all stand up for Danette” is given a very literal interpretation in this dynamic and fun film, packed with memorable moments.

Director: Antoine Bardou-Jacquet | Producer: Laureen Rigot | Footage Archive Producer: Marina Sanchez | Footage Archive Researchers: Ed Cook, Pepito Moran, Morgan Foye, Marijana Radovic, Katarina Stankovic, Dragana Jovanovic | Archival Sources: Independent sources & archives, Hollywood studios (Warner Bros, Universal, Sony), IMG & Sports federations, Social media platforms (Instagram, YouTube etc), TV broadcasters + production companies | Production Company: BETC, STALKR | Country of Production: France, United Kingdom

‘Starring GREAT Britain’ campaign

The global campaign invites viewers to discover the REAL star of the show, Great Britain, through the cinematic lens of film & TV.

Director: Tom Hopper | Producer: Tom Moxham | Footage Archive

Producer: Jared Brown | Footage Archive Researcher: Hazel May | Archival Sources: Disney, Netflix, Universal, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros. | Production Company: SMUGGLER, Hazel May ltd, Pablo London, Whitehouse Post, Framestore | Country of Production: United Kingdom

Trainline “Get Your Bum On Board”

A cheeky homage to the nation’s rears and their collective power to make a greener choice and travel by train.

Director: Glenn Kitson | Producer: Priya Shial | Footage Archive

Producer: Marina Sanchez | Footage Archive Researchers: Ed Cook, Pepito Moran, Morgan Foye, Marijana Radovic, Katarina Stankovic, Dragana Jovanovic | Archival Sources: Independent sources & archives, Social media platforms (Instagram, YouTube etc), Footage libraries (Getty, Alamy, Pond5, among others), UGC media libraries (Jukin, Newsflare, among others) | Production Company: DEPT / STALKR | Country of Production: United Kingdom

FOCAL FESTIVAL OF ARCHIVES

Best Use of Footage in a History Production

7/7: The London Bombings

On 7 July 2005, four bombs exploded in London - the first suicide bombings on English soil. Hour by hour, day by day, this series tells story of the biggest police investigation in British history.

Directors: Adam Wishart, Jim Nally | Producers: Adam Wishart, Jim Nally, Neil Grant | Footage Archive Producer: Mark Tinkler | Archival Sources: BBC News archive, ITN, Getty Images, AP Archive, Reuters Screenocean, Coroner’s Inquest into the London Bombings of 7 July 2005 | Production Company: The Slate Works | Country of Production: United Kingdom

Clock - Socialist Burgers Inc.

Blending a wealth of archival footage, dramatisations, and animation, Clock – Socialist Burgers Inc. humorously reveals how the Swedes tried to steal the most American symbol of all – the hamburger – and how that attempt reflects a broader identity crisis.

Director: Gustav Górecki | Producers: Julia Wickström Giraldeau, Petter Hansson | Footage Archive Producers: Petter Hansson, Julia Wickström Giraldeau | Footage Archive Researcher: Gustav Górecki, Petter Hansson, Annelie Bergman | Archival Sources: SVT Archives, Centrum för Näringslivshistoria, Private Archives, TT Bild, Getty Images | Production Company: Deedy Group AB, SVT | Country of Production: Sweden

Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time

When Hurricane Katrina unleashed a catastrophic flood on New Orleans, it exposed far more than the vulnerabilities in the city’s faulty levee system.

Director: Traci A. Curry | Producers: Jonathan Chinn, Simon Chinn, Ryan Coogler, Myles Estey, Ted Skillman, Zinzi Coogler, Sev Ohanian, Peter Nicks, Kalia King | Footage Archive Producer: Julieann Galdames | Archival Sources: Rasmus Holm, Jason Affolder, John Keller, CNN, ABC News | Production Company: Lightbox, Proximity Media, National Geographic | Country of Production: United States

Iron Ladies

The story of how an international network of young Jewish women took on the might of the Soviet Union, at the height of the Cold War, in support of persecuted “Refusenik” Jews… and won.

Director: Aoife Kelleher | Producer: Roger Childs | Footage Archive Producer: Anne-Marie Staunton | Footage Archive Researcher: Ciarán Hickey | Archival Sources: The Associated Press, Reuters, Reuters, ITV, Getty Images, NBC | Production Company: Raidió Teilifís Éireann, ARTE | Country of Production: Ireland, Germany

Vietnam: The Birth of a Nation

In April 1975, the war in Vietnam came to an end. Fifty years later, this four-part documentary series retraces the journey.

Director: Philipp Gromov, Lucio Mollica, Lena Noad | Producers: Regina Bouchehri, Gunnar Dedio, Birgit Rasch, Eleonora Faccio, Ilona Dedio, Katarzyna Ozga | Footage Archive Producer: Laura Böhme | Footage Archive Researchers: William Qualey, Katarina Rakic, Đoàn Hồng Lê, Alex-Thái Đình Võ, Minh Anh Đỗ, Kerstin Lommatzsch, Devi Liebergesell | Archival Sources: Vietnamese Film Institute, Vietnam National Museum Of History, Gaumont Pathé, PROGRESS - DEFA, ECPAD | Production Company: LOOKS Film & TV Produktionen GmbH, LOOKS Filmproduktionen GmbH, LOOKS Warsaw, Morgana Studio | Country of Production: Germany, Poland, Italy

Best Use of Footage in a Short Film Production

The Bannfoot Ferry

Colm Laverty’s short documentary “The Bannfoot Ferry” brings to light a forgotten piece of Northern Ireland’s television heritage. Drawing on extensive materials from Northern Ireland Screen’s Digital Film Archive, this documentary examines the early years of an independent TV station and how it shaped society in Ulster. Through a creative blend of archive footage and conversations with locals, archivists, and historians, the documentary reveals striking connections between the world portrayed in “Boatman” and the issues facing Northern Ireland today.

Director: Colm Laverty | Producer: Will McConnell | Footage Archive

Producer: Colm Laverty | Archival Sources: Ulster Television | Production Company: UTV, Northern Ireland Screen | Country of Production: United Kingdom

Free As A Bird: A Song Reborn

Celebrating the making of a modern Beatles classic and the return of The Beatles Anthology, “A Song Reborn” reveals the extraordinary 1994 reunion of Paul, George and Ringo, 24 years after The Beatles parted ways. A true collaboration became possible when Yoko Ono handed them an unfinished John Lennon composition. Crafted from never-before-seen studio footage shot by the band themselves, this short film captures the three Beatles rediscovering their bond as they shape John’s song into the GRAMMY-winning “Free As A Bird.”

Ghosts

Memories are with us. They stand as objects from the past holding us in the moment. We are unable to escape them despite the passing of time. As we attempt to elude history our memories always return and exist as truths in the now. Using a combination of footage shot with an actor on 16mm and original historical 16mm and 35mm archive reels, the film looks to blur the lines between past and present. We may choose to look away from the truth, but the facts will always stand still before us. They are there holding our gaze to account.

Director: Katia Lom | Producer: Katia Lom | Footage Archive

Researcher: Katia Lom | Archival Sources: National Archives and Rercords Administration (NARA), United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Country of Production: United Kingdom

Song of My City

A portrait of 1970s New York, pieced together from 40 movies that mythologized it. Built from the B-roll of these films, this city symphony summons the NY the filmmaker first knew only on screen.

Director: David C. Roberts | Producer: David C. Roberts | Footage Archive Producer: John Sears | Footage Archive Researcher: Jeremy Fisher | Archival Sources: Extracted from commercially released feature films and documentaries shot on location in New York City, primarily from the 1970s, sourced from legally obtained home media and broadcast materials. Footage drawn from multiple rights-holders and studio | Production Company: Erddigo | Country of Production: United States

Best Use of Footage in a History Feature

Deaf President Now!

The story of the greatest civil rights movement most people have never heard of. Deaf President Now! recounts the eight days of historic protests held at Gallaudet University in 1988 after the school’s board of trustees appointed a hearing president over several very qualified Deaf candidates. After a week of rallies, boycotts and protests, the students of Gallaudet University triumph as the hearing president resigns and beloved dean Dr. I. King Jordan becomes the university’s first Deaf president. The protests marked a pivotal moment in civil rights history, with an impact that extended well beyond the Gallaudet campus, and paved the way for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Directors: Nyle DiMarco, Davis Guggenheim | Producers: Nyle DiMarco, Davis Guggenheim, Amanda Rohlke, Jonathan King, Michael Harte, Laurene Powell Jobs | Footage Archive Producers: Austin Wilkin, Mariah Yamamoto | Footage Archive Researchers: Anna Louie, Crosley Wong, Mike Nichols | Archival Sources: Gallaudet University, Jeff Beatty & Yoon Lee, ABC News VideoSource, CNN Archive, Personal Archives of Tim Rarus, Bridgetta Bourne, Greg Hlibok, Jerry Covell, and King Jordan | Production Company: Apple TV, Concordia Studio | Country of Production: United States

The Eyes of Ghana

From Oscar®-winning director Ben Proudfoot, THE EYES OF GHANA is a stunning feature documentary following 93-year-old documentarian Chris Hesse— personal cinematographer to forgotten African icon Kwame Nkrumah—as he races against blindness and time to rescue and repatriate a secret trove of over 1,000 films that captured the birth of African independence in the fifties and sixties. Yet unseen by the public, these films may not only rewrite Ghanaian and African history—but world history itself.

Director: Ben Proudfoot | Producers: Nana Adwoa Frimpong, Ben Proudfoot, Anita Afonu, Moses Bwayo, Brandon Somerhalder, Ethan Lewis, Vinnie Malhotra | Footage Archive Producer: Gabriel Rivera | Footage Archive Researchers: Christina Bartson, Sonia Desai Rayka, Arsh Harjani, Jessie Hearther | Archival Sources: Ghana National Film Archive, Associated Press, British Pathé, Reuters, British Film Institute | Production Company: Breakwater Studios, Higher Ground Media | Country of Production: United States

True North

Set against 1960s Montreal, TRUE NORTH uncovers two pivotal yet underrecognized events the Congress of Black Writers and the Sir George Williams Affair, revealing the city as a crucial nexus in the global Black liberation movement. Drawing on never-before-seen archival footage and intimate first-person testimonies, the film revisits a charged era of resistance, when Black students and activists confronted institutional racism and sparked reverberations far beyond Canada.

Director: Michèle Stephenson | Producer: Leslie Norville | Footage Archive Producer: Juan Bello | Footage Archive Researchers: João Vitor Corrêa, Jalana Lewis, Stefanie McCarrol, Valérie Lessard, Ayan Tani | Archival Sources: National Film Board of Canada, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Archives Radio-Canada, Bell Media, British Pathé | Production Company: Studio 112 Inc., Revolution Remix LLC | Country of Production: Canada, United States

Best Use of Footage in a Music Production

The Beatles: Anthology

The landmark documentary series exploring the life and times of the most influential and beloved band of all time, as told by The Beatles themselves.

Director: Oliver Murray | Executive Producer: Jeff Jones | Producers: Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Olivia Harrison, Sean Ono Lennon, Jonathan Clyde, Martin R. Smith | Footage Archive Producer: Adrian Winter | Archival Sources: Personal Archives (Paul McCartney, George Harrison Estate, Richard Starkey MBE, Yoko Ono Lennon, Neil Aspinall, Mal Evans), BBC Motion Gallery, Getty Images, Elvis Presley Enterprises, British Pathé (Reuters), Among many others | Production Company: Apple Corps Ltd | Country of Production: United Kingdom

Billy Joel: And So It Goes

An expansive portrait of Billy Joel, the six-time GRAMMY®-winning, Rock & Roll Hall of Famer from Long Island, New York. The documentary explores the life and work of the singer/songwriter whose music has not only endured but soared across generations.

Director: Susan Lacy, Jessica Levin | Producers: Susan Lacy, Jessica Levin, Emma Pildes | Footage Archive Producers: Katie Asch, Sydney Kapelus, John Jackson, Eric Kulberg | Archival Sources: Billy Joel Archives, Sony Music Group Archives, ABC News VideoSource, Reelin’ In The Years, Getty Images | Production Company: Pentimento Productions | Country of Production: United States

Boy George & Culture Club

Straight from the mouths of its four legendary members, Boy George & Culture Club is a love story about the undeniable fondness that flowed beneath the surface of these musical legends — and the drama and heartbreak in between.

Director: Alison Ellwood | Producers: Trevor Birney, Andrew Tully, Ben Silverman, Howard Owens, Natalia Nastaskin, Lawrence Mestel, David Blackman | Footage Archive Producers: Kate Griffiths, Mike Griffiths | Archival Sources: BBC, Getty Images, Reelin’ In The Years Productions, Bell Media, ITV Archives, Lola Clips | Production Company: Fine Point Films | Country of Production: United Kingdom

Broken English

A survivor, provocateur and true original, Marianne Faithfull has spent more than six decades defying expectations — releasing over thirty-five albums while constantly reinventing herself. Made with her full involvement, Broken English is an intimate and unflinching exploration of a fractured yet unbreakable life shaped by fame, creativity and relentless public scrutiny.

Directors: Iain Forsyth, Jane Pollard | Producer: Beth Earl | Footage Archive Producers: Mike Griffiths, Kate Griffiths, Tess McNally-Watson | Archival Sources: BBC Motion Gallery, Getty Images, ITV Archives, Reuters, VRT, INA | Production Company: Rustic Canyon Pictures | Country of Production: United Kingdom

Monk in Pieces

Monk in Pieces is a mosaic that mirrors the structure of Meredith Monk’s own work, and illuminates her wildly original vocabulary of sound and imagery. * For 60 years, Monk has directed and performed in all of her music theater works; now she must learn to let go. What will happen to such singular work after she is gone?

Director: Billy Shebar | Producers: Billy Shebar, David Roberts, Susan Margolin | Footage Archive Producer: Judy Aley | Footage Archive Researchers: Vanessa Maruskin, Miles Shebar, Natalie Berger, Hirsh Sisodia, Peter Sciscioli | Archival Sources: Meredith Monk House Foundation for the Arts, Michael Blackwood Productions, WDR mediagroup GmbH, Kinolibrary, Twin Cities Public Television | Production Company: 110th Street Films | Country of Production: United States

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Best Use of Footage in a Factual or Natural World Production

The Bibi Files

The Bibi Files is a searing documentary about corruption, power, and survival. The film centers on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a leader whose political career has been marked by his relentless pursuit to remain in power.

Director: Alexis Bloom | Producers: Alexis Bloom, Alex Gibney, Raviv Drucker, Kara Elverson, David Rahtz | Footage Archive Producer: Eitan Amrami | Footage Archive Researcher: Daniel Bellone | Archival Sources: Leaked Israeli police interrogation footage, IPBC-Kan, AP, NBC, CH12 News Israel |Production Company: Jigsaw Productions | Country of Production: United States

Breakdown: 1975

An exploration of the time period beginning with Nixon’s resignation in August 1974 and going through to the Bicentennial celebrations in July 1976, looking specifically at how the films of this pivotal era served as a mirror for the social and political shifts occurring at that time.

Director: Morgan Neville | Producers: Lauren Belfer, Morgan Neville | Footage Archive Producer: Jane Kelly Kosek | Footage Archive Researcher: Jackie Clary | Archival Sources: Retro Video, Veritone, CBS News Archives, AP Archive, Getty Images, Carson Entertainment | Production Company: Tremolo Productions | Country of Production: United States

Craigavon, New City

Filmmaker Colm Laverty looks at the story of Craigavon, a new city developed in the Northern Ireland countryside and in line with the movement towards hightech communal living as already under way in Cumbernauld and Milton Keynes.

Director: Colm Laverty | Producers: Colm Laverty, Francis Jones, Lisa Duggan | Footage Archive Producer: Colm Laverty | Footage Archive Researchers: Paul McClintock, Bronagh McAtasney, Evan Marshall | Archival Sources: Digital Film Archive, British Newspaper Archive, The JR James Archive, Craigavon Museum Collection, Ordinance Survey Maps, Public Record Office Northern Ireland | Production Company: Northern Ireland Screen | Country of Production: United Kingdom

David Frost Vs

Of all David Frost’s interviews, it is the 28 hours he records with the disgraced former President Richard Nixon that have left their deepest mark in popular culture.

Director: Liz Mermin | Executive Producers: Wilfred Frost, Cassidy Hartmann, Danielle Peck, Barnaby Shingleton, Vesna Cudic | Producer: Tamar Lawson | Footage Archive Producers: Ernest Stoddart, David Peck | Footage Archive Researchers: Matthew Philip Price, Sam Cunningham | Archival Sources: Reelin’ In The Years Productions, David Paradine Productions, Veritone, Getty Images, ABC News Video Source, KABC-TV | Production Company: Sky Studios, Paradine Productions, White Horse Pictures | Country of Production: United Kingdom

El negre té nom

(The Black Man Has a Name)

He was displayed like an artifact. But he was a man. For 88 years, his body stood behind glass in a small-town museum in Spain. Dissected, taxidermied, and labeled “Bushman”, stripped of name, story, and dignity. This is the first time his full story is told. Haunting, urgent, unforgettable Director: Fèlix Colomer | Producers: David Bassa Cabanas, Sílvia Pairó Vila, Leire Ariz, Frank Belyeu, Fèlix Colomer Vallès | Footage Archive

Producer: Francesc Perez Rodriguez | Archival Sources: 3Cat, TVE, The New York Times, The European, El Punt Avui | Production Company: 3Cat, Producciones del K.O. | Country of Production: Spain

Best Use of Footage in an Arts & Cultural Production

Black Is Beautiful: The Kwame Brathwaite Story

This feature documentary uncovers the extraordinary life, work, and legacy of the long-overlooked yet hugely influential photographer and activist Kwame Brathwaite, a central figure in the Black is Beautiful movement.

Director: Yemi Bamiro | Producers: Joanna Boateng, Lizzie Gillett, Ian Bonhôte, Andrew Calof | Footage Archive Producer: Emma Dempsey | Archival Sources: Kwame Brathwaite Family Archive, WNET, ABC News, Historic Films, Imago | Production Company: Misfits Entertainment, Wayfarer Studios, Mediawan Rights, Entourage Media, Shanakee Archive Agency | Country of Production: United Kingdom, United States

Do You Love Me

The film covers the oscillation between moments of war and moments of calm throughout the given period.

Director: Lana Daher | Producers: Jean-Laurent Csinidis, Lana Daher | Footage Archive Researcher: Emmanuelle Yacoubi | Archival Sources: Nadi Lekol Nas, Abbout Productions, Bahij Hojeij, Association Jocelyne Saab, Mille et une productions | Production Company: Films de Force Majeure, My Little Films, Wood Water Films | Country of Production: France, Lebanon, Germany

My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay

In her feature film directorial debut, Mariska Hargitay searches for the mother she never knew almost six decades after the Hollywood legend’s tragic death.

Director: Mariska Hargitay | Executive Producers: Lauran Bromley, Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller | Senior Producer: Anna Klein | Producers: Mariska Hargitay, Trish Adlesic | Footage Archive Producer: Lindsey Schneider | Footage Archive Researcher: Olivia Streisand | Archival Sources: Fox Media Archives, Associated Press, Reuters, BBC, INA MediaPro | Production Company: Mighty Entertainment | Country of Production: United States

Quand tu écouteras cette chanson (When You Listen to this Song)

Over the course of a night, Lola Lafon revisits Anne Frank’s story. An inner journey around the figure of Anne Frank and the power of writing in the face of oblivion.

Director: Mona Achache | Producer: Anne Schuchman-Kune | Footage Archive Producer: Sharon Hammou | Footage Archive Researcher: Gianna Franceschini | Archival Sources: Gaumont Pathé Archives, FPA Classics, INA, Les Documents cinématographiques, Beeld & Geluid | Production Company: Schuch Productions | Country of Production: France

Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost

Ben Stiller tells the story of his parents, comedy duo, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, exploring their impact both on popular culture and at home, where the lines between creativity, family, life and art often blurred.

Director: Ben Stiller | Producers: Ben Stiller, Geoffrey Richman, Lizz Morhaim, John Lesher | Footage Archive Producers: Josh Margolis, Brian Becker | Footage Archive Researchers: Eric Cotton, Kevina Tidwell | Archival Sources: Stiller Family Estate, “The Ed Sullivan Show” © SOFA ENTERTAINMENT, “Through an Open Window” provided by Caruso/ Mendelsohn Productions, © Raymond Ross Archives/CTSIMAGES, The 92nd Street Y, New York | Production Company: Apple Original Films, XTR, Pickled Entertainment, Red Hour | Country of Production: United States

Best Use of Footage on Innovative Platforms

Film Atlas

An encyclopedic online resource pairing high-resolution imagery and archival footage with scholarly essays to document the history of film as a physical medium from the dawn of cinema to the present. Facilitated by collaboration between international archives, this dynamic reference, research and teaching tool offers a comprehensive visual guide to every motion picture film format, soundtrack, 3-D system and color process ever invented.

Founder: James Layton | Project Coordinator: Crystal Kui | Editor: James Layton | Footage Archive Producers: Margaux Chalançon | Archival

Sources: George Eastman Museum, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Cinémathèque française, National Science and Media Museum (Bradford, UK), Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences | Production Company: International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF), George Eastman Museum | Country of Production: Belgium, United States

Memories and DementiaStarting the Conversation

Memories and Dementia: Starting the Conversation was a digital first BBC season that transformed the BBC Archive into an innovative, user centred tool for wellbeing. Premiering online across BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds, the project reimagined archival content outside traditional broadcast contexts and introduced personalised access routes tailored to people living with dementia.

Developed with leading dementia organisations including Alzheimer’s Society and amplified across BBC television, national radio and local radio, the season brought new audiences to archival content, demonstrating how heritage footage can be redeployed in innovative digital environments to create meaningful social impact.

Directors: Rebecca Sandiford, Megan Smith | Producers: Rebecca Sandiford, Megan Smith | Footage Archive Producers: Victoria Coker (BBC iPlayer), Lee Butterley (BBC iPlayer), Carmel Gallagher (BBC Sounds), Lily Graham (BBC Sounds), Michael Cosgrave (BBC Archive) | Archival Sources: BBC Archive | Production Company: BBC | Country of Production: United Kingdom

Memory Bank: Bradford

Memory Bank: Bradford is a complete reminiscence resource using simplicity as a force for innovation, curated for older, underrepresented audiences, including people living with dementia. Designed for use by care workers across Bradford, the platform comprises a website, conceived with ease of use at its core, plus accompanying user guide. Innovative curation and strong supporting material, enhancing and enriching the footage, are central to its success. The resource builds on the Archive’s original Memory Bank project, delivered on DVD to meet the needs of earlier focus groups. Adapting to technological changes in the care sector, especially those driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, Memory Bank: Bradford now provides a hybrid mix of online and physical resources.

Directors: Graham Relton, Megan McCooley | Producers: Andy Burns, Ruth Patman | Footage Archive Producer: Ruth Patman | Archival Sources: The Yorkshire Film Archive collection | Production Company: Yorkshire Film Archive at York St John University | Country of Production: United Kingdom

Best Use of Footage in a Sports Production

Big Star: The Nick Skelton Story

Crashing into the British showjumping scene during the heyday of the sport in the 1970s, Nick Skelton dominates the competition until he breaks his neck in an unlucky fall. Doctors tell him to quit riding, but he makes an against-all-odds comeback.

Director: Sarah George | Producers: Sarah George, Chris Uettwiller, Debbie Burrows, Martin Desmond Roe, Nick Frew | Footage Archive Producers: Archival Ninjas, Meghan Geier, Kaelin McDonald | Footage Archive

Researcher: Kyle Jackson | Archival Sources: BBC, BBC Sport, USOPC, Spruce Meadows, FEI, Equestrian Vision | Production Company: Debsdocs Productions, Dirty Robber | Country of Production: United States

Diamond Diplomacy

153 years of baseball becomes a cultural bridge between the two nations despite tensions rooted in isolationism, racism, war, and shifting global politics.

Director: Yuriko Gamo Romer | Producers: Yuriko Gamo Romer, Marc Smolowitz, Loi Ameera Almeron | Footage Archive Producer: Megumi Nishikura | Footage Archive Researchers: Yuriko Romer, Ken Schneider, Loi Ameera Almeron, Michaelle McGaraghan | Archival Sources: Major League Baseball, Getty Images, Nisei Baseball Research Project, National Archives, Con Dempsey Collection (courtesy of Dave Dempsey) | Production Company: Flying Carp Productions | Country of Production: United States

Iománaíocht Hollywood (Hollywood Hurling)

A unique insight into the cinematic portrayal of Ireland and indigenous Gaelic games from the early 1900s to the present. It explores the evolution of Irish identity on screen, from major Hollywood productions—including the seminal work of John Ford—to the birth of a distinct indigenous film culture.

Director: Mac Dara Ó Curraidhín | Producers: Mac Dara Ó Curraidhín, Seán Crosson | Footage Archive Producers: Mac Dara Ó Curraidhín, Seán Crosson | Archival Sources: Irish Film Archive, Warner Bros, RTÉ, ITV Source, Paramount | Production Company: Léirithe le Mac Dara Ó Curraidhín | Country of Production: Ireland

Nothing But a Winner: The Alabama Football Story

Told by the barrier-breaking players from National Championship teams spanning five decades, Nothing But A Winner chronicles the true story of the greatest college football program of all time.

Director: Jimmy Jenkins | Producers: David Jacobson, Caleb Castille, Breona Humphrey | Footage Archive Producers: Archival Ninjas, Jennifer Grace Cook, Marc Rosenzweig, Meghan Geier | Archival Sources: Catapult Sports, Alabama Department of History and Archives, Getty Images, Pond5, Alamy | Production Company: Adelaide Pictures, BarFaye Productions, Required Reading | Country of Production: United States

Unforgotten: The Bradford City Fire

When Bradford City met Lincoln City in May 1985 for the final game of the season, everyone remembers the carnival atmosphere as the city celebrated a dramatic comeback, with one of its best seasons ever. But what happened at the end of a goal-less first half was the stuff of nightmares.

Director: Andy R. Worboys | Producer: George Grafton | Footage Archive Producer: Miriam Walsh | Archival Sources: SWpix, Barry Wilkinson, BBC Archives, Guzelian Ltd, Yorkshire Film Archive, Bradford Telegraph and Argus | Production Company: ACME | Country of Production: United Kingdom

2167381300, Leon Neal

Best Use of Footage in a Cinematic Feature

Apollo 1

Three pioneering astronauts in a race to the Moon put their faith in a new spacecraft riddled with problems... With exceptional access granted to the production team and including unseen personal archive, it’s a story of jeopardy, tragedy and recovery, as told by those closest to the crew

Director: Mark Craig | Producers: Mark Craig, Keith Haviland, Ansgar Pohle | Footage Archive Producers: Steve Bergson, Joe Harris | Footage Archive Researcher: Mark Craig | Archival Sources: U.S. National Archives & Records Administration (NARA), Associated Press, CBS News (Veritone), ABC News, Pond5 | Production Company: Stopwatch Productions, Haviland Digital, 7T1 Films | Country of Production: United Kingdom, Germany

Broken English

Do You Love Me

The film covers the oscillation between moments of war and moments of calm throughout the given period.

Director: Lana Daher | Producer: Jean-Laurent Csinidis, Lana Daher | Footage Archive Researcher: Emmanuelle Yacoubi | Archival Sources: Nadi Lekol Nas, Abbout Productions, Bahij Hojeij, Association Jocelyne Saab, Mille et une productions | Production Company: Films de Force Majeure, My Little Films, Wood Water Films | Country of Production: France, Lebanon, Germany

The Eyes of Ghana

A stunning feature documentary following 93-year-old documentarian as he races against blindness and time to rescue a secret trove of over 1,000 films.

Je n’avais que le néant - “Shoah” by Lanzmann (All I Had Was Nothingness)

Claude Lanzmann spent 12 years creating “Shoah” (1985), a groundbreaking film that redefined Holocaust representation. 40 years later, filmmaker Guillaume Ribot explores 220 hours of unreleased footage.

Director: Guillaume Ribot | Producer: Estelle Fialon, Dominique Lanzmann | Footage Archive Producer: Guillaume Ribot ”Shoah” by Claude Lanzmann (1985) | Archival Sources: “Shoah” by Claude Lanzmann (1985) | Production Company: Les Films du Poisson, Les Films Aleph, ARTE France | Country of Production: France

Student Jury Award for Most Inspiring Use of Footage

As part of FOCAL’s outreach strategy to support new generations of industry professionals, we partner with the National Film and Television School in the UK and INA and its school and training centre INA Campus in France to give a selected student jury access to view a number of productions for our Student Jury Award for Most Inspiring Use of Footage.

Black Is Beautiful: The Kwame Brathwaite Story

Boy George & Culture Club

Diamond Diplomacy

153 years of baseball becomes a cultural bridge between the two nations despite tensions rooted in isolationism, racism, war, and shifting global politics.

Je n’avais que le néant - “Shoah” by Lanzmann (All I Had Was Nothingness)

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Footage Person of the Year

Christopher Morgan

Job Title: Business Development Manager Company: Reuters Connect

Highlights: Christopher demonstrated extraordinary dedication in supporting the complex retrieval and rescanning of original film elements for our feature documentary. Rather than relying on existing masters, he championed our commitment to visual fidelity by helping us access and rescan original film materials at 2K and 4K resolution — preserving the integrity of the format in which the footage was first shot.

Many of these elements were housed in off-site cold storage preservation facilities, requiring careful coordination across locations, vendors, and archive teams. Christopher personally oversaw the identification and retrieval of numerous film cans from deep storage, ensuring the correct elements were located before work could even begin. Several reels required careful cleaning prior to scanning, adding another layer of hands-on preparation.

Megan McCooley

Job Title: Co-Director | Head of Collections Company: Yorkshire and North East Film Archive

Highlights: Megan has driven the Archive’s Strategic Plan 2025-2030 which clearly outlines the Archive’s future vision and direction. She was central to writing the strategy and developing the core organisational values of ‘Innovation with Integrity’, ‘Respect for Communities’, and ‘Open to Ideas’ which underpin the work of the Archive, ensuring the organisation operates with integrity, transparency, and collaboration.

In August 2025, Yorkshire and North East Film Archive merged with York St John University to form a partnership dedicated to saving and celebrating the Regions’ Screen Heritage. Megan was instrumental in the merger process, bringing an increased stability and a more secure future for the Archive against the backdrop of financial uncertainty which many in the archive sector face. Her passion for the Collection and long-standing commitment to the Archive was integral to ensuring our Collection remains accessible to audiences for generations to come.

Martin Lisius

Job Title: Founder & Cinematographer Company: StormStock

Highlights: Innovation is Martin’s greatest strength. He is a cinematic artist who pushes the creative envelope. He was the first among footage sources to produce and license 16K footage. And, in the past year, he has experimented with new ways to capture lightning (one of our specialties) without “flash banding” and with perfect exposure. The results of his efforts are amazing. What he has accomplished for the screen is equaled by only what we see in person, under a storm.

The future of film history

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Trusted by preservation professionals to securely protect irreplaceable film and media assets for future generations.

UV&S partners with archives, studios, and cultural institutions worldwide to provide secure vault storage through to full digital restorations.

Proud sponsors of FOCAL International’s “Footage Person of the Year” Award

2026 FOCAL INTERNATIONAL AWARDS NOMINATIONS

R3store Studios: Company of the Year

African Jim: Shortlisted for Best Restoration

Proud Framework Partner for the BFI FOR

Company of the Year

Footage.net

Footage.net is an online footage search and discovery platform, launched in 1996. In the three decades since, Footage.net has striven to make the world’s best stock, news, and archival footage searchable from a single site, giving users the tools they need to discover and license the perfect footage and archival material.

Highlights: In this difficult climate, rather than sowing competition between industry players, Footage.net is working to act as a rising tide that lifts all boats. They have also been a true ally to the Archival Producer community— soliciting our feedback, offering their help to support a membership directory, and generally working to develop a collaborative and productive relationship between us and the archives. Domenick Propati’s efforts are doing a great deal to make sure that the world of archives remains relevant and productive despite the many challenges to the industry.

-Archival Producers Alliance

Reuters Connect

Reuters Connect is a global platform for discovering and licensing premium news, archive content and rushes with exclusive access to the Reuters video archive and trusted partner collections. Spanning from 1896 to today, the archive captures the world’s defining moments through historic newsreels, rare footage, iconic imagery, and decades of visual journalism from around the world.

Highlights: Our submission highlights the impact of these initiatives: Enhancing storytelling with newly digitised rushes and providing a platform for emerging filmmakers to gain visibility. Building on work to make tape archives held by Reuters news bureaus around the world accessible, in 2025 we established permanent in-house infrastructure to continue this work indefinitely, and we marked the milestone of digitising more than 7,000 hours of video from 16 bureaus worldwide. We established the Reuters Media Ingest Hub: a permanent, end-to-end facility for digitisation, metadata enrichment and media management. Our portable hardware enables on-site digitisation where outbound shipping is restricted, opening pathways to bureaus such as Cairo and Baghdad. Access to archives is often restricted, leaving early-career creatives without the means to explore historical footage or develop archival storytelling skills.

R3store Studios

Established in 2016 and celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, R3store Studios has rapidly grown into one of the UK’s leading archive and restoration specialists. The studio offers a comprehensive range of services, including film scanning, colour grading, tape digitisation, and digital restoration, all delivered with a focus on preserving the integrity of original materials. Working with a diverse client base from film archives and cultural institutions to brands, broadcasters and commercial media organisations.

Highlights: R3store has demonstrated significant impact through its restoration work on major archival-led cinematic productions, including the complete restoration of all archival footage for our feature documentary, THE EYES OF GHANA. In delivering this work, the company refined its approach to complex, multi-format restoration by implementing highly adaptable, clip-specific workflows capable of handling material ranging from standard-definition broadcast footage to newly scanned 4K film elements across varying frame rates and conditions.

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Jane Mercer Researcher of the Year

Jackie Clary for Counting Crows: Have You Seen Me Lately

Production Company: Shark Pig

Synopsis: Catapulted into overnight fame by their massively successful debut album, San Francisco indie rock band Counting Crows and their introspective frontman Adam Duritz were suddenly the biggest rockstars. Archival highlights: The archival research on this film deserves recognition because it was guided by Jackie Clary’s deep understanding of story and her rare ability to think several steps ahead of the filmmaking process. From the beginning, Jackie approached the archive not as a checklist of assets to secure, but as a living landscape of imagery that needed to be built in service of a specific emotional and narrative arc.

Julieann Galdames for Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time

Prooduction Company: Lightbox

Synopsis: When Hurricane Katrina unleashed a catastrophic flood on New Orleans, it exposed far more than the vulnerabilities in the city’s faulty levee system.

Archival highlights: Julieann was charged with finding archival material that vitally supported the stories our contributors shared with us of their lives in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina, their struggles and survival during the flooding of their beloved city, and how their lives and the city itself changed in the years since. Those narrative needs were supported across the series authentically through the footage Julieann and her team tracked down.

Katharine Waldrum for Boyzone: No Matter What

Production Company: Curious Films

Synopsis: They were one of the most successful and iconic boybands of all time – but behind-the-scenes, conflict and rivalry, betrayal and tragedy led to their falling apart. Now, thirty years on, all four remaining members reveal the truth of what really happened, the extraordinary highs of their meteoric rise to fame, and the huge costs that being in a boyband had on each of them.

Archival highlights: The archive brought challenges, in that it was both extensive in nature but also limited in intimate moments. However, Katharine’s excellence is evident in the way she masterfully interrogated hundreds of hours of archive footage to find those vital emotional moments.

Nessa Dundon for The Hunt for Peter Tobin

Production Company: Firecrest Films

Synopsis: Across two episodes, the documentary examines the disappearances of three young women and their lasting impact, featuring archive footage and interviews with families, detectives and forensic experts. Archival highlights: Nessa’s understanding of the archive landscape is exceptional. She demonstrated not just familiarity with catalogues, but a forensic comprehension of how collections are structured, crossreferenced, and — crucially — how they can be interrogated beyond surface-level metadata. Nessa’s approach to verification was meticulous. Every clip was cross-referenced against transmission records. Dates, captions, contextual framing — all were scrutinised. She ensured that what appeared on screen was not just evocative, but correct.

Sophia Doe for Once Upon a Time in Space

Production Company: KEO Films

Synopsis: Four-part documentary series telling the human stories behind one of our most extraordinary endeavours: the exploration of space. The series traces significant milestones in our spacefaring history, from the birth of the Shuttle and the pioneering Space Station Mir to the rise of commercial spaceflight and impact of the Ukraine War.

Archival highlights: Many archive producers would be daunted by the scale of the challenge, but Sophia approached it with imagination, vigour and tenacity. She was always positive, worked incredibly hard and her organisation of the material meant she always stayed a few steps ahead of the edits. She was on top of it all –from the personal to the wonders of space as well as the political and cultural context of the last 60 years.

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