Collections

Access to the archived material is possible through two options:

1. Through the internet, using our online search software. Online access of our collection includes the search and viewing of the largest part of the digitized collections.

2. By visiting our offices, you will have access to the digitized archive; your search is facilitated by HeNAA’s on-site personnel. 

HeNAA Collections

HeNAA’s audiovisual material is continually growing by procuring material from a variety of sources, from within Greece and abroad. The material is categorized in the following main collections:

1. Pre-war Period Collection: This collection spans the beginning of the 20th Century until the end of World War II, and includes events of vital importance to Hellenism, such as the Balkan Wars, the First World War, the Asia Minor Catastrophe, the internal political and social happenings of the era, the Metaxas dictatorship and finally, the declaration and unfolding of the Second World War.

2. Newsreel Collection: the most complete collection of its kind, the Newsreel collection is comprised of three sections:

a. Greek Newsreels Section: Newsreels were news segments, shown regularly in movie theaters, from the mid-forties (end of WWII) until the beginning of the 1980s, at which point, their regular public showing ended. The majority of the content surrounded political leaders’ activities, as well as social, financial and cultural activities, athletics, domestic news and frequently, international news as well. The newsreels accompanied the movies in both indoor (winter) and outdoor (summer) movie theaters, but were also shown in separate rooms.  Having existed before and during the introduction of the television, and well before the existence of the World Wide Web, newsreels are recognized as a valuable historic source that account for an important part of people’s daily lives for a large part of the 20th Century.

b. Uncut Newsreels Section:  This period is defined by the period of 1982-1996 and directly related, as a continuation, with the previous section of newsreels. From 1982 on, the Newsreel Service continued to tape important events of similar themes for mainly archival purposes, but also in order to send to government entities and agencies abroad, but never created concise and complete, individual newsreels.

c. Uncut Footage Section: This third section of uncut footage retains the aforementioned theme regarding content. It is comprised of the initial footage taken by the Newsreel Service during the 1940s-1982 periods, before the footage was cute and complete newsreels were created. This section also includes uncut footage of topics that were covered but never made it into the movie theater newsreels. Thus, this section includes additional footage and raises a great level of interest when evaluating the never-before-seen footage that was not included for movie theater projections. 

3. Documentary Collection: This collection is comprised of three individual sections with historical, informational, travel or folklore documentaries.  The first section consists of documentaries created by the Newsreel Service between the end of the 1940s and the mid-1990s. The second section consists of Greek documentaries that were used and viewed by the Ministry of the President, often having been produced by the Ministry, as well as, documentaries collected by HeNAA that were produced within Greece. The third section contains foreign documentaries (often dubbed or with Greek subtitles), some of which had been given to the Ministry of the President for distribution and others are interesting given Greece’s representation in them.

4.  Trial of the Instigators of the 1967 Coup Collection: This collection follows the every day events of this trial, which was especially important to the democratization of the nation. A trial that summarizes post-Civil War Greece and becomes a trademark of the new regime.

5. Torturers Trial Collection: Directly related to the previous collection, this collection includes the next defining trial towards the normalization of the country’s political system.

6. Advertisement Collection: This collection consists of advertiser’s messages and short films from the pre-war period; companies’ advertisements during the interwar period, government agencies, lotteries and various social messages. 

7. Foreign Newsreels of Greek Interest Collection: This collection finds, lists and procures audiovisual material from newsreels being stored in archives abroad, which are important to the Greek nation, either because a corresponding collection does not exist within Greece or because they are a different interpretation of important events in Greek history.

8. Television Programming on October 27, 2008 Collection: This collection hosts the 24 hour television programming on October 27, 2008- UNESCO’s World Day of Audiovisual Heritage- which were graciously given by thirty Greek national, regional and local television stations to HeNAA.

9. Greek Film Collection: This collection stores Greek feature length films, the majority of which are from the post-war period, up until the arrival of the new regime and short length films from the past decades.

10. Foreign Film Collection: This collection houses a small number of foreign films that have been shown in Greece and that are interesting due to the impact they have had on the cultural reality of the country.