Archive
A documentary short filmed across the Internet Archive’s headquarters, book-scanning center, and storage facility.
Watch the film ↗- Period
- 2013–2016
- Status
- Complete / Archived
- Form
- Documentary short · 13 minutes
The project
Archive follows Brewster Kahle’s mission to save the World Wide Web and build universal access to all knowledge. Since founding the Internet Archive in 1996, the collection had grown into the world’s largest online library, offering ten petabytes of archived websites, books, movies, music, and television broadcasts when the film was made. Directed by Jae Minard, the documentary moves through the Archive’s San Francisco headquarters, book-scanning center, and Richmond storage facility. It later appeared in the touring Big Bang Data exhibition at Somerset House in London and CCCB in Barcelona.
I traveled to San Francisco to film at the Internet Archive’s headquarters, its book-scanning center, and a storage facility in Richmond. It was quite a special opportunity to be in these places, and each time I use the Wayback machine I think about that church. It made the archive physical for me: scanning stations, books, machines, offices, and the storage behind a treasured website.
My role
I was one of the cinematographers on the project.
Selected credits
- Alexander Porter
- Cinematographer
- Fearghal O'Dea
- Cinematographer
- Jae Minard
- Director
- John Behrens
- Cinematographer