'Home Front Films' Website Launch

A new website featuring films of life on the home front in Britain during the Second World War has been launched.
Screen Archive South East, in partnership with six other English Regional Film Archives, has launched the site. It forms part of a £225,000 Lottery film archive project, Their Past Your Future (TPYF), created with funding distributed by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council.
This new online historical resource, 'Films from the Home Front, offers free public access to selected films, the majority of which are being made available to the public for the very first time.
It is dedicated to giving people of all ages the opportunity to discover more about the impact of the Second World War and the immediate post-war period on everyday life. It offers a unique perspective on the lives of ordinary people in Britain on the home front as seen through amateur films and home movies and alongside more 'official' sources such as newsreels and government films.
The site is organised into major themes, which explore issues characterising life during the war. These include: Children in War-time, Civil Defence, Community Life, Displaced People, Home and Family Life, Women's Role on the Home Front and Victory Celebrations in 1945.
They explain how the films reveal many dramatic changes that took place in the country during this period. In addition, each of the archives has its own section on the site highlighting how the films fit into the story of their region during the Second World War.
Films from the Home Front is part of the wider 'Moving History' website which presents other films from UK archives on all subjects and aspects of film history across the twentieth century.
Find out more about the new regional network, London's Screen Archives, supporting organisations in the capital that hold collections of moving image material.
For further information http://www.movinghistory.ac.uk
(DS)