North West Film Archive

22/09/2026

🎉 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗖𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗰 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 🎉

Join us on Monday 5th October to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Manchester Civic Week 1926 with a spectacular showcase of the best of our city's heritage as industrial powerhouse and modern icon of global communities.

𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗹𝗲:
2pm - Lord Mayor's Welcome
2-5pm - Civic Week Fair with stalls including Manchester & Lancashire Family History Society, Our Town Hall, Manchester Histories and lots more!
2:20pm - Who Lived in Manchester Town Hall? A short talk by John Hensall
3 - 4pm - Understanding Place and Communities - A creative workshop with Aiden Jolly from Manchester Histories.
3 - 4pm - Children's activity: Make your own Manchester doll (Age 8+)
6:30-7:30pm - Manchester's Civic Pride - A film and talk by North West Archive.

𝗖𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗰 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝗘𝘅𝗵𝗶𝗯𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 - 𝗢𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲
Join Archives+ and explore why and how Manchester celebrated Civic Week from 1926 up to the present day with a display of photographs, films, brochures and documents from the archives.
Central Library - Ground Floor
Free entry

𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗺𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝟭𝟮𝟱𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗻𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗘𝘅𝗵𝗶𝗯𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 - 𝗢𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲
Explore the history of Manchester's first electric tramways which began in 1901.
Central Library - First Floor
Free entry

17/09/2026

Really looking forward to this event tomorrow afternoon in Oldham - do register and pop down if you can. It's free to attend!

North West Film Archive Presents: Waiting Patiently – Discovering Disability History on Film

Join us for a specially curated selection of films that celebrate the hidden stories, diverse experiences and everyday histories of disabled and neurodivergent people in the North West.

Drawn from the North West Film Archive collection, the films focus on everyday life across the 20th and 21st centuries, including people in the workforce, learning new skills, enjoying leisure time, playing instruments and cards, and eating together.

📍Oldham Library Theatre Space
📅Friday 18 September
⌚2-4pm
🎫 Booking essential via Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/waiting-patiently-discovering-disability-history-on-film-tickets-1994685788890

11/08/2026

Wish You Were Here - we hope you're all enjoying this lovely summer - if you want to look back at summer holidays why not join us for our Wish You Were Here screening at Chester Cathedral next Tuesday evening at 7.30pm
Tickets are on sale here at https://chestercathedral.com/events/event/north-west-film-archive-presents-wish-you-were-here

29/06/2026

Our brilliant North West Film Archive is bringing powerful screen stories to new and younger audiences thanks to support from BFI National Lottery Screen Heritage Fund 🎥

The fund will enable two new projects – one to increase engagement with young people and ensure their voices are represented in the archive, and another to open up one of the UK’s most important community video collections, capturing working-class activism in Hulme.

16/06/2026

We're delighted to be at FOCAL International Festival of Archives In London today meeting archive and footage licensing professionals and talking about our work.

Our Geoff is alongside Graham from Yorkshire Film Archive & North East Film Archive promoting these important northern collections.

Geoff and Graham are also speaking on a panel this afternoon:
“Regional Archives – Value and Viability: Sustaining and Sharing Unique Stories”

15/05/2026

Big congrats to Chris Paul Daniels for his screening and Q&A at the BFI yesterday evening as part of the Experimenta programme organised by Will Fowler.
It was such a treat to see our footage on the big screen at NFT3 through Chris's incredible work "Is There Anybody There?" and "Give Yourself A Round Of Applause"

14/05/2026

Two days to go!
Reserve your free place here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/scouting-skating-hanging-around-youth-on-film-tickets-1984042458402

11/05/2026

We're pleased to announce that staff from the archive will be at the Focal Festival of Archives in London next month to share our work and collections with the archive community. See you there.

08/05/2026

"Scouting, Skating, Hanging Around: Youth on Film" will be shown on Saturday 16th of May. This showcase of films from our collection explores portrayals of young people, their aspirations and society's attitudes towards them.

This is a free screening at MMU as part of the Manchester International Crime and Justice Film Festival.

🗓️ Saturday 16 May

⌚ 12 - 1.30pm

📍 Grosvenor East Building, Manchester Metropolitan University

💬 All films shown with descriptive closed captioning

Age: 12+

We'll be showing a selection of clips drawn from the last 100 years, including girls skateboarding in Cumbria, the Salford Lads Club enjoying Aberystwyth and a Chaplinesque fable about the Scouts.

Joining us are Glyn Potts, CEO of Greater Manchester Youth Federation, and Kevin Wong of the Festival team, to reflect on the footage and discuss attitudes towards young people, particularly with concern to crime, and youth work more generally.

The Manchester International Crime and Justice Film Festival runs from 7th May to 19th June.

Films excerpts shown here:
NWFA 2007 - 'So it Goes'
NWFA 475 - 'A Pretty Fair Week's
NWFA 123 - 'The Man Who Changed His Mind'
RR 2519 - 'Skate Like a Lass'
NWFA 4949 - 'A Change of Air'
N4673219 - 'You Don't Like Me... But You Don't Even Know Me'

21/04/2026

On the day the city of Salford celebrates its centenary of being given city status, we thought we'd share this short piece of film made around the time. While sadly its only the remaining fragments of what looks like it was a longer film from 1925 Gateway to South East Lancashire gives a great glimpse of some of Salfords well known locations.
Enjoy it here at https://vimeo.com/510177027
How many can you recognise and how different do they look today?

Promotional film for Salford - general views of streets and main junctions are followed by a look at the borough's parks and gardens and a brief glimpse of Manchester racecourse. This appears to be extracts from a longer film, as some intertitles are not followed by footage. NWFA Film No. 5853 Title...