The Irish Film Institute and Axonista launch the IFI Player Suite of Apps

The Irish Film Institute and Axonista launch a ground-breaking new initiative to bring Irish film heritage to audiences worldwide.

Wednesday, August 23rd 2017: From Literally Reel to Virtually Real: Irish Film Institute (IFI), the Home of Film In Ireland, and Ireland-based Axonista, a global video technology leader, today launch a ground-breaking new initiative to bring Irish film heritage to audiences worldwide. This culture-meets-tech-and-innovation partnership sees a suite of applications, developed using Axonista’s video technology platform, that brings IFI Irish Film Archive collections to phone, tablet and TV-connected devices for the first time.

The Irish Film Institute, the national cultural institution for film in Ireland, has partnered with Axonista, a leading video technology company, to greatly increase accessibility of its Irish moving image collection through cutting edge distribution to a variety of popular video-capable devices.

Axonista connects storytellers with technology to help them tell better stories and unlock value from their video content. Using Axonista’s Ediflo video content management system and distribution platform, the IFI Irish Film Archive can now showcase their content for free to a global audience, and quickly and easily roll out beautiful video apps that are tailored to the capability of each device, providing a great viewing experience for the user. The new apps are available from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store for iOS and Android phones, with apps for TV platforms available on Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV & Roku.

As a nation of storytellers, the IFI Player and its suite of apps allow IFI to keep the heritage material of the IFI Irish Film Archive relevant to today’s viewing consumption habits and helps bring Irish culture and social history to audiences globally – both diaspora and new friends of Ireland alike.

On foot of the recently launched IFI Strategy 2017 – 2022, and speaking about the significance of this move for IFI and for Irish film, IFI Director Ross Keane commented, “No other Irish cultural institution has to date taken such an ambitious leap forward to share their collections with the far corners of the world – whether that be on your phone in the islands off the west coast of Ireland, or via your new smart TV on the west coast of America. As an organisation, we have our eye firmly fixed on the future, and working with Axonista on the IFI Player applications allows the Irish Film Institute to address the rapidly changing digital landscape for this cultural institution and allow for the integration of future technological developments”.

Commenting on their work with the home of film in Ireland, Axonista CEO Claire McHugh said, “Axonista connects storytellers with new technology, to help them unlock value from their video content, whether that’s through accessing new audiences, enabling two-way interactions with viewers, or providing a rich immersive viewing experience. It’s an absolute honour for the Axonista team to be involved in bringing the amazing archive of the IFI into the international spotlight. The IFI has a wealth of wonderful film of such cultural and historical significance that can now shine and be enjoyed to its full potential on multiple digital devices around the world. Our team really enjoyed working together with the IFI, and this is just the start – we’re excited to build on this release and make the experience even richer over the coming months.

The IFI Irish Film Archive has been on a journey of groundbreaking progress in the past couple of years through its extensive Digital Preservation and Access Strategy, becoming world leaders in digitisation processes of moving image material. The films preserved by the IFI Irish Film Archive present a vivid and unparalleled portrait of the development of modern Ireland, as seen through the cameras of both amateur and professional filmmakers. The collections span ephemeral filmic records of the domestic and everyday to the great achievements of Ireland’s filmmakers on the global stage, from the earliest films made in Ireland to all current production. Collectively this material tells Ireland’s cultural, social and political story from 1897 to the current day, and the IFI is dedicated to ensuring it is preserved and now globally accessible, on behalf of the nation, for future generations.

Download the IFI Player apps here. 

ENDS

NOTES FOR EDITORS

ABOUT THE IFI
The Irish Film Institute is Ireland’s national cultural institution for film. It provides audiences throughout Ireland with access to the finest independent Irish and international cinema; it preserves and promotes Ireland’s moving image heritage through the IFI Irish Film Archive, and it provides opportunities for audiences of all ages and backgrounds to learn and critically engage with film.

ABOUT THE IFI IRISH FILM ARCHIVE
The IFI is the custodian of Ireland’s unique moving image heritage. As the home of the national collection of moving image, the IFI Irish Film Archive is at the centre of this activity, comprising a collection of over 30,000 cans of film and 10,000 broadcast tapes documenting Ireland’s past and present from 1897 to the present day, chronicling the social, political and cultural development of modern Ireland. The mission of the IFI Irish Film Archive is to acquire, preserve and provide access to Ireland’s moving image collections and associated materials for the benefit of current and future generations.

ABOUT THE IFI PLAYER
The IFI Player is a virtual viewing room for the digitised material from Ireland’s remarkable moving image collections held in the IFI Irish Film Archive, giving audiences across the globe instant access to this rich heritage. The material on the IFI Player has been selected to give audiences a taste of the breadth and depth of the collections preserved by the IFI Irish Film Archive. Home movies, newsreels, travelogues, animation, feature films, public information films and documentaries have been included as we have tried to reflect all aspects of indigenous amateur and professional production. This project is the result of an extensive Digital Preservation and Access Strategy developed over several years by the IFI. ifiplayer.ie

ABOUT AXONISTA
Leading video technology firm Axonista connects storytellers with new technology that unlocks value from their video content and enables them to reach new audiences quickly. With offices in Dublin and New York, Axonista works with global video brands, including QVC, AOL, TV3 and Viacom. Privately held Axonista is the recipient of funding from Enterprise Ireland and from the COSME programme of the European Union.

ABOUT THE APPS
The IFI Player is now available to download for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store and for Android phones and tablets from Google’s Play Store. Apps are also available for Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV and Roku.