World's biggest film archive under scrutiny as new chairman tries to improve access

The largest film archive in the world faces an uncertain future after an announcement yesterday by the British Film Institute that a review of its activities would include "prioritising" its collections.

Anthony Minghella, the Oscar-winning director and new chairman of the BFI, said the size of the National Film and Television Archive would be reconsidered as part of an overhaul of its activities. The archive, stored at a conservation centre in Hertfordshire funded by the late billionaire philanthropist John Paul Getty, is the largest collection of film and television footage anywhere.

It holds 275,000 feature films dating from the beginnings of cinema in 1894, 200,000 television programmes, more than seven million photographs and images, and 20,000 scripts and personal documents.

The collection, which ranges from Brighton Rock to Captain Pugwash, was the subject of a government report last month which found that despite its annual budget of £3.5m, less than half of its contents could be readily viewed.

The BFI had its annual £14.5m grant from the Film Council frozen this year. It was already facing lean times after several years of cuts that have seen it lose some of its most important areas of influence. It has lost its production arm, which helped nurture the talents of Mike Leigh, Terrence Davies and Ken Loach, to the Film Council and is cutting its distribution service for independent cinemas.

Mr Minghella, whose work includes Truly Madly Deeply and The English Patient, is one of Britain's most successful directors in Hollywood. He signalled that further cuts could be in the pipeline. The BFI said in a statement: "A priority of the strategic review will be thorough consideration of the purpose of the archive. In particular, it will consider the scale of the collections and likely future acquisitions against the BFI's ability to manage, preserve and make the material accessible."

The institute confirmed that the study would look at cutting the number of films collected in the future but said it wanted to improve rather than reduce access to its collections.

Mr Minghella said: "In a period where there is increasing difficulty for audiences to enjoy world cinema and important film from the past, the BFI is critical. We want this review to help us formulate a plan to deliver our full potential, reaching out to the widest audiences."

The study follows a report by National Audit Office which found that access to the archive was limited and that 54 per cent of the material catalogued was not in a readily viewable condition. Backlogs in preservation work meant some historic footage risked being lost, and there were delays in the acceptance and cataloguing of new material.

Managers were praised for a 25 per cent increase in demand for BFI services, but concern was raised that flagship projects such as the Imax cinema on London's South Bank had not met audience targets last year.

There has also been criticism that the institute, which saw its Museum of the Moving Image on the South Bank shut in 1999, is too focused on the South-east and arthouse cinema. Tessa Jowell, the Secretary of State for Culture, said she wanted the review to find ways for the BFI's assets to be "enjoyed by many more".