News that the Arts Council is planning to put its film archive online is great news for anyone interested in the sub-surface curiosities and artefacts of British film-making.
The archive consists of some 450 short films commissioned to explore a multitude of art forms – hardly a surprise, given the Arts Council's remit – and contains many obscure and never before noticed bits and pieces from an impressive variety of names.
Look hard at the catalogue and you can find a dance film by Anthony Minghella, a part-animated short by Raul Ruiz about painting, Bruce Beresford's 1968 documentary on Barbara Hepworth and Basil "Night Mail" Wright's study of medieval stained glass.
But probably the most significant film in the archive is Isaac Julien's landmark 50-minute account of the ideas of political philosopher Frantz Fanon, Black Skin White Mask.
Of course, not everything in the catalogue will be a neglected cinematic gem, but as a resource for the understanding of the collaboration between cinema and other arts, it will be priceless.
And for the current generation of artists-turned-film-makers (led by Hunger director Steve McQueen, Sam Taylor-Wood, whose biopic of John Lennon is in production, and the Chapman brothers, whose feature should hit cinemas next year) it ought to be a source of serious inspiration.
