Wiener Filmarchiv der Arbeiterbewegung

The Wiener Filmarchiv der Arbeiterbewegung (WIFAR) is a non-profit organisation, founded in 2002, with the aim to preserve the audiovisual heritage of the Austrian Labour Movement from its beginnings to the present day, to archive it and to make it accessible to the public.

WIFAR, based in one of the Viennese Municipal Buildings (Wiener Gemeindebau) in the city's 20th district, processes historically valuable cinematic material from the period of the First Republic (1920–1934) with the scope on “The Socialist Vienna” („Das rote Wien“). WIFAR also digitises and archives footage from the period after 1945.

In the first phase, all cinematic material is restored in analogue form. In the second phase, all traces of ageing are removed as far as possible using the latest digital image processing technology. An interactive archiving system, developed by WIFAR, allows the material to be sorted by subject, keyword, name and date. Two staff members are employed full-time, all others are volunteers.