(Audio)visual Traces of the Past in Estonian Film Archive 1940–1965

The recent digitalization of Estonian (audio)visual heritage in the film archive of the National Archives of Estonia opens new opportunities for the study of Estonian culture. Despite the widespread misperception, (audio)visual heritage does not speak for itself. It is a historical trace that needs historical interpretation and contextualization before it can be used as an illustration of history or culture. The aim of the project is to study the (audio)visual heritage created in the early Soviet period under strong ideological control – photographs, film chronicles and documentaries and audio recordings – using microhistorical methods. How, by whom and for what purpose were they created? What socio-historical aspects influenced their production, meaning, preservation and distribution? The study of audiovisual heritage created in Estonia is important because it still circulates internationally in a historically inaccurate form, for example in Holocaust memory and Russian propaganda.