Media Burn Archive - Four decades of documentaries

Welcome to Media Burn

Media Burn Archive collects, restores and distributes documentary video created by artists, activists and community groups. Media Burn is a project of the Fund for Innovative TV, which has been producing challenging documentary video and television since 1990.
Our Mission

Our mission is to use archival media to deepen context and encourage critical thought through a social justice lens.
Donate

The national significance of the collection of more than 8,000 videos has been recognized with grants from the National Archives, the “Save America’s Treasures” program of the NEH, the NEA, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, and MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation. Your support is a critical part of our success. Please donate today.
Our video transfer services

The boxes of tapes in your basement or closet may be deteriorating much faster than you think. You will have no better chance of transferring them successfully and for a reasonable cost than today. Media Burn is a boutique footage transfer service that provides highly personalized attention to your project.

Latest Blog Posts

Telling the People’s History From the Cutting Room Floor

April 19, 2019 at 4:48 pm / Blog

We strongly believe that camera original documentary footage (or “outtakes”) is the most significant untapped historical resource available today. It offers viewers the chance for an in-depth first person experience of past people, places, and events, as well as the potential to craft new stories. In a unique collaboration between Media Burn, Skidmore College, and documentary filmmakers Deb Ellis and Denis Mueller, students were given the opportunity to be the first to review and use the 85 hours of source footage shot for the 2004 feature … Continue reading →
Don’t Miss Our Documentary: WE ARE COLUMBINE

April 8, 2019 at 10:08 am / Blog

Laura Farber’s powerful film, WE ARE COLUMBINE is finally available for pre-order on iTunes. Her (and my) work on it began 17 years ago when she was a student of mine in a Columbia College documentary class. She was a freshman at Columbine High School in 1999 when the shootings happened. The film focuses on four of her classmates who reenact and reflect on that insane day 20 years ago, then reveal the drama and stories of their lives since. They are fascinating … Continue reading →

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