The moving image has had a huge impact on people's lives over the last 100 years.  Film was the great new art form and recording medium of the 20th century.  Television transformed our understanding of current affairs and introduced a new form of home entertainment.  Amateur film making has been a possibility since the 1920s and enabled thousands of people to record events that were important to them as well as respond creatively to the medium.

Whether the moving images are produced by amateurs or professionals they have the potential to open a unique window on the way we have lived our lives.

For these reasons MACE is committed to preserving the moving image heritage of the Midlands for future generations to enjoy and study.

As a result of this commitment we have developed and continue to develop a collection of moving images held on film, video tape and DVD that, in some way, relate to the East and West Midlands.

The material in the collection is hugely varied and ranges from early examples of film production through to DVDs produced by school children using digital technology.

The largest single collection in our care was donated by ITV and consists of thousands of individual items of regional television from the past fifty years.  We also care for an ever growing number of small collections, amateur and professional, reflecting the life and experience of our region.