North East Film Archive

[1] The NEFA was founded in January 1998 as an unofficial consortium of four bodies which already held substantial film and television collections within the region:[2] what was then the University of Teesside (now Teesside University), Tyne and Wear Archives Service (TWAS, the county record office for Tyne and Wear), Trade Films and Cumbria Archives Service (the county record office for Cumbria).

A temperature and humidity controlled vault facility was built for the NEFA on the Teesside campus during 2003, and was formally opened the following year.

In December 2003, NRFTA Ltd was formed as a company limited by guarantee, making the archive an independent legal entity.

Viewing facilities for members of the public are available at Newcastle, but preservation and cataloguing work no longer takes place there.

The NEFA is funded from a combination of sources, including public money, revenue from commercial footage licensing to broadcasters (all other paid-for services are charged on a cost-covering basis) and 'in kind' contributions from its constituent organisations, principally Teesside University and Tyne and Wear Archives Service.