Asked about cuts to the archive, an ABC spokesperson said the organisation operates one of the most extensive archives in Australia including the largest collection of First Nations news and information in the world.

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“We have made no further changes to ABC Archives from our 2022 restructure and there is no evidence of additional time taken to process requests for content.

“We charge a small fee for the supply of content for personal and non-theatric use to cover the cost of the work involved in providing this service.”

But filmmakers and those who rely on archives, such as the ABC’s, say there is a problem.

Broadcaster and writer Tony Wilson agrees with Berger. Filmmakers consistently bump up against the cost of ABC footage, he says. “It is being run very much like a business.”

Archival footage held by the ABC usually costs $80 a second for worldwide rights in perpetuity; Nine (owner of this masthead) for comparison, charges $60 a second, while SBS is slightly higher, at $88.

For years Wilson has been making a documentary about Hungarian soccer great Ferenc Puskas and his time in Australia; he hopes it will make its premiere at this year’s Melbourne International Film Festival.

He argues there are other options. The ABC could implement a tiered pricing approach, where if you’re a substantially funded project you’re charged a higher amount, but if you’re an independent filmmaker, you’re charged significantly less.

In an ideal world, he envisages a scenario where the ABC gets a return for being behind the projects it has nurtured. “There’s a large contingent of us who would just love to tell our stories, so maybe the ABC can create a spot on iview that’s experimental, that’s not as polished - like Tropfest [the first time filmmakers competition in Sydney] - so those stories would be told.”

At the Australian Film and Television Archive, filmmakers have an option to use up to five minutes free if they don’t have funding; the National Film and Sound Archive also offers concessions for archival footage use that make it cheaper.

Getty Images also has an incentive program for archive-heavy projects, which means you can apply for access to a number of minutes of archival footage at no cost, according to Wilson.

When she made Brazen Hussies, Catherine Dwyer had a positive experience at the ABC: the national broadcaster commissioned the film, which covers the women’s liberation movement in Australia from 1965 to 1975, and effectively underwrote any costs involved in using the ABC’ archives. “We got the key to the archive cupboard, which covered those licensing arrangements,” Dwyer says. “We worked with amazing staff there who did incredible research.”

Dwyer’s approach highlights one obvious solution: if the national broadcaster commissioned more documentaries, actively supporting the work of independent filmmakers, at least until they are funded, more stories would be told.

While she agrees the cost of licensing footage is high, Dwyer points out that the cost of preserving the archives is very high and there is not enough funding going toward the institutions to enable them to do that.

“I do see a need for the fees, though a different approach is also necessary for more stories to be told. And I also think that there should be provisions in the law that accommodate documentary filmmakers being able to use certain content without the need to clear it, items that are newsworthy - in the public interest - and that are being used specifically in that context.”

Dwyer agrees with filmmaker Gary Newman, who recently wrote an opinion piece for this masthead saying very few first-time documentary makers make another film. “Filmmaking is very hard and I’m not sure when and if I will direct another film again.”

Rapid technological advancement, particularly in the realm of AI, is also likely to lead to further pressure to cut more resources across all organisations with substantial archives. But Dwyer says expertise of archivists themselves is invaluable. The perception that less skilled staff or artificial intelligence can do their jobs is problematic and underestimates the sophistication of the task.

“I’m really worried that a lot of it is going to be lost. You’ve got to think laterally, that wealth of knowledge the staff have, I don’t think that can be replicated by AI.”