Film historian and collector Ati Mul (1947 - 2022)

It was in Ati Mul and Tjitte de Vries’ nature to be cinephiles and collectors. Part of their enormous private collection was transferred to Vrienden van het Filmarchief in 1991 and ultimately ended up being stewarded by the University of Groningen and Eye. The inventory included 83 35mm films, 449 16mm films, 293 documentaries, 216 negatives, 2,000 posters, 136 cameras and 103 projectors. They also bequeathed photographs and posters to the Geoffrey Donaldson Instituut.

Mul and De Vries had already jointly published Joop Geesink, poppenfilmproducent (1984) in Animatie magazine. A valuable article because it was, to a large extent, based on interviews with the studio’s former employees. De Vries and Mul’s most important, internationally leading publications are on the subject of British photographer and film pioneer Arthur Melbourne-Cooper, who is primarily known for his application of stop-motion techniques. They published Arthur Melbourne-Cooper, Film Pioneer Wronged by History (1994), A Documentation of Sources (2004) and the book They Thought It Was a Marvel, Arthur Melbourne-Cooper (1874-1961), Pioneer of Puppet Animation (2009). Right up until her death, Mul continued to work on a new publication about Melbourne-Cooper and maintain the information and equipment stored at her home.

Eye will continue to put its heart and soul into preserving Ati Mul and Tjitte de Vries’ exceptional collections, keeping their intellectual legacy alive through the Arthur Melbourne-Cooper Fund, which is lodged with Eye. This fund finances publications and stimulates research into the English film pioneer and his cinematic-historical context.