Through a long process of computerizing and digitizing the Cinematheque seeks to combine all the different resource databases into one database, containing information on both the films and the production values of these films, which will be open to the public. The work process includes the transfer of hundreds of hours of rare footage from film to disc.
At beginning of 2009, a large scale cataloguing project will begin, and will be conducted by students with predisposed knowledge of pre-State Israel and onwards. The Kennedy Leigh Charitable Trust, of Uk, with cooperation of the Jerusalem Foundation, will award special scholarships to the students chosen for this project.
Digitization of films has in the last few years caught on and has not passed over public archives. The purpose of this process, other than another means of preservation, is to make these films and footage accessible for public viewing and use, without harming screening prints or the film's master.
The Israeli Film Archive has chosen to digitize three kinds of films: Eretz-Israel films, Holocaust films, and Israeli films (with the knowledge and approval of the right's holders). After transferring and saving the materials as computer files (either on discs or DVDs), the material, or parts of it, can be distributed. DVDs,
with prier permission, may be produced from it and transferred to other archives and sources.