The British Film Institute this week launched Britain on Film, an initiative to make their archive of thousands of unseen films freely available for public screening on the BFI Player platform.

Around 2,500 old cine films have already been digitised and are available to view online, by 2017, the BFI aims to have digitised 10,000 film and TV titles from 1895 to the present day.

Britain On Film includes travelogues, tourism films, public information docs, newsreels, a few feature films and even home movies. 

Films can be selected by date, or by pre-selected themes, a “film map” of the UK has also been created to help viewers discover films relating to specific places. Locally there are some fascinating films from fairly close by: Alexandra Palace and Park features as does Broomfield Park. One film from 1960 records the opening of the high-rise flats at Highview Gardens New Southgate  (now Swinson House). The film features a civic dignitary making a speech about London's Housing crisis that wouldn't be of of place now, 55 years on.

BFI are inviting public involvement with the project via Twitter and Facebook, they are launching a campaign of special screenings, events and partnerships across the UK. The BFI’s curators and archivists requesting the public to identify people and places in the films, which detail every aspect of everyday life in the UK over the last 120 years.

• Explore the Britain on Film map