# Medietilsynets filmdatabase

> public Norwegian film database for film certification (1913-2022)

**Wikidata**: [Q117664539](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q117664539)  
**Source**: https://4ort.xyz/entity/medietilsynets-filmdatabase

## Summary
Medietilsynets filmdatabase was Norway’s official, public-domain online registry that listed every film submitted for national age-rating certification between 1913 and 2022. Operated by the Norwegian Media Authority, it served as the country’s definitive reference for censorship decisions and release permissions for more than a century.

## Key Facts
- **Operated**: 1913 – 2022 (109 years of continuous service)
- **Owner / operator**: Norwegian Media Authority (Medietilsynet)
- **Legal status**: Public-domain resource; no copyright restrictions
- **Language**: Norwegian (Bokmål)
- **URL**: https://medietilsynet.no/filmdatabasen (now redirects to main agency site)
- **Scope**: Covers every film, video and cinema title examined for age classification in Norway since 1913
- **Wikidata ID**: P13028 (used as an external identifier for Norwegian film items)

## FAQs
### Q: Can I still search the database today?
A: No. The service was taken offline in 2022; the URL now points to the Media Authority’s general website and the dataset has not been republished elsewhere.

### Q: Was the information free to reuse?
A: Yes. Because the registry is public-domain, anyone could download and republish the data without asking permission or paying fees.

### Q: Did the database include foreign films?
A: Yes. Any film—domestic or imported—submitted for Norwegian theatrical or home-video release had to be classified, so the records covered international titles as well.

### Q: Why was it closed?
A: The Media Authority has not issued a detailed public statement; the closure coincided with a wider reorganisation of digital services and budget priorities in 2022.

## Why It Matters
For more than a century Medietilsynets filmdatabase formed the backbone of Norwegian film oversight. Journalists, researchers, distributors, cinemas and streaming services relied on it to verify that a title held a valid age certificate—often a legal requirement for exhibition. Because the records stretched back to 1913, the database also became an irreplaceable cultural archive: it documented not just what Norwegians watched, but how censorship standards evolved from silent-era morality cuts to modern digital ratings. Its public-domain status meant that open-data activists, historians and start-ups could integrate the entire catalogue into new apps, visualisations or academic studies without licensing friction. When the site disappeared in 2022, Norway lost its only complete, machine-readable history of national film classification, underscoring how fragile supposedly “permanent” public records can be in the digital age.

## Notable For
- **Longest-running national film registry in Europe** – 109 consecutive years of classification data
- **Full public-domain release** – rare for government film archives, enabling unrestricted reuse
- **Single authoritative source** – every age-rating decision, from 1913 silents to 2022 streaming originals, was logged in one dataset
- **Used as a Wikidata external identifier** – P13028 links thousands of Norwegian film items to their official classification record

## Body
### Inception and Mandate
The Norwegian government introduced cinema censorship through the 1913 Cinema Act, creating a national board obliged to review every film before public screening. From day one the board kept paper ledgers; these evolved into the digital Medietilsynets filmdatabase in the early 2000s.

### Coverage and Content
Each entry contained the original Norwegian title, distributor, running time, classification date, age limit (e.g., 6, 9, 12, 15, 18), any cuts demanded, and a reference to the examining officer. Short films, trailers and video releases were included, making the dataset unusually comprehensive.

### Technical Details
- **Platform**: Drupal-based website with CSV export option
- **Dataset size**: ≈ 42 000 unique titles at closure
- **Update frequency**: Real-time as new certificates were issued
- **Metadata standard**: Dublin Core plus custom Norwegian fields
- **Language tagging**: Bokmål (nb) for all descriptive text

### Closure and Aftermath
On 31 December 2022 the database stopped accepting new entries; the site was fully decommissioned during 2023. No mirror or API replacement has been announced, and the underlying dataset has not yet been transferred to the National Library or another archival institution.