Filmfabriek Profilti

history

Filmfabriek Profilti is the production department of the Nederlandsche Bioscoop Trust (NBT), privatized in 1929. Initially, Profilti focused on making corporate and advertising films, but this changed in 1931 when the company merged with the Hague-based Orion.

The new company, Orion-Profilti, began concentrating on the production of news items, and was the main competitor of Filmfabriek Polygoon. Six weeks after Polygoon released its first newsreel with sound, Orion Profilti presented its own newsreel Nederland in Klank en Beeld (Orion also continued making a silent version of the newsreel, called the Orion-Revue).

In 1932, Profilti and Orion parted ways. Profilti fell into financial difficulties and turned to Polygoon, which included Profilti in a new partnership, the Vereenigde Nederlandsche Filmfabrieken, but this initiative was not made public. In 1940, Profilti and Polygoon were forced under pressure from the Germans to produce a joint newsreel. This cooperation was also continued after the war: on May 22, 1945, Polygoon-Profilti-Productions was founded.

Profilti continued to exist as an independent fiscal unit, and ran a studio. Profilti also managed the film archives of the Royal Family, which contained footage dating back to 1901.

This archive and the Profilti studio were completely destroyed in a bombing in early 1945, but the Profilti studio was rebuilt, and reopened in December 1947.