SNSF Swiss Film Subtitling: Historical, Archival and Computational Perspectives

SNSF project
Duration of projcet: August 2026 to July 2030

Project leader

Prof. Dr. Josephine Diecke
Prof. Dr. Alexander Künzli

Project staff

University of Zurich, Department of Film Studies
Dr. Megumi Hayawaka, postdoctoral researcher
MA Diliara Fruehauf, student assistant

University of Geneva, Faculty of Translation and Interpreting
Dr. Sevita Caseres, postdoctoral researcher

Link to SNSF website: https://data.snf.ch/grants/grant/10007568

Project summary

Subtitling has accompanied moving images for more than a century, yet 
its role in film history and audiovisual translation (AVT) still holds 
considerable potential to be explored. This project develops the first 
systematic account of subtitling in Switzerland, combining historical, 
archival, and computational perspectives. Swiss productions are marked 
by linguistic diversity, while versions for cinema, DVD and streaming 
show how subtitling adapts to changing media, technologies and 
workflows. By examining these variants, we ask how subtitling products 
and processes evolved in Switzerland and how such insights can inform 
comparative studies on national and transnational scales.

The project combines historical depth with methodological innovation. 
Rather than tracing a single linear history, it follows 
media-archaeological and descriptive AVT traditions, treating subtitle 
versions as meaningful historical differences. It bridges 
product-oriented perspectives which analyze subtitles as audiovisual 
artifacts, with process-oriented perspectives that reconstruct 
institutional and professional practices. These two axes guide three 
subprojects: a PhD on historical products and processes, a postdoc on 
archival practices, and a postdoc on computational analysis.
Methodologically, the project employs a mixed-methods approach 
integrating archival research, interviews and computational analysis. A 
version-sensitive database will document subtitle variants at work, 
version, and item levels. Subtitles will be digitized, extracted, and 
annotated to capture translation strategies, segmentation, and timing, 
and compared across releases and decades. Archival sources and 
interviews will reconstruct workflows, decision-making and networks with
 attention to Swiss subtitling companies such as Titra and Cinetyp. 
Computational tools support systematic comparisons, while manual 
annotation ensures contextual precision. This hybrid workflow enables 
analysis across image, sound, and text, combining close readings with 
data-driven perspectives.

The corpus will comprise about 100 films, including Swiss documentaries 
and features as well as foreign productions subtitled in Switzerland. 
Selection criteria include language diversity, version availability and 
gender balance. The films will be drawn primarily from the Cinémathèque 
Suisse (CS), complemented by the Filmo catalogue and the video library 
collections at UZH. Paratextual sources such as scripts, subtitle lists 
and production notes will enrich the analysis. Collaborations with CS, 
Filmo, and the Audiovisual Research Infrastructure at UZH ensure access 
to materials and expertise while feeding results back into archival 
catalogues and workflows.

The project is led by two principal investigators, one in film studies 
at UZH and one in translation studies at UNIGE, with one PhD and two 
postdoctoral researchers. Their collaboration integrates disciplinary 
expertise while fostering cross-training in digital methods, AVT and 
film history. Annual workshops, training sessions and joint publications
 will support career development and strengthen the project’s 
international network.

The expected impact is threefold. First, it fills a major gap in Swiss 
media history by tracing subtitling as a practice that shaped film 
production, distribution, and reception. Second, it advances 
methodological innovation by combining digital annotation and data 
analysis with historical approaches, offering a model applicable beyond 
Switzerland. Third, it engages cultural institutions and the public: 
open datasets will follow FAIR principles, and collaboration with 
archives, distributors and festivals will ensure results inform 
restoration, retranslation, and exhibition practices. By situating 
today’s debates on AI-assisted translation within longer trajectories, 
the project enhances scholarly understanding of subtitling and 
contributes to debates on the future of audiovisual translation, 
accessibility, and cultural heritage.

Cooperation partners 

• Cinémathèque suisse
• Filmo
• University Library Zurich
• AViRI
• TIB Hannover