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