As early as 1967, the Austrian Film Museum started to collect films, writings, photographs, posters and other documentation
relating to (and created by) the Soviet filmmaking pioneer and theorist Dziga Vertov. His work and achievements have been
crucial for the Film Museum's policies from the very beginning: In 1967, the Film Museum published the first German translation
of his selected writings, in 1972, filmmaker and co-founder Peter Kubelka and chief archivist Edith Schlemmer restored Vertov's
early sound film classic Entuziazm (1930). In 1974, Peter Konlechner and Peter Kubelka presented a large-scale Vertov exhibition at the Albertina Graphics Collection.
In organizing these projects, the Film Museum established a close relationship with Vertov's widow and artistic collaborator,
Elizaveta Svilova. Between 1970 and 1974, Svilova donated part of Dziga Vertov's personal collection and papers to the institution
– the foundation of what is now the Vertov Collection at the Austrian Film Museum. Today, this resource contains about 100
film elements, 170 original manuscripts and autographs (Vertov's writings, sketches and editing schemes), 200 photographs
(personal photos and work-related stills), 600 press clippings from around the world (primarily from the former Soviet Union
and Germany), 33 original posters, and many other documents.