The qualitative investigation of SAFE integrates and enriches the extensive and comparative mapping of the field carried out through the Survey, thanks to the interviews conducted with eleven partner archives. Through targeted interviews, informed by an approach derived from institutional ethnography – aimed at making visible informal care practices and distributed responsibilities, while highlighting decision-making processes and relational issues – it has been possible to bring to light and discursively formalize the processes, daily practices, and operational challenges of the archives, offering an understanding of the infrastructural and cultural dynamics that support the preservation of audiovisual heritage.

From a methodological standpoint, these semi-structured interviews allowed interviewees considerable freedom, resulting in an enriched interpretative understanding of the realities under examination.

The interviews explored the history of the archives, ranging from institutions with long-established recognition to younger entities. The narration of the historical trajectory proved particularly significant: on the one hand, as an introductory moment useful for building trust and establishing rapport with the interviewees; on the other, as an interpretive key to identifying the thematic cores and aspects that each archive considers central and most representative of its own identity and development.

Intending to survey the state of practices and protocols for the digital preservation of cinematographic heritage, the investigation systematically examined the reasons driving digital preservation, the workflows adopted, established good practices, and the main critical issues encountered. Particular attention was devoted to the strategies introduced to cope with technological obsolescence, as well as to the methods of managing, preserving, and migrating digital formats over time.

Regarding the collection and sharing of stewardship strategies, the ethnographic approach made it possible to document virtuous practices, forms of collaboration, and sustainable management models developed at the local level. The interviews yielded a diversified landscape of skills, visions, and responsibilities that shape preservation and access choices.

In this way, the investigation contributes to the construction of a shared knowledge base, describing the state of the art while actively rendering visible often implicit knowledge, valorizing distributed expertise, and connecting local practices with a systemic perspective. In doing so, it contributes to the potential emergence of a common horizon for the protection and valorization of audiovisual heritage.