Shelves in the Film Archive
Film Archives
The Museum’s film collection, a rare and precious heritage, started in 1942 when Maria Adriana Prolo bought the first film for 30 liras. Today it has more than 30,000 films, representative of the most diverse eras and filmographies, from Giovanni Pastrone to Werner Herzog; a collection that continues to grow through acquisitions, donations and trusts. The core of the collection is made up by the oldest copies on a nitrate base and collection of silent films - a testimonial of Turin cinema from the early twentieth century when Turin was one of the main production centres of Italian cinema – is of an extraordinary historical value. The film archive is involved in restoration activities, also in collaboration with other Italian and international film archives. Among the most significant initiatives, we can mention the extraordinary intervention on Cabiria - with the parallel recovery of the 1914 version and a sound re-edition from 1931 - which enabled a distribution of the film worldwide. Since 1953, the Museum is a member of FIAF (Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film).
Fragments of 35mm nitrate film tinted with different colours
Film inspection at the flatbed
Ten plates Prevost editing table
Spring Cycle
by Stan Brakhage, USA, 1995
Working print. 16mm hand painted film stock (C3279)
Cabiria
by Giovanni Pastrone, Italy, 1931 (re-release)
35mm frame, nitrate, positive, tinted
Pastrone Fond
Unidentified film
35mm frame, nitrate, positive, stencil colored (C28310)
Unidentified film
35mm frame, nitrate, positive, stencil colored (C28310)
Unidentified film
35m frame, nitrate, positive, tinted (C03622). The image is fading: a process of decomposition that can affect the emulsion of the nitrate prints
Home movie
Italy, 1930’s
9,5mm frame, positive, black and white (C23672)
Pirates Bold
USA, w.d.
8mm cartoon box of the series ”Carnival Film”
Tigre reale
by Giovanni Pastrone, Italy, 1916
Production Sampler. Tinted and toned frames on a pierced cardboard (C09067)
Services
The Film Archive provides preserved materials for consultation and loan and provides advice for historical, archival and cultural planning research.