Anthology’s Independent Film Preservation program was established in 1972. We have been steadfastly committed to the preservation and exhibition of work by the most important American independent and experimental filmmakers of the last half-century. Films preserved by Anthology include those of Stan Brakhage, Joseph Cornell, Maya Deren, Bruce Baillie, Jordan Belson, Paul Sharits and Harry Smith, among others.

Film shrinkage, color fading, and chemical disintegration are prevented by making protection negatives and master prints. Huge collections of filmic documents of life in America during the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies, and many avant-garde film classics would have been lost if they had they not been saved from deterioration or destruction by Anthology’s film preservation program.

We also provide a space for the presentation of a vast array of contemporary and classical work that otherwise has limited exposure. For us, the value of cinematic art is always realized through a combination of presentation and preservation; restricting efforts to one or the other can only lead to disappearance.

Film preservation resources:

Organizations:

• National Film Preservation Foundation / NFPF
• Association of Moving Image Archivists
• Independent Media Arts Preservation
• The International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF)
• Library of Congress
• The National Film Preservation Board
• The Women’s Film Preservation Fund (New York Women in Film and Television)

Individuals / general:

• palimpsest.stanford.edu
• littlefilm.org
• Film Forever.org

Film Schedule