To the Beauty of Analogue Film

Where Celluloid Lives On

Since its creation back in the 1970s, the Cinémathèque lives by the motto “to preserve and to show” for the generations of today and tomorrow. Our collection of 20.000 films is a true Cave of Wonders, with titles ranging from classics to much rarer features.

Watching an analogue (35mm or 16mm) print is a unique experience that enables you – the audience – to appreciate the physical materiality of film in all its facets. You might become aware of some historical patina that certain prints might have accumulated over time. This is an intrinsic part of the cinematic experience as well as a historical marker of authenticity.

There is a kind of romantic nostalgia to film projection because it unites the viewer with all those who have watched movies in the same way for the past 120 years.

When a celluloid strip is shown at 24 frames per second in front of a lightbulb, it creates the illusion of movement. Still images come alive. This is the flickering magic of watching films on film.

Cinema began with a passionate, physical relationship between celluloid and the artists and craftsmen and technicians who handled it, manipulated it, and came to know it the way a lover comes to know every inch of the body of the beloved. No matter where the cinema goes, we cannot afford to lose sight of its beginnings.

Martin Scorsese

In our film credits, you can find as of now the information about the format of the projected film: “35mm”/“16mm” for an analogue projection on film and “digital” for a digital projection.

Vous trouverez désormais l’information relative au support du film projeté dans nos génériques de films : “35mm”/“16mm” pour une projection analogique en pellicule et “digital” pour projection numérique.