Film Archives
A rare and precious heritage
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).
Do you have any film-related materials that you would like to donate to the Film Archive?
Help us preserve the memory of the cinema
The preservation, study and promotion of its heritage are an integral part of the Museum’s mission.
The Museum welcomes proposals for donations of the following types of material: film equipment, pre-cinema devices, posters, photographs, films in analogue or digital format, books, journals and archival materials, such as screenplays, storyboards, contracts and correspondence.
For further information, please contact Chief Conservator Stefano Boni at boni@museocinema.it.
Cabiria
by Giovanni Pastrone, Italy, 1931 (re-release)
35mm frame, nitrate, positive, tinted (C00119)
Pastrone Fund.
Spring Cycle
by Stan Brakhage, USA, 1995
Working print. 16mm hand painted film stock (C3279).
Frames of 35mm, nitrate positive print with applied color (tinting and pochoir technique)
Pathé Frères; Menegatti Fund.
![[Venezia] 35mm frame, nitrate, positive, tinted (C03622)](https://www.museocinema.it/sites/default/files/gallery_lightbox/5583/443/11_venezia.jpg)
[Venezia]
35mm frame, nitrate, positive, tinted (C03622). The image is fading: a process of decomposition that can affect the emulsion of the nitrate prints
Cinepanoramica (1911–1929)
Filoteo Alberini’s patent for the Cine-panoramica
Unidentified fragment shot by Filoteo Alberini with a Cinepanoramica camera for experimental purposes
70mm frame, nitrate, positive, tinted (C30931)
Sistema Duplex (1910–c.1913)
Patent by Carlo Rossi for Pellicola cinematografica multipla / Duplex film
Emozionante Lotta Di Galli Cinesi (Luca Comerio, Comerio Films, 1913)
35mm frame, nitrate, positive, tinted (C09121)
Manifestazioni dell’anno 1940
Home movie, Italy, Cosimi Fund
9,5mm frame, positive, b/n (C23164/002)
Luis Bogino, photographer and amateur filmmaker during his frequent self-portrait shot in front of the mirror inside his photography studio in downtown Turin.
The film collection of the Bogino Fund illustrates the perspective of a Piedmontese amateur filmmaker through amateur films and private footage spanning three decades, from 1928 to 1958.
Inspector Willoughby. Rough and Tumbleweed
(Walter Lantz, Paul J. Smith, USA, 1961)
Cartoon box of the series” Castle Films” containing the 16mm film print.
Tigre reale
by Giovanni Pastrone, Italy, 1916
Production Sampler. Tinted and toned frames on a pierced cardboard (C09067).
![Film a colori naturali (1938) Sampler of the process for [Natural-Color Films] patented by Vitale Casiraghi (C27565).](https://www.museocinema.it/sites/default/files/gallery_lightbox/5583/443/19_casiraghi_c27565_01.jpg)
Film a colori naturali (1938)
Sampler of the process for [Natural-Color Films] patented by Vitale Casiraghi (C27565).
Consultation of materials
Consultation methods include viewing materials in equipped areas of the Film Archive and taking items out on loan. The consultation of slow motion films is available in the Film library (via Sospello 195 / A) and is offered to students and researchers, accompanied by a cover letter signed by the teacher or the person in charge at their institution.
DVDs and VHS tapes can be viewed in the Library/Mediatheque
Loan of materials
The Museum requires some specific guarantees of protection (legal, technical and transport guarantees) and preservation of films that are loaned. The loan is subject to the acceptance of the contracts provided by the Film Archive in response to the requests received. The loan is secured to the archives of FIAF members.
For details and information on the terms and conditions for loans, please contact us at: cineteca@museocinema.it