Preserved Film Movies

Sonbert's vivid color palette enhances the ritualistic nature of each action observed. Set against this lush panorama, Sonbert subverts the expectatio...

A tribute to Stan Brakhage's pet dog Sirius, whose decompostion was recorded over 6 months after he had died. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive i...

On Christmas Eve, a lonely young boy, shut out from the shiny world of presents and holiday parties, peers into a candlelit window, where a gray-haire...

Optical printing pioneer Pat O’Neill uses “his skills in special effects production to extrapolate metaphysical meaning from the ordinariness of indus...

Documentary examining the steel industry in Youngstown, Ohio during World War II. Focuses on steel production, including the smelting process, slaggin...

An unfinished archival short, in which the titular substance plays a key role in determining an outmoded man’s role in a changing society. Preserved...

What goes in to the phrase, "Let's go to the movies"? An off-screen narrator takes us back to the earliest days of film: clips remind us of early star...

A woman's nightly domestic rituals—from putting her baby to bed to making love—unspool in a playful parade of surreal, straight-from-the-id images. P...

A hand-painted experimental short. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2016.

Shooting in 1966 without script, story, or any narrative preconception, Nelson and Wiley created a masterwork of ‘60s independent cinema. The Great Bl...

Based on the book by anthropologist Barbara Myerhoff, this Academy Award-winning short documentary offers a tender portrait of a community of elderly...

Albert and David Maysles (Gimme Shelter) directed this 53-minute documentary about movie tycoon Joseph E. Levine (1963). Preserved by the Academy Fil...

The short film was made from material shot for a Levi’s commercial on which Gus Van Sant was given complete freedom. Van Sant delivered the ad, and se...

A female warden takes over at a state reform school and attempts to bring about needed changes. Restored in 2020 by the Academy Film Archive with add...

A look at the inner workings of a hospital. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with The Film Foundation in 2011.

An ode to queer sex and drugs, boys shooting up and kissing. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 1998.

“When Picasso died I wanted to make the first post-mortem documentary, as I knew would happen anyway, and cheaply. The film took four hours to finish...

Documentary short about the American Civil War. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2005.

P. Adams Sitney, Professor of Visual Art at Princeton University, wrote a short essay for Artforum International "Medium Shots: the films of Morgan Fi...

Documentary short detailing the American soldier's part in preserving the fundamental ideals of this nation. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in...