Ten Milestones in French Cinema

1936 - Founding of the Cinémathèque Française

Still the largest film archive in the world, the legendary Cinémathèque Française had its beginnings when pioneering preservationist Henri Langlois, along with filmmaker Georges Franju and film theorist Jean Mitry, struggled to save French films, all of which were at risk of being destroyed by the Nazis. The regular hangout for the young upstarts that would form the New Wave, it remains to this day an invaluable resource for cinephiles.