Film Atlas

Film Atlas is a collaboration between FIAF and the George Eastman Museum, with generous funding provided by the Louis B. Mayer Foundation. This encyclopaedic online resource pairs high-resolution imagery with scholarly essays to document the history of film as a physical medium from the dawn of cinema to the present. Facilitated by collaboration between international archives, this dynamic reference, research and teaching tool will offer a comprehensive visual guide to every motion picture film format, soundtrack, 3-D, and colour process ever invented.

The website launched to the public in May 2025, and is freely accessible to all. At this time (June 2025), it features 129 newly-commissioned essays and over 1,000 illustrations – about a quarter of all planned essays – and will continue to grow as more essays are delivered. We plan to document at least 650 formats and processes over the project's multi-year duration, with around 200 different authors from over 25 countries. The anticipated completion date for the project is currently 2032.

Film Atlas is accessible at www.filmatlas.com.

James Layton & Crystal Kui

Reviews

Luke McKernan, "Every Format, Everywhere, All at Once", blog entry, 7 June 2025.

Steve Bergson, "Launched: Film Atlas – Encyclopaedia of Film Formats and Processes", Photo Archive News, 17 June 2025.

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Forthcoming events

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27-30 July 2025
2nd Decasia Archive Film Festival, Lagos

7-17 August 2025
41st Bonn Summer Cinema - International Silent Film Festival, Bonn

4-6 September 2025
ACPAC Symposium "Rethinking Film Curation in Asian Cinemas", Singapore

8-11 September 2025
Joint IASA/SEAPAVAA Annual Conference, Honolulu, USA

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News

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25/06/2025

Projectionists’ Workshops 2025

The ACE and FIAF are joining force again to support ACE Members and/or FIAF affiliates based in Europe willing to spread and reinforce the knowledge and practice of analogue film projection by hosting a workshop. Applications for funding are open until 1 September.

19/06/2025

FIAF Bulletin Online #29, June 2025

The new issue of the FIAF Bulletin Online is out! You can read it on our online platform or download it.

18/06/2025

19th International Domitor Conference

The call for papers of the 19th International Domitor Conference on “(Dis)locating Early Cinema: Exchange, Extraction, Environment”, which will be held in Niterói, Brazil, from 10–13 June 2026, is now available.

17/06/2025

David Woodley Packard Receives the 2025 FIAF Award

The 2025 FIAF Award was presented to Mr. Packard by May Hong HaDuong and Peter Bagrov on 9 June at the Stanford Theatre in Palo Alto, California.

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