About the Yale Film Archive

The Yale Film Archive's mission is to advance film culture and support teaching, learning, and research at Yale through collection, preservation, access, and exhibition.

We pursue our mission by building and maintaining a collection of media in a variety of film and video formats; providing on-site viewing facilities; supporting classroom showings and individual research; performing film conservation and preservation work; and presenting screenings and related events to the Yale community and the public.

A Member of the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF), the Yale Film Archive traces its roots to film collections at Yale dating back to the 1960s. We now have more than 8,000 film elements in our film collection—including the archives of many prominent film collectors and hundreds of unique 35mm and 16mm prints and original negatives—and more than 50,000 assets in our video collection.

Our collection development strategy is motivated by a desire to meet the teaching, learning, and research needs of all Yale students and faculty working with film. We strive to expand and strengthen our diverse general collection, which includes works across a wide range of genres and from over 160 countries, while also deepening the collection in key research areas in consultation with Yale faculty.

The Yale Film Archive is conveniently located on the 7th floor of Sterling Memorial Library. The 3,200-square-foot space, completely renovated in 2021, offers ten updated viewing booths, a state-of-the-art screening room, a film conservation suite with cold storage and flatbed film viewing stations, a poster gallery, and sweeping views of the campus.

Stay informed of our latest news by signing up for the Yale Film Archive Mailing List online (we're in the Libraries category) and by following us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.