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Archive Treasures

Film is a collective memory, preserved with skill and dedication by the archivists' art.
In addition to promoting the new, the London Film Festival champions the old. Restorations of rarities, classics or films long believed lost are showcased every year. Here is a taster of some of the titles rescued from oblivion by the work of the BFI National Archive and other organisations. Film is a notoriously fragile and unstable medium; it is easily damaged - sometimes beyond repair – and degrades over time. So careful conservation and restoration are essential to our enjoyment and understanding of the medium's history and the archivists' art.
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The Battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands The Battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands

War 1927 106 mins Silent Director: Walter Summers

This dramatic reconstruction of two decisive naval battles from the First World War is one of the finest films of the British silent era.

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La Belle et la Bête La Belle et la Bête

Fantasy 1946 95 mins Director: Jean Cocteau

Jean Cocteau’s ravishingly restored 1946 film is a cinematic classic.

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Underground Underground

Romance 1928 93 mins Silent Director: Anthony Asquith

The BFI National Archive restoration of one of Anthony Asquith's finest silent films set in London's Underground, with a new score.

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Journey to Italy Journey to Italy

Drama 1954 86 mins Director: Roberto Rossellini

Roberto Rossellini's acerbic but finally very moving masterpiece about marital crisis boasts great performances from Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders

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Victim Victim

Drama 1961 100 mins Director: Basil Dearden

This thought-provoking classic stars Dirk Bogarde as a homosexual lawyer who risks his career to hunt down a blackmailer.

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Winstanley Winstanley

Historical drama 1976 96 mins Director: Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo

An authentic historical drama about the visionary Gerrard Winstanley who led a group of impoverished 'Diggers' to assert their common rights.