From Movie Fan to Film Guardian
Martin Scorsese’s obsession with movies never stopped at his own work. As he watched fragile prints of beloved films vanish from circulation, he realized that entire chapters of cinema history might quietly dissolve. In 1990, he took action, founding The Film Foundation, a nonprofit devoted to preserving and restoring endangered films.
The Film Foundation: An Alliance of Heavyweights
Scorsese didn’t act alone. He gathered a board made up of major American directors—Woody Allen, Francis Ford Coppola, Clint Eastwood, Stanley Kubrick, George Lucas, Robert Redford, Steven Spielberg, and others. Over time, new generations joined: Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, Ang Lee, Christopher Nolan, Spike Lee, Sofia Coppola, Guillermo del Toro, Barry Jenkins, and more.
Working with studios and archives, the foundation has restored more than 800 films—from classic Hollywood titles to forgotten gems—and built free educational programs that teach young audiences how to read the “language” of film.
World Cinema Project: Voices from the Margins
In 2007, Scorsese widened the mission with the World Cinema Project, targeting films from regions lacking the resources to preserve their own history. The initiative has resurrected works like Ousmane Sembène’s Black Girl and Djibril Diop Mambéty’s Touki Bouki, issuing them on Blu‑ray and streaming via partnerships with the Criterion Collection.
Volume after volume—Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project—has brought titles from West Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia back into circulation, turning private restorations into public events.
The African Film Heritage Project
In 2017, alongside UNESCO and African film organizations, Scorsese launched the African Film Heritage Project, aiming to locate and restore 50 key African films. Many were thought lost; others survived only in decayed prints scattered across archives. The project doesn’t stop at restoration—it ensures screenings on the African continent, reconnecting communities with their cinematic past.
A Legacy Beyond His Own Films
Honored with preservation awards and retrospectives, Scorsese often seems most animated when talking about other directors’ work. In rescuing these films, he’s quietly reshaping the canon, insisting that the story of cinema is global—and that it’s not too late to save it.