About
To acquire, preserve, document and make accessible India's film heritage for present and future generations.
India's national film archive in Pune. 90,000+ cans of film, silent era to regional cinema. UNESCO recommended, FIAF member. Shares campus with FTII. The primary guardian of India's cinematic memory.
NFAI was established in 1964 recognising that without systematic preservation, India's early film heritage was in danger of irreversible loss. By then, a significant proportion of silent-era and early sound-era Indian films had already been lost to decomposition, fire or neglect. The archive has since assembled the world's largest collection of Indian cinema. The National Film Heritage Mission, launched by the government in 2017, created a framework for systematic digitisation at scale.
Founding & Leadership
Initiatives & Portfolio
Systematic acquisition and preservation of Indian and international films. 90,000+ cans requiring ongoing climate-controlled storage and conservation work.
Ongoing digitisation under the National Film Heritage Mission (2017). Priority to nitrate and early acetate stock at risk of decomposition.
Regular curated screenings and discussion programmes in Pune. Among the most accessible film education programmes in India.
NFAI is one of the few institutions in India whose work has no substitute: if it does not preserve India's film heritage, no one else will. The global loss of early film heritage is among the 20th century's most significant cultural disasters; NFAI's role in preventing an equivalent loss in India, while imperfect and underfunded, has been irreplaceable.
[Atlas Perspective] NFAI's resource constraints are the most significant risk to India's film heritage. Digitisation and physical conservation require sustained investment that a single government archive cannot always secure. Delays in digitisation translate directly into permanent loss.
This is an area where private cultural philanthropy could make a specific and lasting contribution: sponsoring the digitisation of a body of regional language films, funding expanded climate-controlled storage, or supporting the Film Appreciation Course's expansion are all forms of giving with measurable, verifiable impact. The connection between NFAI and the Film Heritage Foundation (also in the Atlas) represents the public-private partnership model that this institution needs more of.