68mm films inscribed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register

The addition of three hundred films to the UNESCO Memory of the World Register was decided during the 221st session of the UNESCO Executive Board (2-17 April 2025) in Paris. Eye Filmmuseum has the biggest collection of 68mm images on their original stock in its collection (two hundred titles); the BFI has one hundred, MoMA 36 rolls of Biograph films and the CNC collection has five Biograph titles. 

This collection follows other exceptional Eye and BFI collections that have already been inscribed into the UNESCO Memory of the World Register: from Eye the legacy of film pioneer Jean Desmet, which was granted world cultural heritage status in 2011, and from the BFI the Peter Worden Mitchell & Kenyon Collection, the Silent Films of Alfred Hitchcock and the GPO Film Collection (Memory of the World UK).

The prestigious Memory of the World programme supports countries in preserving and making available documentary heritage of exceptional significance to the world. Other items in the Register include Anne Frank’s diary, the archives of the Dutch East India Company, the Gutenberg Bible, the UK Parliament 1689 Bill of Rights, Domesday Book and Magna Carta.

Mutoscope and Biograph collection

The collection is named after The Mutoscope and Biograph Company, founded in 1895 in New York by William Kennedy-Laurie Dickson – who previously worked for inventor Thomas Edison – and first operating under the name American Mutoscope Company. They invented the format and cameras themselves and had it patented. The business expanded rapidly, establishing branches in Great Britain, the Netherlands, Germany and France. 

From 1896, the company’s employees took their Biograph cameras all over the world, filming countless subjects ranging from special events and occasions to recordings of specific customs and cultural expressions. As there were no cinemas at the time, the resulting films were shown in music halls, opera houses, theatres (including Carré in Amsterdam) and entertainment venues (such as the Folies Bergères in Paris).

‘The IMAX of the 19th century’ 

The Mutoscope and Biograph films (lasting one minute) gained worldwide popularity, not least thanks to their superb picture quality. These films used a large format that delivered stunningly beautiful images on 68mm film stock with no perforations, meaning the picture fills the entire width of the film. 

Biograph films’ clarity, high resolution and depth of field is comparable to what you’d see in an IMAX cinema today (8 to 16K) – which is why the analogue Biograph films are sometimes referred to as ‘the IMAX of the 19th century’.

Delicate heritage

The fact that these almost 130-year-old films now enjoy UNESCO protected status means that audiences worldwide can enjoy this unique aspect of film history. 

And it is truly unique – almost miraculous, in fact – that three hundred of these 68mm films have survived; the 68mm format fell out of use from 1903 as 35mm film became standard. The celluloid films over 125 years old are incredibly delicate – in many cases the emulsion is peeling from the film base. Film’s inherent physical instability and the transitory nature of its commercial value, led to the loss of approximately 80% of all the films made before 1930.

Window into the past

The Biograph and Mutoscope films give us a glimpse of an exceptional period in history: the end of the 19th century and the beginning of 20th, which saw the birth of modernity.

The footage that has survived from this era is a major historical resource, showing us rare moving images of rapidly expanding global cities such as New York, London, Paris and Berlin, as well as unique views such as the very first recording of the Mardi Gras Carnival in New Orleans. Many of the great players of history are recorded, politicians and military leaders as well as the royal families of Europe including the extended family of Queen Victoria, Queen Wilhelmina, Kaiser Wilhelm II and Tsar Nicholas. The films also record monumental world events such as the Boer War in South Africa.