A cinematheque is a typically small motion-picture theater that specializes in historically important, experimental, avant-garde, or art-house films. Often part of a university or private archive, a cinematheque may have only one screen, but larger ones have multiple screens.
In 1935 Henri Langlois and Georges Franju founded a film club ("Cercle du cinéma") to show old films from which originated the Cinémathèque Française in 1936.
The idea to archive old films was by no means self-evident at the time. Langlois was able to save many films the companies had intended to throw away. In 1933, the British Film Institute was founded in London. In 1938 Henri Storck, André Thirifays and Pierre Vermeylen founded the Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique in Belgium. Also in 1938, the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) was founded in Paris.
North AmericaCinémathèque québécoise in MontrealPacific Cinémathèque in VancouverTIFF Cinematheque in TorontoCinematheque Waterloo in WaterlooWinnipeg Film Group's Cinematheque in WinnipegThe Screen at Santa Fe University of Art and DesignAmerican Cinematheque in Los AngelesNew Beverly Cinema in Los AngelesSan Francisco Cinematheque in San FranciscoGene Siskel Film Center in ChicagoCleveland Cinematheque in ClevelandUniversity of Virginia Cinematheque in CharlottesvilleCineteca Nacional in Mexico CityFilmoteca de la UNAM in Mexico CitySouth AmericaCinemateca Uruguaya in Montevideo, UruguayCinemateca Nacional de Venezuela in Caracas, VenezuelaCinemateca Brasileira in São Paulo, BrazilSinematek Indonesia in Jakarta, IndonesiaBroadway Cinematheque in Hong Kong (a cinema rather than a cinematheque proper)China Film Archive in Beijing, ChinaKorean Film Archive in Seoul, South KoreaSeoul Art Cinema in Seoul, South KoreaCinematheque Busan in Busan, South KoreaAsian Film Archive in SingaporeHanoi Cinematheque in Hanoi, VietnamJerusalem Cinematheque in Jerusalem, IsraelTel Aviv Cinematheque in Tel Aviv, IsraelHaifa Cinematheque in Haifa, IsraelHerzliya Cinematheque in Herzliya, IsraelHolon Cinematheque in Holon, IsraelSderot Cinematheque in Sderot, IsraelRosh Pina Cinematheque in Rosh Pinna, IsraelTehran Cinematheque in Tehran, IranPardis Gholhak Cinematheque in Tehran, IranAustralian Cinémathèque in the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, QueenslandMelbourne Cinematheque in Melbourne, VictoriaAdelaide Cinémathèque in the Mercury Cinema, Adelaide, South AustraliaCinémathèque royale de Belgique in Brussels, BelgiumCinémathèque de la Ville de Luxembourg in Luxembourg City, LuxembourgBulgarian National Film Archive (Българска Национална Филмотека) in Sofia, BulgariaCinémathèque Française in Paris, FranceCinémathèque suisse in Lausanne, SwitzerlandSlovenska kinoteka in Ljubljana, SloveniaDeutsche Kinemathek in Berlin, GermanyCineteca di Bologna in Bologna, ItalyCinemateca Portuguesa in Lisbon, PortugalYugoslav Film Archive in Belgrade, SerbiaFilmoteca Española in Madrid, SpainCinemateket in Stockholm, SwedenCinemateket in Oslo, NorwayCinemateket in Trondheim, NorwayCinemateket in Copenhagen, DenmarkBritish Film Institute in London, UKNational Museum of Film and Television in Bradford, UKNárodní filmový archiv in Prague, Czech Republic (and its Ponrepo cinema)Filmoteca de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain