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 America
Cinémathèque québécoise in Montreal
Pacific Cinémathèque in Vancouver
TIFF Cinematheque in Toronto
Cinematheque Waterloo in Waterloo
Winnipeg Film Group's Cinematheque in Winnipeg
The Screen at Santa Fe University of Art and Design
American Cinematheque in Los Angeles
New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles
San Francisco Cinematheque in San Francisco
Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago
Cleveland Cinematheque in Cleveland
University of Virginia Cinematheque in Charlottesville
Cineteca Nacional in Mexico City
Filmoteca de la UNAM in Mexico City
South America
Cinemateca Uruguaya in Montevideo, Uruguay
Cinemateca Nacional de Venezuela in Caracas, Venezuela
Cinemateca Brasileira in São Paulo, Brazil
Sinematek Indonesia in Jakarta, Indonesia
Broadway Cinematheque in Hong Kong (a cinema rather than a cinematheque proper)
China Film Archive in Beijing, China
Korean Film Archive in Seoul, South Korea
Seoul Art Cinema in Seoul, South Korea
Cinematheque Busan in Busan, South Korea
Asian Film Archive in Singapore
Hanoi Cinematheque in Hanoi, Vietnam
Jerusalem Cinematheque in Jerusalem, Israel
Tel Aviv Cinematheque in Tel Aviv, Israel
Haifa Cinematheque in Haifa, Israel
Herzliya Cinematheque in Herzliya, Israel
Holon Cinematheque in Holon, Israel
Sderot Cinematheque in Sderot, Israel
Rosh Pina Cinematheque in Rosh Pinna, Israel
Tehran Cinematheque in Tehran, Iran
Pardis Gholhak Cinematheque in Tehran, Iran
Australian Cinémathèque in the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Queensland
Melbourne Cinematheque in Melbourne, Victoria
Adelaide Cinémathèque in the Mercury Cinema, Adelaide, South Australia
Cinémathèque royale de Belgique in Brussels, Belgium
Cinémathèque de la Ville de Luxembourg in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
Bulgarian National Film Archive (Българска Национална Филмотека) in Sofia, Bulgaria
Cinémathèque Française in Paris, France
Cinémathèque suisse in Lausanne, Switzerland
Slovenska kinoteka in Ljubljana, Slovenia
Deutsche Kinemathek in Berlin, Germany
Cineteca di Bologna in Bologna, Italy
Cinemateca Portuguesa in Lisbon, Portugal
Yugoslav Film Archive in Belgrade, Serbia
Filmoteca Española in Madrid, Spain
Cinemateket in Stockholm, Sweden
Cinemateket in Oslo, Norway
Cinemateket in Trondheim, Norway
Cinemateket in Copenhagen, Denmark
British Film Institute in London, UK
National Museum of Film and Television in Bradford, UK
Národní filmový archiv in Prague, Czech Republic (and its Ponrepo cinema)
Filmoteca de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain
