Film Atlas

Film Atlas is a collaboration between the FIAF and the George Eastman Museum, with generous funding provided by the Louis B. Mayer Foundation. This encyclopedic online resource pairs high-resolution imagery with scholarly essays to document the history of film as a physical medium from the dawn of cinema to the present. Facilitated by collaboration between international archives, this dynamic reference, research and teaching tool will offer a comprehensive visual guide to every motion picture film format, soundtrack and color process ever invented. 

The website will launch to the public in summer 2025, and will be freely accessible to all. At this time, it will feature 150 newly-commissioned essays and over 1,000 illustrations – about a quarter of all planned essays – and will continue to grow as more essays are delivered. We plan to document at least 650 formats and processes over the project's multi-year duration, with around 200 different authors from over 25 countries. The anticipated completion date for the project is currently 2032.

Film Atlas will be accessible at www.filmatlas.com.

James Layton & Crystal Kui