After the war, the French government provided a small screening room, staff and subsidy for the collection, which was relocated to the Avenue de Messine.

Significant French filmmakers of the 1940s, and 1950s, including Robert Bresson, René Clément, Henri-Georges Clouzot and Jacques Becker frequented screenings at the Cinémathèque.

In June 1963, the Cinémathèque moved to the Palais de Chaillot with funds provided by André Malraux, Minister of Culture, and became subject to government overview.

After numerous incidents—including multiple relocations from one small screening room to another through the 1950s, and a fire in its last premises—the Cinémathèque française moved in 2005 to 51, rue de Bercy in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, a postmodern building designed by Frank Gehry, an American architect.

[4] The Bibliothèque du film, which was created in 1992 to show the history of cinema, its production, impact and artistic strength, merged with the Cinémathèque française.

The Cinémathèque and the events surrounding the dismissal of Langlois in 1968 features heavily in Gilbert Adair's 1988 novel The Holy Innocents also known as The Dreamers and in its 2003 film adaptation by Bernardo Bertolucci.