[1][2] Similarly to a book library (bibliothèque in French), a cinematheque is responsible for preserving and making available to the public film heritage.
Typically, a cinematheque has at least one motion picture theatre, which offers screenings of its collections and other international films.
"It is a matter of giving this perhaps privileged source of history the same authority, the same official existence, the same access as to other archives already known".
[4] Military film archives were also created in France, Germany and Great Britain after the First World War.
[6][7][8] In 1938, the International Federation of Film Archives was created, bringing together institutions devoted to cinematographic heritage.