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• "From the Collection" Screenings

  Whether it's through our Festivals, labs, or grants, we're always excited about the work supported by the Institute and want it to be seen for years to come. We celebrate the history of independent film through our From the Collection screenings at the Sundance Film Festival, which showcase favorites from past Festivals, and we aspire to share this history and bring attention to independent stories both old and new to audiences around the world.

• Loan Program and Restoration Projects

  Many titles held in the Sundance Collection at UCLA have prints and DCPs available for loan. As we identify titles in need and as resources permit, we work closely with our UCLA colleagues to bring new life to films through restoration. Several restoration projects over the years have included Paris Is Burning, Desert Hearts, Hoop Dreams, and River of Grass. Many of these restoration projects then become available for loan and often find renewed interest in distribution. Some of the many titles available for loan are below.

  About the Loan Program

  
  The Living End

  
  Mi Vida Loca

  
  Four Sheets to the Wind

  
  But I'm a Cheerleader

  
  The Brother from Another Planet

  
  Down to the Bone

  
  Love and Basketball

  
  Smoke Signals

  
  Paris is Burning

  
  Me and You and Everyone We Know

  
  Living in Oblivion

  
  Wet Hot American Summer

  
  Requiem for a Dream

  
  Hoop Dreams

  
  House Party

Preserve Your Place in the History of Independent Storytelling

Independent films often fall victim to loss or damage because of changing ownership, poor storage, closing labs, or neglect. As a result, quality prints can become difficult or impossible to find, even for films made as recently as a few years ago.

If your film screened at the Sundance Film Festival or was supported by any of the Institute's artist development programs, you can preserve it in the Sundance Collection at UCLA, which will protect your film from damage and loss and ensure that it’ll stand the test of time.

What You Can Do Today

Establish the whereabouts and condition of your negative and other irreplaceable elements.

Deposit your film. Preserve your final conformed film elements, along with prints and access copies, free of charge at the Sundance Collection at UCLA, where they’ll be properly maintained and safeguarded in UCLA’s state-of-the-art archive.

Donate a copy. Help us build the most comprehensive access library for the study of independent cinema by donating a Blu-ray, DVD, or .mov to the Sundance Collection at UCLA for use in UCLA's Powell Library Archive Research and Study Center.

To get started, email us at archives@sundance.org.

Depositing Your Film FAQ

• Do I still own the rights? Yes, if you deposit negatives or other pre-print materials, you retain all rights and can access your assets.
• What if I have a distributor? We work with many distribution companies to ensure that their titles are safeguarded. We encourage you to start the conversation with your distributor to make sure your film is protected.
• Where do the elements go? They are housed and maintained at the UCLA Film and Television Archive’s state-of-the-art vaults.
• Will the print be used? On rare occasions, prints may be approved for educational and public screenings by institutions that have provided positive FIAF (International Federation of Film Archives) references.
• If my film is in the collection, will it be restored? Resources are limited and we identify titles for restoration on a case-by-case basis.
• Can anyone borrow the film’s video or access copy?No, access copies are only available for on-site viewing at UCLA’s Powell Library.
• Can you cover the cost of shipping my elements? We usually can; please contact us today.

• Digital Preservation Guidelines

  Follow these simple but crucial tips for keeping your work safe!

  Copies, copies, copies

  Save a minimum of two copies of your content, with a third as your working files.

  

  Keep 'em separated

  Whether you choose a cloud- or drive-based storage solution, ensure your copies are stored on geographically separate servers.

  

  Be open-minded

  Consider open-source tools. Dependence on third-party developers may jeopardize long-term access to critical software. Self-sustainability is key.

  Put a label on it

  Pick a naming convention, and label all media, files, and projects accurately and consistently.

  Document everything

  Generate robust metadata as well as detailed, human-readable documentation of your work.

  

  Double-check

  Guard against digital degradation by performing fixity checks on your files and analyzing your hardware’s integrity.

  

  Join the conversation

  There’s still a lot we don’t know about preserving our digital heritage. Ask questions and share your findings: archives@sundance.org.

  

• Preservation Tools & Resources

  Start protecting your video and web related work with these resources and tools.

  • Activists’ Guide to Archiving Video: Comprehensive video archiving workflow.
  • Conservation of media art: Best practices from an artist’s perspective.
  • Emulation-as-a-service: Emulate legacy computer systems, so that old programs will run on new computers.
  • Oldweb.today: Recreate the experience of old web browsers through emulation and explore sites of yesteryear as they were meant to be explored.
  • Tips from the trenches: Best practices for solo filmmakers.
  • Webrecorder: Create high-fidelity, interactive recordings of any website you browse.