“Cinema is an invention without a future” –  a quote from the Lumière brothers, who are often credited with the birth of cinema, opens up the documentary Film Is Dead: Long Live Film. Indeed, the invention at the time was such that it would have had no future or credible development if not for the efforts put through countless hours by generations of film preservation technicians and enthusiasts. These people who loved cinema kept film history alive and allowed for a systematic, analytical, and observational growth of films and filmmaking that has carried the craft for over a hundred years. Film Is Dead: Long Live Film documents these very works of film preservationists, told partially in retrospective accounts and archival footage, and explains their significant endeavor of saving lost and destroyed film stocks, without whom films would probably not be a medium of learning and academia.
We have heard the names of the National Film Registry, Film Archives, Library of Congress, and many more such departments that manage the preservation and storage of old film reels and new films of potential future significance. However, Film Is Dead traverses time before these organizations of authority came along and tells the tales of an enthusiastic pool of private film collectors scoured through abandoned theaters, warehouses, and film storage units to gather rotting and decaying stock footage and salvage what they could of the discovery.

“A nostalgia-driven documentation of years of vibrant film preservation and celluloid salvaging by film enthusiasts.”
Film Is Dead is well-researched with a similar enthusiasm. Interviews with the early generation of film collectors and their proteges overlapped with the preserved film, and saveable highlights of old features enrich this film with nostalgia and awe of the history of cinema, which strengthens the film’s argument and discussion. Through these rich conversations, which often become a lesson in filmmaking and film preservation, Film Is Dead becomes a massive treat for cinephiles, taking them through a journey of celluloid, its modern-day advancements, and the value it holds for both classic and contemporary cinema audiences.
The film further explores the boundaries of film collection by private preservationists and piracy, telling stories of FBI raids that deemed film collection as an illicit foray. Piracy is a gut punch to the filmmaking business, but can collecting discarded material and film stocks left to decay be called piracy? While one may view them as storing intellectual properties; however, in doing so, they kept a legacy alive when the IP owners weren’t willing to. However, Film Is Dead emphasizes differentiating private film collection and piracy, for these collectors do not care for the content of the footage but for the celluloid technology they believe to hold enough value to be saved.