Collection History: South Asian Film Collection

Beginning with founding film curator, James Card (1915-2000), the museum brought films to Rochester, ranging from educational documentaries to the works of renowned directors Satyajit Ray and S.S. Vasan, on both 16mm and 35mm film stock. The collection once again began to grow in 2005 when director James Ivory donated his vast collection of work to the George Eastman Museum, including the Merchant-Ivory productions of The Householder (James Ivory, 1963) and Shakespeare Wallah (James Ivory, 1965).  Also included in the donation was his personal prints of many classic films such as Apu Sansar (Satyajit Ray, 1959) and 36 Chowringhee Lane (Aparna Sen, 1981). 

Starting in 2014, the collection quickly grew with two major donations, one from an abandoned movie theatre in Lakewood, California that was ready for demolition.  Before demolition, staff rescued more than 750 theatrical prints on 35mm film as well as over 8,000 film posters from the projection booth and sent them to the museum. The endeavor to rescue these endangered film prints was financially supported by emergency funds from the Louis B. Mayer Foundation and individual members of the community, Nita Genova and Rajeev Ramchandran. This expanded the collection to include many modern films from India made between 2002 and 2014, including the critically acclaimed remake of Devdas (Sanjay Leela Bhansali, 2002), the well-received science fiction family film, Koi…Mil Gaya (Rakesh Rashan, 2003) and the beginnings of the successful franchise, Housefull, starring the popular actor Askhay Kumar.  

In the Spring of 2016, the second donation arrived from the British Film Institute which consisted of a large collection of films made in Pakistan.  Produced between 1950-1983, with a majority of films from the 1960s and 1970s, these films include Daaman (Qadeer Ghori, 1963) featuring some of the most popular songs of that year; Saiqa (Laiq Akhtar, 1968) based on the novel by popular female author, Razia Butt, and the Nigar award winning (Pakistan’s version of the Academy Awards), Dosti  (Sharif Nayyar, 1971).

In September 2020, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) awarded a grant to the George Eastman Museum for the "Cinema Refugees: Films from India and Pakistan" project. This initiative focused on the urgent preservation needs of the South Asian cinema collection by rehousing, cleaning, and cataloging film elements. Aimed at enhancing the museum's support for research, education, and public engagement, the project contributed to the accessibility and understanding of South Asian cinema's cultural heritage worldwide.

In November 2023, IMLS funded a second grant titled "Lost and Found: Classic Pakistani Cinema." This project focuses specifically on Pakistani films within the South Asian cinema collection and builds upon the successful conservation efforts of the previous grant. The project aims to provide comprehensive care and management for 135 film prints, digitize unidentified film fragments for public access, and catalog all data.

Today, the collection consists of over 1,200 film prints in ten languages, ranging from drama, educational films, comedies, historical dramas, and social films. Ongoing film inspection, repair and cataloging has led these films to be rehoused and stored in climate-controlled vaults for safekeeping. The collection is fully accessible on-site at the museum for research purposes. You can reach the catalog here. 

While many prints are not projectable due to their fragile condition, you can ask additional questions by contacting [email protected]