Henri Langlois and the Cinémathèque Française

In honor of the Paris Olympics and the astounding contribution of the French to culture and art of the world, The Kitchen Sisters Present, Archive Fever: Henri Langlois and the history of the Cinémathèque Française, featuring Francis Ford Coppola, Wim Wenders, Tom Luddy, Lotte Eisner, Simone Signoret, Agnes Varda, Costa-Gavras, Barbet Schroeder.

Henri Langlois never made a single film — but he's considered one of the most important figures in the history of filmmaking. Possessed by what French philosopher Jacques Derrida called "archive fever," Langlois began obsessively collecting films in the 1930s and by the outset of World War II, he had one of the largest film collections in the world. The archive's impact on the history of French cinema is legendary, as is the legacy of its controversial keeper.

Langlois fell in love with film in his teens, just as silent films were being replaced by talkies. "In the early 30s they were destroying every silent movie," says film director Costa-Gavras, now president of Langlois' Cinémathèque Française. "He started collecting all those movies, not just to save them for the future, but to show them."

"Langlois educated a whole generation of film archivists and filmmakers," says filmmaker Wim Wenders. "He spread the idea of saving the memory of mankind that is in the history of cinema."

This story is part of The Keepers series — Activist archivists, rogue librarians, historians, collectors, curators — keepers of the culture and the free flow of information. Produced by The Kitchen Sisters (Nikki Silva & Davia Nelson) with Nathan Dalton and Brandi Howell. Mixed by Jim McKee.