NBC Universal, Mongrel Media, eOne/Les Films Séville and Canadian filmmaker Peter Mettler have each donated a collection of film prints to TIFF, as the film organisation launches a campaign to preserve pre-digital movie materials.

Totaling 1,460 prints, the collections consist of flicks (in 16mm and 35mm formats) from classic films going as far back as Tod Browning’s Dracula (1931).

Increasingly, films shot in 16mm and 35mm formats are having to be destroyed as they can no longer be used due to the effects of damage from the environment and colour fade.

Among Mettler’s collection are 35mm prints from Top of His Head (1989) and Picture of Light (1994), and 16mm prints of Scissere (1982) and Eastern Ave (1985), as well as scripts, research materials and production documents from his various project. In addition, eOne/Les Films Séville donated Canadian feature films such as Robert Lantos-produced and Bruce Beresford-directed Black Robe (1991) and comedy Whale Music (1994), directed by Richard J. Lewis. Mongrel’s collection contains prints from Michelangelo Antonioni’s The Passenger (1975) and Abbas Kiarostami’s Certified Copy (2011), while NBC Universal’s donation includes 11 Alfred Hitchcock titles such as Rear Window (1954), as well as Browning’s Dracula.

In order to raise funds to preserve these film materials, TIFF has launched the “Save This Moment” campaign, which runs from Nov. 15 to Dec. 31 and is supported by Ontario Arts Foundation.