National Film RegistryLibrary of Congress · Inducted 2013
“By turns utterly derivative and audaciously original, Quentin Tarantino's mordantly wicked Möbius strip of a movie influenced a generation of filmmakers and stands as a milestone in the evolution of independent cinema in the United States, making it one of the few films on the National Film Registry as notable for its lasting impact on the film industry as its considerable artistic merits.”
Independent Spirit Awards — 3 wins, 4 nominationsLos Angeles Film Critics Association — 3 winsNational Board of Review — 3 winsBritish Academy Film Awards — 2 wins, 8 nominationsAll 23 wins · 45 nominations on record
Independent Spirit Awards: Best Director
Independent Spirit Awards: Best Male Lead
Independent Spirit Awards: Best Screenplay
Los Angeles Film Critics Association: Best Actor
Los Angeles Film Critics Association: Best Director
Los Angeles Film Critics Association: Best Film
National Board of Review: Best Director
National Board of Review: National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
National Board of Review: Best Film
British Academy Film Awards: Best Actor in a Supporting Role
British Academy Film Awards: Best Original Screenplay
Academy Awards: Best Writing, Original Screenplay
Golden Globe Awards: Best Screenplay
David di Donatello: Best Foreign Actor
Cannes Film Festival: Palme d'Or
New York Film Critics Circle: Best Director
National Society of Film Critics Award: Best Screenplay
National Society of Film Critics Award: Best Director
National Society of Film Critics Award: Best Film
MTV Movie Award: Best Dance Sequence
MTV Movie Award: Best Movie
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award: Best Film
London Film Critics Circle Award: Actor of the Year
Scholarship
Named in the title of 25 peer-reviewed works
Examples
Sources: Wikidata · Library of Congress · OpenAlex. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
FILM NOTES
Pulp Fiction arrived in 1994 through Miramax and A Band Apart, reshaping American independent cinema and cementing Quentin Tarantino as a defining voice of the decade. Its fractured chronology, dialogue-driven scenes, and pulp genre borrowings earned it the Palme d'Or and a Best Original Screenplay Oscar, alongside enduring cultural weight. The ensemble cast and interlocking stories helped redefine what a mainstream studio release could look like, and the film remains a touchstone for collectors of 1990s cinema, prized for its role in shifting industry attention toward director-driven, genre-blending storytelling.
This cell carries the name Butch Coolidge, the boxer played by Bruce Willis, whose storyline forms one of the film's three central threads. Butch is a figure defined by defiance and unfinished business, a man whose choices pull him deeper into the film's criminal underworld even as he tries to walk away from it. A 35mm cell bearing his name would come from release printing tied directly to his portion of the narrative, the kind of physical artifact collectors seek to anchor a specific character's arc within the larger structure of the film.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm colour release print of Pulp Fiction (1994).
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame visible on the top edge; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on the top edge are visible and appear evenly spaced with clean rectangular punching; bottom-edge perforations are partially obscured by the soundtrack area but appear present.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along the bottom edge beside the perforations, showing the characteristic white waveform pattern consistent with a stereo variable-area optical track; Dolby Digital pixel blocks between perforations are not clearly distinguishable at this size.
Edge print
Top edge reads, mirrored: 'AGFA' and what appears to be 'GEVAE' or similar Agfa stock coding; full key numbers are not legible in this capture.
Base & colour
The base appears warm to red-shifted overall, consistent with a colour dye image on an orange-base colour print stock.
Projection history
No obvious deep scratches or splices are visible; the image area appears consistent with a projected print.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single shot and are consistent with a 1994 Pulp Fiction release print.
Era check
The Agfa stock edge coding, variable-area optical soundtrack, and orange-base colour positive are all consistent with a mid-1990s theatrical release print of Pulp Fiction (1994).
Read from the original intake capture shown below. Observations only — film is authenticated, not graded.
This original motion picture film element has been examined and authenticated by Crown Grading in partnership with National Film Vault, and encapsulated for archival preservation.
Why so little survivesRelease prints were leased to theaters, not sold. When the run ended they went back to the distributor to be destroyed, and most were. What collectors hold today came from the prints that escaped that order, and no new 35mm prints of these films are being struck.
CROWN SERIAL 000062987
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
