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
Pulp Fiction arrived from Miramax in 1994 and reshaped independent cinema's relationship with the mainstream. Quentin Tarantino's nonlinear crime saga, with its needle drops, diner philosophy, and interlocking vignettes, turned pulp genre tropes into a cultural touchstone and helped define nineties American filmmaking. It won the Palme d'Or, revived John Travolta's career, and remains a fixture in conversations about screenplay structure and cool.
This cell isolates Vincent Vega, the hitman played by Travolta whose hair, suit, and dry line readings became instantly iconic. Collectors seek him out because his arc, stretching from the Jack Rabbit Slim's dance floor to Butch's bathroom, carries much of the film's tension between menace and comedy. A single 35mm cell like this one offers a physical fragment of that performance, a tangible link to the character rather than a narrative summary, prized for what it represents about the era of the film as much as the story itself.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Dolby Digital theatrical release print of Pulp Fiction (1994).
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three complete frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges; spacing appears even and the punched edges look clean with no torn or deformed holes visible.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along the bottom edge, appearing as two bilateral variable-area tracks with a Dolby noise-reduction signature; Dolby Digital data blocks are also visible between the perforations on the bottom edge.
Edge print
Top edge reads, mirrored: 'F E A V G E A G F G A' — consistent with Kodak key-number and stock codes; 'SAFETY' designation not fully legible in this capture.
Base & colour
Base shows a warm amber-brown tint typical of a colour print stock; dye image appears intact with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
Light vertical scratches are visible running through the frame area, consistent with a print that has passed through a projector gate.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot and the subject matter is consistent with Pulp Fiction (1994).
Era check
The combination of bilateral variable-area optical track, Dolby Digital inter-perforation data blocks, and warm-base colour print stock is consistent with a mid-1990s theatrical release print.
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 000062993
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
