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, a low-budget production that became a cultural event and redefined what independent cinema could achieve commercially and artistically. Quentin Tarantino's nonlinear crime saga, with its layered dialogue and interlocking stories, won the Palme d'Or and the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, cementing its place as one of the defining American films of the decade.
This cell preserves the pairing of Winston Wolfe and Jimmie Dimmick, two supporting figures who anchor one of the film's most quoted sequences, the aftermath cleanup that turns a crisis into a display of pure professional composure. Wolfe, played by Harvey Keitel, is a fixer whose brief appearance left an outsized mark on the film's identity, while Jimmie, played by Tarantino himself, grounds the scene in domestic irritation and suburban stakes. Collectors prize this pairing for the collision of calm expertise and flustered homeowner energy, a scene often cited as emblematic of the film's tonal balancing act between menace and comedy.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Pulp Fiction (1994).
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges; spacing appears even and the punched edges look clean throughout the visible strip.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, appearing as a dual variable-area (stereo) format; Dolby Digital pixel blocks are visible in the inter-perforation gaps on the same edge, indicating a composite optical/Dolby Digital soundtrack.
Edge print
Bottom edge reads, mirrored: 'EASTMAN 2244 173 4602 118 ST'; top edge shows letter codes 'G G A A F G' between perforation positions.
Base & colour
The base shows a warm pinkish-magenta cast across all three frames, consistent with the characteristic dye balance of Eastman color print stock of the early-to-mid 1990s.
Projection history
No obvious deep scratches or splices are visible; faint longitudinal lines are present on some frames, consistent with a print that has passed through a projector gate.
Picture
Positive color image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single shot, and the content is consistent with the interior setting associated with Pulp Fiction (1994).
Era check
The Eastman stock edge code, composite Dolby Digital plus variable-area optical soundtrack, and warm Eastman color dye balance are all 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 000063006
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
