National Film RegistryLibrary of Congress · Inducted 2019
“A hilarious, in-your-face, bawdy-yet-provocative look at two sardonic young slackers (Dante and Randal). One toils as a New Jersey convenience store clerk while his alter-ego video store friend works when the mood strikes him.”
Selected for preservation as culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.
Directed by
Kevin Smith
Studio
Miramax · View Askew Productions · 92 min
Box office
$3.2M worldwide on a $28K budget
Honors
Sundance Filmmaker Trophy Dramatic — 1 winAll 1 wins · 0 nominations on record
Sources: Wikidata · Library of Congress · OpenAlex. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Clerks arrived in 1994 as a black-and-white calling card for independent film, shot on a shoestring by Kevin Smith inside the very convenience store where he worked. Miramax picked it up after its Sundance premiere, and it became a touchstone for a generation of filmmakers who saw that dialogue-driven, low-budget storytelling could reach a real audience. Its success helped define the View Askewniverse and gave independent cinema of the nineties a new commercial credibility, proving that wit and character could outweigh polish and spectacle.
This cell carries the name Caitlin Bree, the offscreen fiancée whose choices ripple through Dante Hill's entire day at the Quick Stop. She is central to the film's plot without ever needing a large physical presence, which makes any surviving frame tied to her name a point of interest for collectors tracing the era's character-driven storytelling. Whether drawn from dialogue, a credits pass, or a incidental appearance, a cell bearing her name anchors the collection to the emotional core of Clerks, the relationship that quietly drives Dante's frustration and inertia throughout the film.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm black-and-white optical-track release print of Clerks (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 with no torn or missing perforations visible.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, appearing as a single-track optical stripe.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read manufacturer text or key numbers clearly.
Base & colour
The clear base shows a slight cyan-green tint consistent with a colour safety stock; the image itself is rendered in black-and-white silver dye with no visible colour shift or fading.
Projection history
Faint longitudinal lines are visible running along the length of the strip, consistent with projection wear; no splices or cue marks are seen.
Picture
Negative image; the three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot, consistent with a black-and-white release print of Clerks (1994).
Era check
The single variable-area optical soundtrack, cyan-tinted safety base, and black-and-white silver image are all consistent with a mid-1990s theatrical release print of a low-budget black-and-white film.
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 000063063
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
