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 shoestring production from Miramax, shot largely overnight in the New Jersey convenience store where Kevin Smith worked. Made for roughly twenty seven thousand dollars, it became a Sundance breakout and helped define the independent film boom of the decade, launching the View Askewniverse and establishing Smith's dialogue-driven, low-budget aesthetic as a viable commercial path.
This cell centers on Jay and Silent Bob, the loitering duo stationed outside the Quick Stop who became the franchise's most recognizable export. Jay supplies the motormouth energy while Silent Bob anchors the pairing with near-total silence, a comic contrast fans return to again and again. Frames featuring these two are prized by collectors precisely because the characters extend far beyond this single film, appearing throughout Smith's later work. A 35mm cell like this preserves a small physical piece of that origin point, tying the pair back to where they first stood outside the store.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm black-and-white release print of Clerks (1994).
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on each edge, evenly spaced; punched edges appear clean with no visible tearing.
Soundtrack
Not visible in this capture; the area beside the picture frames is obscured by the black rebate and the strip's curvature.
Edge print
Edge print reads 'KV 18 2449 5721' — text appears mirrored, indicating emulsion-up presentation on the light panel.
Base & colour
Base appears neutral to very slightly cool; the black-and-white silver image shows no visible colour shift or fading.
Projection history
No scratches, splice marks or cue marks are visible in this capture.
Picture
Positive black-and-white image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames of the same shot, consistent with a release print of Clerks (1994).
Era check
A black-and-white silver-based 35mm positive with KV-series edge coding is consistent with Kodak stock used for release prints in the early 1990s, matching the 1994 production date.
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 000063066
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
