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
Shot in grainy black and white for a shoestring budget, Clerks became the breakout emblem of 1990s American independent cinema. Kevin Smith's debut, self-financed and self-distributed through Miramax after a triumphant Sundance reception, captured the deadpan rhythms of convenience store purgatory with a script built on dialogue rather than spectacle. It established the View Askewniverse, launched Smith's career, and proved that wit and observation could outpace production polish, reshaping how a generation thought about what a movie could be made from and for.
This cell centers on Dante Hicks and Veronica Loughran, the reluctant clerk and his girlfriend whose relationship anchors the film's meandering, talk-driven plot. Dante, played by Brian O'Halloran, is the everyman stuck behind the counter, dragged into a day he never wanted. Veronica, played by Marilyn Ghigliotti, brings sharp counterpoint and emotional stakes to his inertia. Collectors seek this pairing because their scenes carry the film's romantic core amid the store's chaos, a grounding thread that gives the comedy its human weight and lasting resonance among fans of quieter indie storytelling.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm black-and-white optical-track 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 or deformation.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area.
Edge print
Edge print reads, mirrored as captured: 'KU 18 2449 5715+32' with a bullet point separator; 'SAFETY FILM' not legible in this capture.
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 splices, cue marks or prominent scratches are visible in this capture.
Picture
Positive black-and-white image; all three frames appear to be from the same continuous shot, consistent with a release print of Clerks (1994).
Era check
The variable-area optical soundtrack, Kodak key-number format, and black-and-white silver image on safety base are all consistent with a mid-1990s 35mm 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 000063082
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
