National Film RegistryLibrary of Congress · Inducted 2011
“As "Forrest Gump," Tom Hanks portrays an earnest, guileless "everyman" whose open-heartedness and sense of the unexpected unwittingly draws him into some of the most iconic events of the 1960s and 1970s.”
Selected for preservation as culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.
Directed by
Robert Zemeckis
Studio
Paramount Pictures · 142 min
Box office
$678.2M worldwide on a $55M budget
Honors
Academy Awards — 6 wins, 13 nominationsNational Board of Review — 2 winsAmanda Award — 1 winAll 9 wins · 13 nominations on record
Academy Awards: Best Director
Academy Awards: Best Picture
Academy Awards: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay
Academy Awards: Best Film Editing
Academy Awards: Best Actor
Academy Awards: Best Visual Effects
National Board of Review: Best Film
National Board of Review: National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
Amanda Award: Best Foreign Feature Film
Scholarship
Named in the title of 31 peer-reviewed works
Examples
Forrest Gump — Iverieli (National Parliamentary Library of Georgia), 2015
Forrest Gump, 2022
Forrest Gump: — State University of New York Press eBooks, 2017
Sources: Wikidata · Library of Congress · OpenAlex. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Forrest Gump arrived from Paramount Pictures in the summer of 1994, directed by Robert Zemeckis and adapted from Winston Groom's novel. Blending sweeping historical pastiche with an intimate character study, it became a cultural touchstone, sweeping the Academy Awards including Best Picture, Director, and Actor for Tom Hanks. Its innovative visual effects, embedding its protagonist into archival footage, and its distinctive narrative voice made it a defining film of the decade, one whose imagery remains instantly recognizable across generations of audiences and collectors alike.
This cell preserves an early chapter of the story, the childhood bond between Forrest Gump and Jenny Curran, portrayed here by Michael Conner Humphreys and Hanna R. Hall. Their friendship forms the emotional foundation of the entire film, the root from which Forrest's lifelong devotion grows. Collectors prize material from this section for its rarity relative to the film's more iconic adult-era imagery, and for the way it anchors the narrative's origins. As a single frame drawn from thousands, it stands as a tangible artifact of the picture's opening movement.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Forrest Gump (1994).
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced; punched edges appear clean with no visible tearing or distortion.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical soundtrack is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, appearing as a dual-track variable-area pattern with a Dolby Digital data-block strip also discernible in the inter-perforation zone on the same edge.
Edge print
Not fully legible in this capture; small symbols visible on the lower edge margin appear to include a triangle, a circle, and a plus sign, consistent with Kodak DX or print stock notations.
Base & colour
Base appears warm cream-to-amber tinted, consistent with a processed colour print stock; dye image reads as a warm positive with no obvious red shift or fading visible.
Projection history
No splices or cue marks visible; faint longitudinal lines are present across the frames, consistent with projection wear.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be from the same continuous shot, and the subject matter is consistent with a scene from the film on record.
Era check
The combination of variable-area optical track, Dolby Digital data blocks, warm amber base, and colour dye image is consistent with a mid-1990s theatrical release print of the era of the film on record.
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 000064009
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
