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
Paramount Pictures released Forrest Gump in the summer of 1994, and it became one of the defining American films of the decade, sweeping the Academy Awards with Best Picture, Best Director for Robert Zemeckis, and Best Actor for Tom Hanks. Adapted from Winston Groom's novel, the film traced its protagonist through three decades of American history, blending sincerity, technical innovation, and folk wisdom into a story that resonated far beyond typical prestige drama, cementing its place as a cultural touchstone still widely quoted and revisited today.
This cell preserves a moment involving Forrest Gump and his mother, Mrs. Gump, alongside an army recruiter, marking the pivot into Forrest's military service, a turning point that carries him toward Vietnam and everything that follows. Sally Field's Mrs. Gump remains one of the film's most beloved figures, the steady moral compass shaping her son's path with patience and improvisation of her own. Collectors prize material from this stretch of the story for its narrative hinge, the quiet handoff between a mother's guidance and the wider world Forrest is about to enter.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm colour positive release print of Forrest Gump (1994)
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames
Perforations
Four per frame on each edge, evenly spaced, cleanly punched with no visible torn or deformed holes
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical soundtrack track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area
Edge print
EASTMAN 25 1†1 (read mirrored as printed on the base side)
Base & colour
Base shows a warm yellowish-amber tint consistent with an acetate safety stock; dye image appears saturated with no obvious fading
Projection history
No visible scratches, splice marks, or cue marks seen
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot and depict a uniformed figure consistent with the film on record
Era check
The variable-area optical track, Eastman safety stock edge coding, and warm acetate base 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 000064018
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
