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, adapting Winston Groom's novel into a sweeping, genre-blending portrait of postwar America seen through one unlikely narrator. Directed by Robert Zemeckis and anchored by Tom Hanks in the title role, the film swept the Academy Awards and became a cultural touchstone, prized for its innovative visual effects, its blending of fiction with historical footage, and its meditation on fate, innocence, and endurance. It remains one of the defining studio productions of the decade, still widely collected across formats.
This cell belongs to Jenny Curran, the childhood friend and lifelong love of the film's protagonist, whose arc carries the story's emotional undertow across decades. Collectors seek her frames because her presence marks the counterpoint to Forrest's steadiness, representing the wandering, wounded side of the era the film surveys. A single 35mm cell bearing her name offers a tangible fragment of that narrative thread, a physical remnant from the actual release print rather than a reproduction, valued simply for having run through projectors in theaters in 1994.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm color release print of Forrest Gump (1994)
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame visible on both edges; the strip holds three frames
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, cleanly punched with no torn or deformed holes visible
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, appearing as a single-track analog stripe
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read manufacturer text or key numbers
Base & colour
Base shows a warm amber-cream tint typical of processed color print stock; dye image appears neutral with no obvious red shift or fading
Projection history
Fine longitudinal lines consistent with projection wear are visible across the frame area; no splices or cue marks seen
Picture
Positive color image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot, consistent with a release print of Forrest Gump (1994)
Era check
The single variable-area optical track, warm amber base, and color dye structure are consistent with a mid-1990s 35mm theatrical release print, matching the 1994 production date 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 000064034
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
