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. It became a defining event of that year's box office, sweeping the Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for Tom Hanks. The film's blend of historical pastiche, technical innovation in visual effects, and old fashioned sentimentality helped redefine what a mainstream studio drama could accomplish, and it remains a touchstone of nineties American cinema.
This cell centers on Forrest Gump and Jenny Curran, the two characters whose intertwined lives anchor the entire narrative. Jenny represents the restless counterpart to Forrest's steadfast devotion, and collectors prize footage pairing them because their relationship is the emotional spine running beneath the film's larger historical sweep. A cell simply naming the two of them together, without further specification, points to one of the recurring reunions that structure the story, moments audiences return to as shorthand for the film's enduring romantic throughline.
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 complete frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, 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, consistent with a dual bilateral or variable-area mono/stereo optical format; a narrow additional stripe is visible that may indicate a Dolby SR or stereo optical track configuration.
Edge print
Edge print reads mirrored as seen; decoded it reads 'EASTMAN 25' along the lower edge.
Base & colour
Base appears with a slight warm-amber tint typical of Eastman colour print stock; dye image appears intact with no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
Several fine longitudinal scratches are visible running parallel to the film length across the frame area, consistent with projection or handling.
Picture
Positive colour image; the three frames appear to show the same or near-identical moment, suggesting a very short action sequence; subject matter is consistent with a period-set dramatic feature matching the film on record.
Era check
Eastman colour print stock with an optical stereo-format soundtrack and amber base tint is consistent with a mid-1990s theatrical release print, aligning with the 1994 production date 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 000064041
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
