Rediscoveries

Britain is lucky that so much of its film heritage is intact, not least because the BFI National Archive has been preserving it for 75 years. However, gaps remain, particularly from the silent era, so in 1992 the BFI launched a campaign called 'Missing Believed Lost', alerting archives and collectors worldwide to see if they held copies of seemingly elusive British films. Fifteen titles subsequently came to light, including work by Michael Powell, Walter Forde and Adrian Brunel (The Constant Nymph, pictured).

Screenonline looks at these titles in detail, explores the reasons why films go missing, and celebrates the most exciting finds of recent years, some of which turned up in the most unlikely places.

Lost Then Found