David John Francis (born 1935) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

film

archivist An archivist is an information professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to records and archives determined to have long-term value. The records maintained by an archivist can consis ...

. He was the second

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

of the UK's

National Film and Television Archive The BFI National Archive is a department of the British Film Institute, and one of the largest film archives in the world. It was founded as the National Film Library in 1935; its first curator was Ernest Lindgren. In 1955, its name became the N ...

from 1974 until 1989, when he was succeeded by Clyde Jeavons. Francis went on to become the Chief of the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

(November 1991 - February 2001).

Works

* * * During the 1980s he was the leading academic member of the team that created London's internationally acclaimed Museum of the Moving Image (MOMI). In 2018 he opened the Kent Museum of the Moving Image with his wife Jocelyn Marsh.

Awards and honors

In 1990, Francis was made both a Fellow of the

British Kinematograph, Sound and Television Society The British Kinematograph, Sound and Television Society (BKSTS) is an organisation which serves the technical and craft skills of the film, sound and television industries. It was formed in 1931, originally named the British Kinematograph Society ...

and a Fellow of the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...

for his work in film and television preservation. He was awarded the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

by Queen Elizabeth II for his contributions to film archiving and for his work on the Getty Center in the 1986 Birthday Honours. In 1994 Francis was awarded the Premio Jean Mitry by the organisers of the

Giornate del cinema muto Le Giornate del cinema muto (referred to in English as Pordenone Silent Film Festival) is an annual festival of silent film held in October in Pordenone, northern Italy. It is the first, largest and most important international festival dedicated ...

, the Pordenone-based festival devoted to silent cinema. He has been an Honorary Member of the

International Federation of Film Archives The International Federation of Film Archives (french: Fédération internationale des archives du film, FIAF) was founded in Paris in 1938 by the Cinémathèque Française, the Reichsfilmarchiv in Berlin, the British Film Institute and the Museum ...

since 2001. Francis was the 2002 recipient of the Mel Novikoff Award at the

San Francisco International Film Festival The San Francisco International Film Festival (abbreviated as SFIFF), organized by the San Francisco Film Society, is held each spring for two weeks, presenting around 200 films from over 50 countries. The festival highlights current trends in i ...

. In 2004, Francis won the Silver Light Award from the Association of Moving Image Archivists.

References

1935 births Living people English archivists Film archivists British curators Librarians at the Library of Congress Officers of the Order of the British Empire {{library-bio-stub