When it comes to cinema, some of the finest examples of enduring classics can be found in the silent film genre – an era that dates before 1929. Sadly, many examples of this art form have already disappeared. “Only about 20 percent of the films produced in America during the silent era – that is, the era of motion pictures before 1929 – survive today in the United States in complete form,” laments Annette Melville, director of the US National Film Preservation Foundation.

However, recent news from New Zealand is giving silent film fans something new to look forward to. The country’s government has recently gotten in touch with the Foundation to announce the discovery and return of 75 silent movies to the US.

These movies are considered extremely rare, partly because early film was very volatile and would degrade quickly. In fact, the 75 films from New Zealand’s national archive are only part of 150 American titles that were found there. However, only half of that number was deemed in good enough shape to be returned.

But how did these artistic treasures get to New Zealand in the first place? Frank Stark, chief executive of the New Zealand Film Archive, explains: “When you look at a map, we were at the end of a distribution network. By the time the nitrate films had been shipped to Asia, Australia then on to New Zealand, or whatever the sequence was for a particular film, it was considered largely to have finished its commercial life. The people in the States didn’t want to spend the money to ship it all the way back… and I believe they [were] probably in the main issued instructions that the reels should be destroyed or thrown away.”

Luckily, they weren’t. Projectionists held on to them, collectors sought them out, and eventually many of them found their way to the New Zealand national archive’s vaults, where they were kept safely as they awaited their return to the US. Thanks to the cooperation of cineastes and governments, today’s generation can now enjoy the unique and timeless beauty of the art form known as silent movies. As Stark declares, “What’s really, really satisfying is to have that impulse (to store silent films safely) reinforced by these kinds of discoveries, to feel that we’re doing the right thing – and that there is more treasure to be found.”

View a previously written post by Mouli Cohen about arts and culture.