Donations and acquisitions

One of the Cinémathèque’s main means of acquisition for all its collections is through donations of various items from filmmakers, video makers, artists, craftspersons, producers, collectors, researchers and teachers in the fields of cinema, television, video and new media.

As an organization recognized by the Quebec and Canadian governments as a museum and archive, the Cinémathèque québécoise accepts numerous donations and bequests each year.

Please note that film and video archival deposits are accepted only for the cinema, television, video and new media (CTVNM) collections; the ancillary collections and the Mediathèque accept only donations, not deposits.

Les réserves de la médiathèque de la Cinémathèque québécoise

Guy-L.-Coté media library | photographer: Raphaël Thibodeau

Submitting a cultural good for acquisition by the Cinémathèque

To offer a donation, please complete the forms appropriate for the nature of your donation. Once completed, please send them to us by email.

Send us your forms

Form 1

General information about the proposed donation.
Download the form here.

Form 2

Mandatory form detailing the specifics of the donation. Choose the form that best suits your needs:

Film and video collections
Related collections (this document has multiple pages)
Médiathèque

Form 3

Description of audiovisual works form. To be completed if applicable.
Download the form here.

Affiche du film Comment conquérir l'Amérique en une nuit (Dany Laferrière)

Based on the policies of the Cinémathèque québécoise and the tax codes of Canada and Quebec, your donation may be eligible for a charitable donation tax receipt, but must also be catalogued, processed and appraised by the Cinémathèque’s experts or outside experts. All acquisitions must be confirmed by contract, and the items cannot be delivered to the Cinémathèque québécoise before the contract is signed.

Acquisition process for cultural goods

The Cinémathèque québécoise acquires cultural goods using the following process:

1
Any person wishing to donate goods to the Cinémathèque must first submit their proposal, preferably by emailing it to acquisitions_collections@cinematheque.qc.ca;
2
The donor must provide a list of all materials in question using the submission forms for items to be acquired by the Cinémathèque québécoise. For each work, the following must be specified: type of asset (photographs, scripts, films, videos, etc.), status (master print, copy, original), quantity, format (Betacam, 35mm, etc.) and provenance. Basic information (title, director, year, etc.) must also be provided. We also welcome other relevant information about the historical and cultural significance of the items, as well as their condition;
3
Our teams will then formulate an acquisition plan for study by the acquisitions committee. The committee will verify that the acquisition plan is consistent with the Cinémathèque’s collections management policies and that the items are of interest. It will also review the terms of the acquisition contract. The committee has the power to accept or reject the offer in whole or in part;
4
Once the acquisitions committee has made a decision, those items that have been accepted can be transferred to the Cinémathèque. A donation contract will be signed at that time;
5
Our teams will then catalogue and process the items before performing a full archival appraisal. The appendix to the contract containing the inventory will then be updated and must be signed again;
6
Once all preceding steps are complete and the donor has requested a charitable donation tax receipt, the Cinémathèque will appraise the fair market value of the donation, according to applicable policies. If the fair market value is under $10,000, the appraisal will be done internally, and the decision is final.

It is important to note that the Cinémathèque cannot guarantee a timeline for the steps described above. The time required depends on several factors, such as the quantity and nature of the material, its condition and category, or the exhaustiveness of the information provided by the donor. In addition, fees may be payable by the donor for cataloguing, processing and fair market value appraisal.

Finally, please note that the Cinémathèque cannot accept liability for goods, objects or documents delivered to its premises in the absence of a prior agreement.

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