"The World Cinema Foundation is a natural expansion of my love for movies. Seventeen years ago, together with my fellow filmmakers, we created The Film Foundation to help preserve American cinema. Much has been accomplished and much work remains to be done, but The Film Foundation has created a base upon which we can build. There is now, I believe, a film preservation consciousness.

The World Cinema Foundation is being created to help developing countries preserve their cinematic treasures. We want to help strengthen and support the work of international archives, and provide a resource for those countries lacking the archival and technical facilities to do the work themselves.

I am honored to be joined on the Advisory Board of by Fatih Akin, Soulemane Cissé, Guillermo Del Toro, Stephen Frears, Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, Abbas Kiarostami, Deepa Mehta, Ermanno Olmi, Raoul Peck, Cristi Puiu, Walter Salles, Abderrahmane Sissako, Elia Suleiman, Bertrand Tavernier, Wim Wenders, Wong Kar Wai, Tian Zhuangzhuang and other filmmakers who share the common goal."

Martin Scorsese, Chairman