Alfred Hitchcock films get UNESCO status

Alfred Hitchcock’s nine surviving silent films have been added to the UNESCO UK Memory of the World Register.

From Shanghai to Rio de Janeiro, from Cannes to London, Alfred Hitchcock’s earliest films have been thrilling international audiences as never before, since they sensationally premiered in new BFI National Archive restorations during the London 2012 festival. All nine will screen again at BFI Southbank during August 2013.

Moscow, Bologna and Berlin are also part of a major worldwide reappraisal of Hitchcock’s early films and they will screen in other major cities including Washington, San Francisco and Los Angeles as part of a US national tour..

The UNESCO UK Memory of the World Register will now feature Hitchcock's Silent Films, included alongside the Domesday Book, and other priceless items spanning nearly 900 years, which embody pivotal moments in the history of their communities and the UK as a whole. Eleven items have been selected from the UK’s libraries, archives and museums to represent the outstanding heritage of the United Kingdom.

This is the third group of inscriptions to the UNESCO UK Memory of the World Register, an online catalogue created to help promote the UK’s documentary heritage across the UK and the world. The register is part of a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) programme to support and raise awareness of archives.

The UK Register is available at www.unesco.org.uk/ukregister.

This year’s inscriptions join the thirty items and collections currently on the UK Register. The winners were chosen by the expert committee of the UK Memory of the World programme following a nomination and review process.