Claim: 90 Percent Of Movies Made Before 1914 Are Lost

“We estimate that in the U.S. 90% of movies made before 1914 have disappeared,” Nicolas Seydoux cautioned. “In France we don’t know the amount we’ve lost, but I think the fact we can reproduce them [digitally] gives us new hope,” he added. French film journalist Fabrice Leclerc in a presentation noted that, by his count, “one fourth of America’s cinematic heritage is now preserved outside the U.S.”