Orphan refers to media that exist outside of mainstream commercial systems: amateur, alternative, educational, ethnographic, experimental, governmental, industrial, independent, medical, non-theatrical, training, sponsored, small-gauge, silent, student, obsolescent, unreleased and underground. Orphan film is abandoned, rare, almost lost, ephemeral, rediscovered, recently found and neglected. 

The term ‘orphan film’ has been used in various countries to informally describe films that don’t have commercial value or clear ownership, however, when dealing with film ownership and copyright, it can be difficult to know what films are truly orphaned.

Orphan films were first defined by the United States Library of Congress in Film Preservation 1993, stating that they are films “that lack either clear copyright holders or commercial potential” to pay for their preservation.  In the United States, ‘orphan film’ is a legal status, however, in Canada it is not.

The Library and Archives of Canada use the term “unlocatable copyright” to describe films that have copyright holders who cannot be confirmed, or for films that have no listed credits whatsoever.  Very few films are true orphans.  Most of the films in the Library and Archives are simply out of distribution.  Many films are considered “Lost Heritage”. These are ones that are completely destroyed, and thus gone forever.

Here in Canada, in order to legally reproduce a film for academic use, you must look everywhere you can for copyright holders, and if none are locatable, then make an application to the copyright tribunal and pay a small fee to have it deemed ‘unlocatable copyright’.

Types of films that are commonly orphaned:

newsreels

amateur films

ephemeral media

community media

guerilla and activist media

industrial films

unreleased movies

wartime footage

censored footage

home movies

training films

advertising

experimental films

anthropological footage

educational films

political commercials

animation

silent and non-standard gauge films

fringe media

test reels

kinescopes

outtakes

films for broadcast