Scorsese unveils film foundation

Director Martin Scorsese has launched the World Cinema Foundation in a bid to preserve and restore neglected films for posterity.

Inspired by a similar project in the US which Scorsese launched with George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Clint Eastwood, the non-profit foundation was unveiled at the Cannes Film Festival.

"This goes back to the founding of the film foundation in America," Scorsese said.

"That was started in 1990 and for the past 16 years that actually has changed and things have gotten different there in terms of restoration of films and preservation of archives."

The Oscar-winning director, who has made such classics as Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Mean Streets, said it was too late for many old films.

He added: "In America, we know that 90 per cent of all silent films are now gone. We know that all American films made before 1950 are gone, nothing exists."

© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.