For over thirty years, the Pacific Film Archive has been an acclaimed center for the study and appreciation of the moving image. PFA's challenging exhibition program, extensive film and video collection, and comprehensive Library and Film Study Center provide an array of interconnected services, making it an invaluable educational institution for anyone interested in the critical, historical, and cultural study of cinema.

Over 600 film and video programs are presented annually, reflecting the full spectrum and cultural diversity of world cinema, past and present, and providing access to rare works not otherwise available to the public. The PFA Library and Film Study Center offers research services and access to over 10,000 film and video works in the collection. Its holdings include books, periodicals, photographs, and some 95,000 documentation files.

The goal of the Pacific Film Archive has always been to educate. Founded at a time when cinema had finally gained global acceptance as a medium of artistic expression, PFA recognized that film education can and should be made available to young people as well as adults. How To Read a Film is an extension of PFA's efforts to educate youth, which include the annual Children's International Film Festival, offering an unusual array of films from around the world; Screenagers, offering weekend programs of feature films and documentaries young people will never see at the cineplexes; and the Bay Area High School Film and Video Festival, an annual event curated by student interns.

As the Pacific Film Archive looks to the future, its objective is not only to ensure the preservation of our cinema legacy-the films themselves and the complex history of the form-but also to equip future audiences with the critical skills needed to understand and enjoy the art of the moving image in this new century.