Is Nitrate Film Illegal?
Dating as far back as the early 1900s, cellulose nitrate based films were largely produced and widely used in the creation of black and white motion picture films. These nitrate based films would soon be found to be incredibly unstable and had the potential to deteriorate in temperatures that rose above 70° or in which humidity was above 50%. It’s now widely known that nitrate films are dangerous and potentially flammable, but is nitrate film illegal?
Used from the late 1800s and well into the mid-1900s, nitrate film was soon found to be incredibly flammable and would ultimately cause several major fires throughout theaters across the United States. With something so incredibly dangerous, it’s no wonder you may ask, “ Is nitrate film illegal?”
Is Nitrate Film Illegal?
Most of the nitrate film that was on the market in the mid 1950’s when it was deemed to be so incredibly dangerous was actually destroyed. Fire Stations held gatherings to personally light the fiery film up and burn it so as not to have it causing disruption on store shelves, in theaters or otherwise. However, if you’re wondering if nitrate film is illegal, the answer is – not technically at least not everywhere.
Film companies would continue to make nitrate films long after they were found to be flammable, but using various safety mechanisms that were established over the years. The problem with nitrate film is that it has the capacity to create its own oxygen when it catches fire thus making it impossible to extinguish.
Because of the incredibly damaging fires that occurred from nitrate films, nitrate film is illegal in Manhattan and in Washington, DC. However, nitrate films are not necessarily illegal everywhere.
Safe Handling of Nitrate Film
Fire departments are not particularly fond of nitrate films and in fact held collection drives for several years in an attempt to collect outstanding nitrate films and burn them so that they were not stocked or otherwise stored in theaters, museums, and other collections. However, there are nitrate prints that managed to survive the burning scenarios that took place across the United States in the 1960s and as such, there are now a handful of museums that hold nitrate films for viewing to this day.
It has been determined that, although nitrate films are not illegal in all states, there are ways of keeping them from deteriorating or otherwise catching fire if they are to be stored. Special vaults hold nitrate films keeping them in a controlled environment in which the temperature doesn’t climb above 40° and the humidity stays around 30%. This provides for safe storage and subsequent handling of nitrate film collections from historic times.
The Moving Image department of the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York holds an annual Nitrate Picture Show in which those nitrate films which have endured the test of time are shown to public spectators through specific safety protocols and with special authority. Is nitrate film illegal? It really depends on where you’re at!
