Fortunately for us, celluloid film faithfully documents Meher Baba's life from 1932 to the late 1960s. Many of the films of Meher Baba that we preserve on celluloid for posterity and for the generations to come were taken by his devoted doctor and life-long disciple, Dr Goher Irani, who passed away in the summer of 2004. Without her cinematography, many scenes of Meher Baba’s life and work would not have been recorded. These films let us see an Avatar / Perfect Master’s spiritual work at first hand. Such as in this frame from one film where Baba is washing, feeding and clothing the destitute.

Movie film carries a wider and more subtle range of image information than digital or video and has an image resolution of upto 7000 lines (compared to 525 on digital DVD or 1080 on the new high definition digital video standard).

At the Meher Baba Film Archive, film videotape and related photographs and documents are preserved to the highest standards using the most appropriate, proven and long-lasting techniques chosen from a wide range of analogue and digital technologies.

The earliest films we look after are from the 1930s and include the oldest film of Meher Baba. These are on 35mm Nitrate film and are stored in special Nitrate vaults (shown in the main picture) whilst specialist restoration procedures are carried out on them.

Meher Baba Film Archive stores negatives vacuum sealed in special active microclimates protected by multi-layer FICA packaging. Accelerated tests by the US Image Permanence Institute and others have shown that, utilising this technology in correct storage conditions, celluloid film can enjoy a lifespan of thousands of years.

The original negatives of Meher Baba are being conserved in this way by Meher Baba Film Archive for the Avatar Meher Baba Trust. FICA-packaged Masters of the film negatives are hand transported to India to be stored deep frozen at the Trust's Archive and Museum building on Meherabad Hill. The latest original negative of Meher Baba to undergo this special conservation process in England and to be transported to India is the unique 35 minute film of Meher Baba's entombment, January 31 - February 7 1969.

This important film archiving work has been going on silently for over twenty five years. As a result of public interest and to further the aim's of Meher Baba Film Archive's 80 year and 800 year Meher Baba Film Conservation Programs, Meher Baba Film Archive's now adopting a higher public profile. We hope our website will develop to give you a comprehensive picture of the vital conservation and restoration work that we carry out.