A passionate defender, preserver, and connoisseur of film, Henri Langlois was the co-founder of the Cinema Française, and for 40 years he defended his archive against such threats as Nazism, censorship, unappreciation, and decay. A champion of film art before it had ever been conceived of as such, Langlois began his lifelong advocacy in 1936, when he began holding screenings in Paris at whatever location he could muster. That same year saw the launch of the Cinemateque, which Langlois opened as a theater and museum along with Georges Franju (EYES WITHOUT A FACE) and Jean Mitry; he continued to expand it over the years in order to both foster and preserve the emerging medium of film. This documentary delves into the history of that seminal institution, which set a precedent for so many archives to follow. Shedding insight on the subject are François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Eric Rhomer, and Langlois himself.