Henri Langlois (French: [lɑ̃glwa]; 13 November 1914 – 13 January 1977) was a French film archivist and cinephile. A pioneer of film preservation, Langlois was an influential figure in the history of cinema. His film screenings in Paris in the 1950s are often credited with providing the ideas that led to the development of the auteur theory. In 1974, Langlois received an honorary Academy Award for "his devotion to the art of film, his massive contributions in preserving its past and his unswerving faith in its future".