Ely Bronstein was born on November 8, 1945 as one of the many Western foreigners in Shanghai at that time, known as “Shanghailanders”. Fearing the Chinese Communists’ anti-Western policies after their victory in 1949, the Bronstein family left the country, coming to Winnipeg in 1952, where Ely was first exposed to the 1937 Frank Capra film starring Ronald Colman, “Lost Horizon”. The movie struck a chord with Ely, speaking to his own spiritual beliefs as well as serving as a reminder of his Far Eastern heritage, and igniting his lifetime fascination with film and the film industry. Graduating with an Arts Degree in anthropology from the University of Manitoba in 1970, Bronstein retained his love of film, particularly with “Lost Horizon” and began his collection in 1982, assembling articles, documents, correspondences, photos, and artwork relating to the film, as well as others that stuck with him, such as the 1956 film, “Helen of Troy”. Finally deciding his collection would be better off serving the needs of film studies students, Bronstein donated the vast majority of his collection to the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections in 2011.