Great stars of the past such as Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe are to return to cinema screens, thanks to a project reviving vintage cinema. Classics like the 1961 romance Breakfast at Tiffany's and the 1959 comedy Some Like it Hot will be shown by the British Film Institute in London.

The aim of the project, being launched by bfi and backed by the management consultants Andersen, is to bring popular old films to new audiences. It will run over two years, with eight classic films, reproduced from master copies, being re-released.

Jon Teckman, bfi director, said: "Film deteriorates over time, especially if heavily used. There are no usable copies of any of these films in our collections. [They] are regularly requested by audiences at the bfi National Film Theatre, as well as by screen bookers and festival programmers around the world."

The films to be released in the first year are: Some Like It Hot, directed by Billy Wilder and starring Monroe, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis; Breakfast at Tiffany's, directed by Blake Edwards; Alfie (1966), directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Michael Caine; and Don't Look Now (1973), directed by Nic Roeg and starring Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland.