He was the second curator of the United Kingdom"s National Film and Television Archive from 1974 until 1989, when he was succeeded by Clyde Jeavons. Francis went on to become the Chief of the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division at the Library of Congress (November 1991 - February 2001).
"In 1990, Francis was made both a Fellow of the British Kinematograph and Royal Television Society and a Fellow of the British Film Institute for his work in film and television preservation. He was awarded the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II for his contributions to film archiving and for his work on the Getty Center". In 1994 Francis was awarded the Premio Jean Mitry by the organisers of the Giornate del cinema muto, the Pordenone-based festival devoted to silent cinema. Francis was the 2002 recipient of the Mel Novikoff Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival. In 2004, Francis won the Silver Light Award from the Association of Moving Image Archivists.
