NATIONAL FILM PRESERVATION FOUNDATION AWARDS FIRST GRANTS
Twelve Archives Nationwide Receive Lab Services to Foster Orphans
Contact: Suzanne Lee, NFPF, 415-392-7291
San Francisco, CA (October 8, 1998)—The National Film Preservation Foundation (NFPF) has awarded its first grants to preserve culturally important "orphan films" not protected by commercial interests. Twelve archives in nine states and the District of Columbia are receiving support to preserve such rare works as D.W. Griffith one-reelers, Groucho Marx's home movies, and 1930s newsreel interviews with Civil War veterans and ex-slaves.
"From scenes of the segregated South to the private moments of public figures, these films capture a stunning panorama of American history and culture," observed Del Reisman of the Writers Guild, who served on the review panel.
"The NFPF's 1998 grants are the first of many," said NFPF Board Member John Ptak of Creative Artists Agency. "Industry support for film preservation is building and we plan an even larger program for next year." Calls for the 1999 grants cycle will be announced later this winter.
The grants are for preservation services contributed by commercial laboratories and post-production houses as part of the NFPF's Laboratory-Archive Partnership (LAP) Grants program. In 1998 ten laboratories contributed services to the program and five others donated cash. (For more on the NFPF's lab partners, please visit the Lab Supporters page.)
"The LAP grant has launched our first film preservation efforts," commented Janice Mohlhenrich of Emory University Libraries, which will preserve WORLD WAR AGAINST SLUMS, a 1930s documentary by public housing crusader Charles Forrest Palmer. "Deteriorating badly, it was almost too late for Palmer's work. Now, not only can we insure that it is properly preserved, but we can share the film with the public."
Archives receiving LAP Grants in 1998 are: Emory University Libraries (World War Against Slums, $10,000); George Eastman House (The Cricket on the Hearth and The Voice of the Violin, $5,000); Library of Congress (Big Fella, $10,000); National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution (Groucho Marx Home Movies, $880); National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution (Explorations in the Amazon Basin, $10,000); Nebraska State Historical Society (Kearney and Its People in Motion Pictures, $7,520); Northeast Historic Film (Albert Benedict Home Movies, $2,100); Southern Media Archive, University of Mississippi (Thomas Collection, $776); State Historical Society of Wisconsin (Bill's Bike, $1,024); UCLA Film and Television Archive (Hearst Metrotone News Selections, $4,000); University of South Carolina Newsfilm Archive (Reunion of Confederate Veterans, $6,000); and Yale University Library (Early Class Reunion Films, $3,200).
The National Film Preservation Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to saving America's film heritage. Working with archives and others who appreciate film, the NFPF supports film preservation activities nationwide that ensure the physical survival of film for future generations and improve access to film for study, education and exhibition. The NFPF's priority is "orphan films" that are not protected by commercial interests. Created by the U.S. Congress, the NFPF is the charitable affiliate of the National Film Preservation Board of the Library of Congress.
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