NATIONAL FILM PRESERVATION FOUNDATION LAUNCHES NEW FEDERALLY FUNDED PRESERVATION GRANTS
Congress Gives $250,000 to the Nation's Film Archives
Contact: Annette Melville, NFPF, 415-392-7291
San Francisco, CA (October 13, 1999)—The National Film Preservation Foundation (NFPF) has received $250,000 in federal funds for film preservation grants to American archives. The grants will target "orphan films" not preserved by commercial interests.
In creating the NFPF, the U.S. Congress authorized up to $250,000 per year for preservation grants starting in fiscal year 2000. This would become available if the congressionally chartered nonprofit organization could raise private funds for operations and begin national programs. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and The Film Foundation stepped forward with seed money in 1997 and were joined by others in the entertainment community, including the Directors Guild of America, Screen Actors Guild Foundation, Writers Guild of America, International Cinematographers Guild, Technicolor, Deluxe, 18 other laboratories and post-production houses, Fuji, Kodak, Twentieth Century Fox, Creative Artists Agency, Turner Classic Movies, New Line, MGM, and the Wasserman, Stark, and Entertainment Industry Foundations. In less than two years, the NFPF has advanced preservation projects in 17 states and the District of Columbia and secured support for preservation and access copies for more than 200 films and footage collections.
"The entertainment community is giving generously to support film preservation through the NFPF," said Fay Kanin, chair of the National Film Preservation Board, which is affiliated with the NFPF. "The Library of Congress successfully presented our case in Washington. This new federal grant money validates our hard work."
The NFPF's new grants will be distributed in 2000 to nonprofit and public archives nationwide. Application guidelines are available on the NFPF web site, www.filmpreservation.org.
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