ABOUT THE NFPF

Exhibition Reel of Two Color Film (ca. 1929)

An experimental color short in Brewster Color, preserved by George Eastman House and presented on the More Treasures DVD set.

NATIONAL FILM PRESERVATION FOUNDATION AWARDS FIRST FEDERALLY FUNDED GRANTS TO 23 ARCHIVES

Contact: Rolanda Chu Foerster, 415-392-7291

San Francisco, CA (March 22, 2000)—The National Film Preservation Foundation today awarded its first federally funded film preservation grants to archives in 12 states and the District of Columbia. These cash awards will help 23 nonprofit and public organizations save American films not preserved by commercial interests.

Among the films slated for preservation are home movies of Ernest Hemingway, footage of Lakota Sioux life in the 1940s, The Light in the Dark (1922) starring Lon Chaney, actualities of the Alaska Statehood Convention (1955-56), studies by industrial designer Norman Bel Geddes, portraits of Appalachian craftsmen, and avant-garde shorts by Hy Hirsh, Gunvor Nelson, and Ralph Steiner.

"Where the Foundation really makes a difference is in helping smaller archives preserve their films," said Arthur Hiller, the Directors Guild of America representative to the National Film Preservation Board, who served on the review panel. "These regionally produced films capture the truth, flavor and folklore of our past."

2000 marks the third year the NFPF has distributed preservation grants. The new federal cash awards of $1,000 to $10,000 enable archives to make preservation and public viewing copies of films important to their communities. The federal funds match private donations already raised by the NFPF. With these latest grants, the NFPF has supported film preservation in 20 states and the District of Columbia through grants and collaborative projects. Other grant opportunities will be announced at www.filmpreservation.org in April 2000.

The grant recipients are:

  • Alaska Film Archives, University of Alaska Fairbanks
  • Alaska Moving Image Preservation Association
  • Anthology Film Archives
  • Archives of Appalachia, East Tennessee State University
  • George Eastman House
  • Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin
  • The iota Center
  • Library of Congress
  • Louis Wolfson II Media History Center
  • Lower East Side Tenement Mus
  • National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution
  • National Center for Jewish Film
  • National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
  • Nebraska State Historical Society
  • Pacific Film Archive
  • San Diego Historical Society
  • South Dakota Art Museum, South Dakota State University
  • State Agricultural Heritage Museum, South Dakota State University
  • Third World Newsreel
  • UCLA Film and Television Archive
  • University of Mississippi
  • University of South Carolina Newsfilm Archive
  • West Virginia State Archives

The National Film Preservation Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to saving America's film heritage. Created by the U.S. Congress in 1996, the NFPF is the charitable affiliate of the National Film Preservation Board of the Library of Congress. For more information on NFPF Grant Programs and a complete list of the projects awarded, please visit the NFPF web site: www.filmpreservation.org.

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