NATIONAL FILM PRESERVATION FOUNDATION AWARDS FILM PRESERVATION GRANTS TO 26 FILM ARCHIVES
Contact: Annette Melville (415-392-7291, melville@filmpreservation.org)
San Francisco, CA (October 3, 2006)—The National Film Preservation Foundation announced today grants to save rare American films held at 26 archives, libraries, museums, and universities. The diverse projects range from footage of Warsaw's Jewish ghetto, filmed by an American in 1933, to a news profile of Jackie Robinson shot before his signing with the Dodgers in 1945, and independent works by Anne Belle, Holly Fisher, Marjorie Keller, and Jonas Mekas.
"I am consistently amazed by the strength and variety of the films preserved through the NFPF programs," said Professor Jennifer Bean (University of Washington), an expert serving on a recent grant panel. "Archives deserve our deepest thanks for bringing to light forgotten treasures and expanding our understanding of how film has documented and shaped America."
The NFPF grants target historically and culturally significant motion pictures that are unlikely to survive without public support. Among the other films slated for preservation are the cinema verité documentary Home for Life (1966); home movies of country stars Hank Williams, Porter Wagoner, and Bob Wills; local newsreels made by Detroit's first radio station; scenes of prominent African American educators, entertainers, and businessmen in 1930s Atlanta; a 1920s industrial film by the Colorado Fuel & Iron Co.; Austin: The Friendly City (1943); an anti-Vietnam War film from Hawaii; a 1930s campaign ad from Oklahoma; and early sound news stories from the Hearst Metrotone Newsreel Collection.
The grants award federal funds authorized by The National Film Preservation Foundation Act of 2005 and secured through the Library of Congress. The summer grants also distribute preservation services contributed by public-spirited laboratories and postproduction houses. Donating to the program in 2006 are: Audio Mechanics, BluWave Audio, Chace Productions, CinemaLab, Cineric, Inc., Cinetech, Colorlab Corp., DJ Audio, Film Technology, Inc., and Triage Motion Picture Services.
The summer grant recipients are:
- Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library (Illinois)
- Anthology Film Archives (New York)
- Atlanta History Center (Georgia)
- Austin History Center (Texas)
- Bessemer Historical Society (Colorado)
- Center for Visual Music (California)
- Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum (Tennessee)
- Donnell Media Center, New York Public Library (New York)
- Electronic Arts Intermix (New York)
- iotaCenter (California)
- Jewish Educational Media (New York)
- Kartemquin Films (Illinois)
- Louisiana Museum Foundation (Louisiana)
- National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution (Washington, D.C.)
- National Baseball Hall of Fame (New York)
- National Center for Jewish Film (Massachusetts)
- National Press Club (Washington, D.C.)
- North Carolina State Archives (North Carolina)
- Oklahoma Historical Society (Oklahoma)
- Pacific Film Archive (California)
- UCLA Film and Television Archive (California)
- United Daughters of the Confederacy (Virginia)
- University of Georgia (Georgia)
- University of Hawai'i at Manoa (Hawaii)
- University of Minnesota (Minnesota)
- Wayne State University (Michigan)
The National Film Preservation Foundation is the nonprofit organization created by the U.S. Congress to help save America's film heritage. Since starting operations in 1997, the NFPF has provided film preservation support to institutions in 38 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. The NFPF is the charitable affiliate of the National Film Preservation Board of the Library of Congress. For the complete list of projects supported by the NFPF, visit the NFPF Web site: www.filmpreservation.org.
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