FANDOR SUPPORTS HITCHCOCK WEB PREMIERE
Pledges to Host NFPF Web Debut of ‘The White Shadow’
Contact: Jeff Lambert (415-392-7291, lambert@filmpreservation.org)
San Francisco, CA (June 1, 2012)—The National Film Preservation Foundation announced today the generous pledge from Fandor.com, the curated on-demand movie service, to host the web premiere of The White Shadow, the lost Hitchcock film discovered at the New Zealand Film Archive in 2010. The free program will screen on the National Film Preservation Foundation’s website beginning in mid November and run for three months.
The White Shadow (1924) is the earliest surviving feature linked to Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1990), the film’s assistant director, art director, editor, and writer. Directed by Graham Cutts, the silent-era feature is a wild, atmospheric melodrama starring Betty Compson in a dual role as twin sisters, one angelic and the other “without a soul.” The first three reels were identified by the NFPF among the cache of American nitrate prints at the New Zealand Film Archive last year. No other copy is known to exist.
Fandor’s gift matches donations received through an Internet drive organized by the 2012 For the Love of Film: The Film Preservation Blogathon. Bringing together more than 100 film fans from five continents, the event raised $6,600, which will be enough to fund the creation of a digital copy and the recording of the musical score originally created by Michael D. Mortilla for the gala re-premiere screening in September 2010 at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The pledge from Fandor will enable the NFPF to move ahead with the presentation.
“Fandor was created to enable audiences to experience important but difficult-to-find films,” said Fandor co-founder Jonathan Marlow. “Not everyone has the ability to attend archival screenings of The White Shadow in Los Angeles, Washington or New York. We’re thrilled to collaborate with the NFPF, the Academy Film Archive, and the New Zealand Film Archive in making this fascinating discovery available to Hitchcock fans around the world.”
The White Shadow was preserved to film at Park Road Post Production in New Zealand, under the direction of the NZFA. A new preservation master and exhibition print was sent to the Academy Film Archive. The film is among 176 early titles recovered and sent to the United States through a multi-year preservation collaboration of the New Zealand Film Archive / Ngā Kaitiaki O Ngā Taonga Whitiāhua, the American film community, and the National Film Preservation Foundation. Some 70 percent are thought to survive nowhere else. For more about the project, click here.
The National Film Preservation Foundation is the nonprofit organization created by the U.S. Congress to help save America's film heritage. Since opening its doors in 1997, the NFPF has supported film preservation in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico and has helped save more than 1,900 films. The NFPF is the charitable affiliate of the National Film Preservation Board of the Library of Congress.
Fandor is the leading on-demand independent film service, expanding the audience for independent films and offering an innovative new distribution platform that shares revenue with filmmakers. Fandor’s rich editorial environment and active community of film fans makes it easy and rewarding to discover movies from its handpicked library of independent and international films. Founded in 2011 in San Francisco by entertainment and technology veterans, Fandor offers unlimited access to its catalogue of thousands of feature films and shorts for $10 per month. For more information, please visit www.fandor.com.
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