NATIONAL FILM PRESERVATION FOUNDATION AWARDS 35 PRESERVATION GRANTS
James Baldwin: From Another Place and Haskell Wexler’s The Bus To Be Saved
Contact: David Wells (415-392-7291, wells@filmpreservation.org)
San Francisco, CA (July 19, 2019)—The National Film Preservation Foundation today announced grants to save 74 films, including James Baldwin: From Another Place (1973), a portrait of the legendary writer filmed during his residence in Istanbul, and Haskell Wexler’s The Bus (1965), a cinema verité documentary that follows an integrated group of activists journeying from San Francisco to attend the 1963 March on Washington.
Among the other films funded for preservation are Hito Hata: Raise the Banner (1980), a dramatic feature starring Pat Morita, Mako, and Yuki Shimoda, which addresses community development and gentrification in the Little Tokyo neighborhood of Los Angeles; Listen to a Stranger: An Interview with Gordon Parks (1973), which shows the trailblazing photographer and director at home and directing Shaft’s Big Score (1973); Tellin’ the World (1972), public service announcement made to encourage youth voting after the passage of the 26th amendment; Doll Messengers of Friendship (1929), a sponsored film about a good-will doll exchange between the U.S. and Japan; footage of Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald in Hollywood, the National Flying Farmers convening in Oklahoma, and Operation Magic Carpet airlifting Yemenite Jews to Israel; portraits of banjoists Dink Roberts and Fred Cockerham and fiddler Tommy Jarrell; and experimental films from Fred Camper, Victor Grauer, and Beryl Sokoloff. For a full list, click here.
Since its creation by Congress in 1996, the NFPF has provided preservation support to 304 institutions and saved 2,478 films through grants and collaborative projects. The grants are made possible by funds authorized through The Library of Congress Sound Recording and Film Preservation Programs Reauthorization Act of 2016, secured through the leadership of the Library of Congress, and the contributions of public-spirited donors.
The NFPF preservation grants target newsreels, silent-era films, culturally important home movies, avant-garde films, and endangered independent productions that fall under the radar of commercial preservation programs. The awards provide support to create a film preservation master and two access copies of each work. Films saved through the NFPF programs are used in education and seen widely through screenings, exhibits, DVDs, television broadcasts, and the Internet. A curated selection of the preserved films is available for viewing on the NFPF website, and more than 230 additional titles have been made accessible by our grant recipients.
The grant recipients are:
- Alaska Moving Image Preservation Association (AK)
- American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (NY)
- American Museum of Natural History (NY)
- Anthology Film Archives (NY)
- ASIFA-Hollywood (CA)
- Bridgeport Public Library (CT)
- Bruce Museum (CT)
- Chicago Film Archives (IL)
- Chicago Film Society (IL)
- Christian & Missionary Alliance (CO)
- East Carolina University (NC)
- Folkstreams (VA)
- Frelinghuysen Morris House & Studio (MA)
- George Eastman Museum (NY)
- Kartemquin Films (IL)
- Michigan Technological University (MI)
- Mid-Atlantic Regional Moving Image Archive (MD)
- Montana Historical Society (MT)
- Museum of International Folk Art (NM)
- Museum of Texas Tech University (TX)
- National Geographic Society (DC)
- Oklahoma State University (OK)
- Phoenix Arts Alliance (MT)
- Pueblo City-County Library District (CO)
- Rutgers University (NJ)
- San Francisco Silent Film Festival (CA)
- Third World Newsreel (NY)
- UCLA Film & Television Archive (CA)
- University of Alaska Fairbanks (AK)
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (NC)
- University of Oregon (OR)
- Visual Communications (CA)
- Washington University in St. Louis (MO)
- Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research (WI)
- Yale Film Study Center (CT)
The National Film Preservation Foundation is the nonprofit organization created by the U.S. Congress to help save America’s film heritage. The NFPF is the charitable affiliate of the National Film Preservation Board of the Library of Congress. For a complete list of projects supported by the NFPF, visit the NFPF website: www.filmpreservation.org.
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