tag:www.filmpreservation.org,2005:/blogNational Film Preservation Foundation » NFPF News2023-12-13T06:02:59-08:00tag:www.filmpreservation.org,2005:Article/4762023-12-11T16:49:53-08:002023-12-13T06:02:59-08:0012 Movies Join the NFPF's Online Field Guide to Sponsored Films <table align="right" width="300">
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<div class="caption">Promote any product you want with <em>The Your Name Here Story</em> (ca. 1962), sponsored by [your name here].</div>
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<p>Today the NFPF adds 12 movies to its <a href="https://www.filmpreservation.org/sponsored-films/sponsored-films" target="_blank">Online Field Guide to Sponsored Films</a>, a free digital screening room that presents entries from <em>The Field Guide to Sponsored Films</em>, written by Rick Prelinger and published by the NFPF in 2006.</p>
<p>The screening room hosts a total of 171 sponsored films, commissioned during the 20th century by a host of American organizations: businesses promoting commercial products, charities highlighting their good works, advocacy groups bringing attention to social causes, and state and local governments explaining their programs. Though several of the films circulate online in low-resolution copies made from analog transfers, the new videos on our site are derived from HD scans created by the Library of Congress.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.filmpreservation.org/sponsored-films/screening-room/just-imagine-1947" target="_blank"><em>Just Imagine</em></a> (1947), a stop-motion animation film that shows cartoon character Tommy Telephone using magic to produce his namesake, was produced for AT&T by the famous Jam Handy Organization, which also made <a href="https://www.filmpreservation.org/sponsored-films/screening-room/the-things-people-want-1948" target="_blank"><em>The Things People Want</em></a> (1948), a training film made for Chevrolet salesmen.</p>
<p>Stop-motion animation is also utilized in <a href="http://[https://www.filmpreservation.org/sponsored-films/screening-room/saint-paul-police-detectives-and-their-work-a-color-chartoon-ca-1941" target="_blank"><em>Saint Paul Police Detectives and Their Work: A Color Chartoon</em></a> (ca. 1941), filmed in vivid Kodachrome. And AT&T returns to sponsor <a href="https://www.filmpreservation.org/sponsored-films/screening-room/seconds-for-survival-1960" target="_blank"><em>Seconds for Survival</em></a> (1960), where host Raymond Massey illustrates the role of America’s telephone network in the Distant Early Warning Line and the North American Air Defense Command.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.filmpreservation.org/sponsored-films/screening-room/the-american-cowboy-1950" target="_blank"><em>The American Cowboy</em></a> (1950), sponsored by the Ford Co. and filmed at the Roberson Hereford Ranch near Gunnison, Colorado, to document real-life cowboys. Less rough terrain is covered by <a href="https://www.filmpreservation.org/sponsored-films/screening-room/in-the-suburbs" target="_blank"><em>In the Suburbs</em></a> (1958), which promotes advertising in Redbook as the best way to reach young suburban consumers.</p>
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<div class="caption">AT&T protects America from nuclear attack in <em>Seconds for Survival</em> (1960).</div>
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<p>Three films address issues concerning working class and rural audiences. <a href="https://www.filmpreservation.org/sponsored-films/screening-room/seed-for-tomorrow-1947" target="_blank"><em>Seed for Tomorrow</em></a> (1947), sponsored by the National Farmers Union, valorizes the hard work and economic sacrifice of family farmers and ranchers. <a href="https://www.filmpreservation.org/sponsored-films/screening-room/a-place-to-live-1941" target="_blank"><em>A Place to Live</em></a> (1941) was sponsored by the Philadelphia Housing Association to advocate improvements in poor neighborhoods. The Automobile Manufacturers Association sponsored <a href="https://www.filmpreservation.org/sponsored-films/screening-room/singing-wheels-1937" target="_blank"><em>Singing Wheels</em></a> (1937), a celebration of the trucking industry that has its own theme song (sung by a truck driver of course).</p>
<p>Rounding out the new films are three rather eccentric works. In <a href="https://www.filmpreservation.org/sponsored-films/screening-room/brink-of-disaster-1972" target="_blank"><em>Brink of Disaster</em></a> (1972), sponsored by the National Education Program of Harding College, a old-timer from 1776 warns that modern America is at the destructive mercy of “young hooligans.” <a href="https://www.filmpreservation.org/sponsored-films/screening-room/this-is-hormel-ca-1964" target="_blank"><em>This is Hormel</em></a> (ca. 1964), produced by its own sponsor, gives a graphic look at how frankfurters, pigs’ feet, and Spam are made. Last but not least is <a href="https://www.filmpreservation.org/sponsored-films/screening-room/the-your-name-here-story-ca-1962" target="_blank"><em>The Your Name Here Story</em></a> (ca. 1962), a delightful spoof of industrial film cliches, produced by Calvin Communications. Stayed tuned for more in 2024!</p>
NFPFinfo@filmpreservation.orgtag:www.filmpreservation.org,2005:Article/4752023-10-11T09:48:24-07:002023-10-19T05:56:37-07:00Avant-Garde Masters Grants Set to Preserve Five Films <table align="right" width="250">
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<p><em>Caligari's Cure</em> (1982) by Tom Palazzolo</p>
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<p>A semi-autobiographical feature by Tom Palazzolo, two queer cinema classics by Michael Wallin, a subjective investigation of persona by Natalka Voslakov, and an abstract portrait of life by Ricardo Bloch and Sally Dixon will be preserved and made available through the 2023 Avant-Garde Masters Grants, awarded by The Film Foundation and the National Film Preservation Foundation. Funding is provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.</p>
<p>Chicago-based artist Tom Palazzolo's absurdist feature film, <em>Caligari's Cure </em>(1982), is both an irreverent retelling of Palazzolo's childhood and a loose adaptation of Robert Weine's 1919 classic <em>The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. </em><em>The Village Voice </em>film critic J. Hoberman wrote, "The brazen, comic-book mise-en-scène resembles that of Red Grooms or the Kuchars; the tacky, off-kilter sets–houses as ostentatiously ramshackled as Frank Stella’s recent sculpture, wallpaper like Lucas Samaras’s quilt-shard collages, decrepit furniture painted pale pink or dusty green–are a kind of arty-idiot Toonerville Trolley Americana." <a href="https://chicagofilmarchives.org/" target="_blank">Chicago Film Archives</a> will preserve the film and make it available alongside previously preserved Palazzolo films.</p>
<p>Natalka Voslakov's <i>Time Capsule with True Bird Flight </i>(1982) will be preserved by <a href="https://pghsoundandimage.com/" target="_blank">Pittsburgh Sound + Image</a>. A poet, writer, filmmaker and all-around creative force in Pittsburgh in the late 70s, Voslakov mined the Pittsburgh art, film, and music scenes for inspiration and collaboration. Often using her life as subject matter, her Super 8 films exemplify the punk essence of the Pittsburgh scene. A freeform interrogation of performance and persona, <em>Time Capsule with True Bird Flight </em>was partially photographed by filmmaker Peggy Ahwesh, one of Voslakov's key aesthetic accomplices. </p>
<p><a href="https://walkerart.org/" target="_blank">The Walker Art Center</a> will preserve <em>Phototropism </em>(1985) made by noted avant-garde film curator Sally Dixon and her husband Ricardo Bloch.Inspired by the work of Jonas Mekas and Stan Brakhage, Dixon began to informally organize film screenings at the Carnegie Museum of Art. After leaving Pittsburgh, Dixon moved to Colorado to join her friend and collaborator Stan Brakhage. There she met Bloch. <em>Phototropism </em>is a portrait of the couple's garden that uses rayograph-style imagery in a more formalized manner than the personal "film poems" Dixon had created in the past. </p>
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<p><a href="https://canyoncinema.com/" target="_blank"><em>Decodings</em> (1988) by Michael Wallin</a></p>
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<p><a href="https://canyoncinema.com/" target="_blank">The Canyon Cinema Foundation</a> will preserve two films by Bay Area Filmmaker Michael Wallin. A pioneer in San Francisco's queer avant-garde cinema scene, Wallin began making films in 1968 while studying under experimental film legend Bruce Baillie. <em>Decodings </em>(1988) is a poetic found-footage essay on remembrance and loss in the AIDS era. <em>Black Sheep Boy </em>(1995) takes the form of a deconstructed erotic fantasy invoking the work of queer film icons Kenneth Anger and Jean Genet. Canyon Cinema Foundation will distribute the new 16mm prints created through this project.</p>
<p>Over the course of 20 years the Avant-Garde Masters Grant program, created by <a href="https://www.film-foundation.org/" target="_blank">The Film Foundation</a> and the NFPF, has helped 34 organizations save 219 films significant to the development of the avant-garde in America thanks to the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation. The grants have preserved works by 87 artists, including Kenneth Anger, Shirley Clarke, Bruce Conner, Joseph Cornell, Oskar Fischinger, Hollis Frampton, Barbara Hammer, Marjorie Keller, George and Mike Kuchar, and Stan VanDerBeek. Click here to learn more about <a href="https://www.filmpreservation.org/preserved-films/avant-garde-masters-preserved-films" target="_blank">all the films preserved through the Avant-Garde Masters Grants</a>.</p>
NFPFinfo@filmpreservation.orgtag:www.filmpreservation.org,2005:Article/4742023-09-19T14:19:01-07:002023-09-25T08:19:15-07:00Reminder: Catch THE UNKNOWN on the big screen, September 30th! <p>Mark your calendar: on Saturday, September 30th, the National Film Preservation Foundation and <a href="http://silentmovieday.org" target="_blank">Silent Movie Day</a> will join forces to present a special screening of Tod Browning’s macabre masterpiece <em>The Unknown</em>. Featuring Lon Chaney and Joan Crawford, the film screens the day after Silent Movie Day at nine <a href="http://drafthouse.com" target="_blank">Alamo Drafthouse</a> Cinemas throughout the USA. Proceeds will support the NFPF’s preservation efforts.</p>
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<div class="caption">Lon Chaney in <em>The Unknown</em> (1927), screening at nine Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas on Sept. 30th.</div>
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<p>The September 30th screenings take place at the following Alamo Drafthouse locations; tickets are available through the links:</p>
<p><a href="https://drafthouse.com/austin/event/silent-movie-day-the-unknown" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Alamo South Lamar (Austin)</span></span></a><br />
<a href="https://drafthouse.com/chicago/event/silent-movie-day-the-unknown" target="_blank">Alamo Wrigleyville (Chicago)</a><br />
<a href="https://drafthouse.com/denver/event/silent-movie-day-the-unknown" target="_blank">Alamo Sloans Lake (Denver)</a><br />
<a href="https://drafthouse.com/los-angeles/event/silent-movie-day-the-unknown" target="_blank">Alamo DTLA</a><br />
<a href="https://drafthouse.com/nyc/event/silent-movie-day-the-unknown" target="_blank">Alamo 28 Liberty (Manhattan)</a><br />
<a href="https://drafthouse.com/yonkers/event/silent-movie-day-the-unknown" target="_blank">Alamo Yonkers</a><br />
<a href="https://drafthouse.com/raleigh/event/silent-movie-day-the-unknown" target="_blank">Alamo Raleigh</a><br />
<a href="https://drafthouse.com/san-antonio/event/silent-movie-day-the-unknown" target="_blank">Alamo Stone Oak (San Antonio)</a><br />
<a href="https://drafthouse.com/sf/event/silent-movie-day-the-unknown" target="_blank">Alamo New Mission (San Francisco)</a></p>
<p>Directed by Tod Browning and released in 1927, <em>The Unknown</em> is one of ten films he made with Lon Chaney. Set in a Spanish circus, the film stars Chaney as Alonzo the Armless Wonder—a fraudulent fully-armed knife thrower in love with Joan Crawford’s Nanon. It takes Browning and Chaney’s proclivities for "freakish characterizations”, circuses, and body mutilation to heights labeled "gruesome and at times shocking" by the <em>New York Times</em>.</p>
<p>After its theatrical run the film disappeared and was thought lost for decades, until a print turned up in France. <a href="https://www.eastman.org/" target="_blank">George Eastman Museum</a>’s new restoration adds ten minutes of new material from a Czech export print found at the National Film Archive in Prague. The new running time is just a minute shorter than the original release, and new English intertitles have been created using the original cutting continuity. The added footage does not alter the story but gives it greater breathing room. The film will be accompanied by a new score composed and performed by Dr. Philip Carli.</p>
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<p>Funding for the restoration was provided by a Roger Mayer Legacy Grant administered by the National Film Preservation Foundation. This new grant program is aimed at feature films that have recently entered the public domain; <em>The Unknown</em> is among the very first films preserved through this new program.</p>
<p>Founded in 2021 and registered with National Day Archives, Silent Movie Day is an annual celebration of silent movies that anyone can take part in. Please visit <a href="https://silentmovieday.org/" target="_blank">its website</a> to learn more about silent film screenings near you.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom:11px">If you are unable to attend a screening, keep in mind that George Eastman Museum's restoration of <em>The Unknown</em>, with the new score by Dr. Philip Carli, will be part of the Criterion Collection's <em><a href="http://www.criterion.com/boxsets/6911-freaks-the-unknown-the-mystic-tod-brownings-sideshow-shockers" target="_blank">Tod Browning's Sideshow Shockers</a> </em>alongside <em>Freaks </em>(1932) and <em>The Mystic </em>(1925), available on October 17th.</p>
NFPFinfo@filmpreservation.orgtag:www.filmpreservation.org,2005:Article/4732023-09-13T17:03:11-07:002023-09-15T10:46:16-07:00“Preserving the Avant-Garde” in San Francisco <p>This Monday <a href="http://[https://www.4-star-movies.com/calendar-of-events/scorsese-more-than-a-gangster-sf-cinematheque-the-film-foundation-shorts-730-pm" target="_blank">the 4 Star Theater</a> in San Francisco will screen a program of experimental films to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Avant Garde Masters grant program, a fruitful partnership between the NFPF and The Film Foundation.</p>
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<div class="caption"><em>Remembrance</em> (1969), screening in the program "The Film Foundation: Preserving the Avant-Garde."</div>
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<p>Screening as part of the series “Scorsese: More than a Gangster,” the program is titled “<a href="https://www.sfcinematheque.org/video-programs/the-film-foundation-preserving-the-avant-garde/" target="_blank">The Film Foundation: Preserving the Avant-Garde</a>.” Started in 1990 by Martin Scorsese, The Film Foundation has furthered the cause of film preservation by ensuring the survival of nearly 1,000 works of world cinema. Among these are 214 works (by 83 artists) preserved through Avant Garde Masters grant program, which is supported by the Film Foundation, administered by the NFPF, and receives funding from the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.</p>
<p>Since 2003 the AGM grants have preserved a kaleidoscopic array of experimental works, and a representative sampling has been selected by the San Francisco Cinematheque to screen at the 4 Star, with an introduction by NFPF Executive Director Jeff Lambert. <a href="https://ticketing.uswest.veezi.com/purchase/10999?siteToken=d2atbcege5knqsavntt91g1250" target="_blank">Tickets can be purchased here</a>.</p>
<p>The line-up:</p>
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<li><em>Remembrance: A Portrait Study</em> (1967, preserved by the Chicago Film Society), Edward Owens’s avant-garde home movie of his mother Mildred at home with her friends.</li>
<li><em>Orange</em> (1970, Pacific Film Archive ), a sensual depiction of the peeling and eating of a navel orange by Karen Johnson.</li>
<li><em>Ophelia</em> and <em>The Cat Lady</em> (1969, UCLA Film & Television Archive), two film portraits by Tom Chomont.</li>
<li><em>Prefaces</em> (1981, Harvard Film Archive), part one of Abigail Child’s abstract film cycle, <em>Is This What You Were Born For?</em>.</li>
<li><em>Psychosynthesis</em> (1975, Electronic Arts Intermix), an autobiographical film by Barbara Hammer.</li>
<li><em>FF</em> (1986, Bard College), Julie Murray’s assemblage of rephotgraphed images from pop culture</li>
<li><em>Note to Pati</em> (1969, Anthology Film Archives), an entry from Saul Levine’s “Notes” series celebrating daily life.</li>
<li><em>Nocturne</em> (1998, Anthology Film Archives), Peggy Ahwesh’s disquieting invocation of gothic horror films incorporating stark black-and-white imagery with PixelVision video footage.</li>
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NFPFinfo@filmpreservation.orgtag:www.filmpreservation.org,2005:Article/4722023-09-07T13:28:58-07:002023-09-11T09:38:15-07:00NFPF-Preserved Films at the Century of 16mm Conference <table align="right" width="316">
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<div class="caption"><em>Multiple SIDosis</em> (1970), one of eight films screening in the Century of 16mm program “16mm Orphan Films Preserved through the National Film Preservation.”</div>
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<p>In 1923 Eastman Kodak introduced 16mm nonflammable film and radically changed the history of filmmaking, which became affordable and feasible to millions. The new format facilitated the rise of home movies and amateur moviemaking. Filmmaking was no longer the preserve of well-heeled industries—16mm democratized it.</p>
<p>To celebrate this momentous anniversary, the Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive has organized “<a href="https://centuryof16mm.com/" target="_blank">A Century of 16mm</a>,” which includes an academic conference, commissioned films, exhibitions of 16mm technologies, and screenings.</p>
<p>Among the <a href="https://centuryof16mm.com/?page_id=1483" target="_blank">conference programs</a>, scheduled for Thursday, September 14th, is “16mm Orphan Films Preserved through the National Film Preservation.” Introduced by NFPF Executive Director Jeff Lambert, the program includes an assortment of short films in new 16mm prints. The line-up demonstrates the diversity and range of American orphan films, from National Film Registry titles to new discoveries, with a focus on the formal ingenuity and creativity of filmmakers working on the periphery of mainstream film culture. Approximately 66% of the films preserved through NFPF grants are on 16mm.</p>
<p>The line-up:</p>
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<li><em>Film in Which There Appear Edge Lettering, Sprocket Holes, Dirt Particles, Etc.</em> (1966, preserved by Anthology Film Archive), Owen Land’s renowned demonstration of film’s lesser seen qualities. (Preserved through the NFPF’s Avant-Garde Masters Grant program and The Film Foundation, with funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.)</li>
<li><em>The Spider and the Fly</em> (1938, preserved by the Chicago Film Society), one of the earliest surviving American home movies with synchronous sound.</li>
<li><em>The Inner World of Aphasia</em> (1968, Indiana University), an innovative medical training film, on patients unable to communicate verbally, that is now on the National Film Registry.</li>
<li><em>Bop Scotch</em> (1952, Pacific Film Archive), an early experimental short by Jordan Belson, featuring animated close-ups of San Francisco sidewalks and byways.</li>
<li><em>Young Braves</em> (1968, New York Public Library), a documentary portrait of a group of Puerto Rican teens.</li>
<li><em>33 Yoyo Tricks</em> (1976, Harvard Film Archive), a cult film by P. White that fully lives up to its title.</li>
<li><em>Lie Back and Enjoy It</em> (1982, Chicago Film Archive), JoAnn Elam’s dialectical examination of the politics of representation and the power imbalance between male filmmakers and female subjects.</li>
<li><em>Multiple SIDosis</em> (1970, UCLA Film & Television Archive), a droll trick film by amateur filmmaker Sidney Laverents, also on the National Film Registry.</li>
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<p>Screening in <a href="https://events.iu.edu/libraries/event/853366-inspired-education" target="_blank">another program</a> is <em>The Masters of Disaster</em> (1985), a documentary about the unexpected championship of an inner-city Indianapolis chess club, preserved by Indiana University with NFPF support. A full description of Century of 16mm screenings, programs, and presentations can be <a href="https://centuryof16mm.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/A_Century_of_16mm_Program_Descriptions.pdf" target="_blank">found here</a>.</p>
NFPFinfo@filmpreservation.org