Reopening the Eyes of the Totem
posted June 30, 2015
Tacoma, a port city in the Northwest of the United States, has not been well for its contributions to movie making, but a rediscovered 1927 silent by the later maker of "The Thin Man" series and other films shows that it deserves a place.
Keeping Frank and Caroline Mouris Animated
posted June 25, 2015
Three films that animator Frank Mouris prepared while a graduate student at Yale University’s School of Art and Architecture, and that are now in the possession of Yale’s Film Study Center, have just been guaranteed preservation through a grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation.
More on Shirley Clarke’s Ornette
posted June 15, 2015
More on Shirley Clarke's hommage to the recently deceased music great, "Ornette: Portrait of America."
Shirley Clarke’s Ornette – Redux
posted June 12, 2015
Sage counsel for anyone who wants to remember the sadly now-late giant of American music, Ornette Coleman, who died yesterday.
Fifty-Seven Films Guaranteed Survival
posted June 4, 2015
The National Film Preservation Foundation has announced awards to 57 films. The grants guarantee that the 32 institutions in 21 states that hold the films will be able to repair and preserve them through the creation of new negatives, film prints, and digital access copies.
A Scheme that Made Film Flourish Amidst Apartheid
posted May 17, 2015
A Cape Town production company is reviving a surprising flourishing of film-making featuring black actors and African languages in 1980s apartheid-era South Africa.
Why Deny Film to People in Prisons?
posted May 1, 2015
A fledgling archivist tackles a contentious issue: People who are incarcerated have access to books, so why shouldn't they also have meaningful access to moving-image media?
Houdini Spirited from a Movie Cache
posted April 15, 2015
"The Grim Game," one of five films featuring Harry Houdini the master escape artist, has reemerged — appropriately enough, from the wunderkammer of a prestidigitator.
Saving the audio-visual legacy of American academic research… Start the triage.
posted April 3, 2015
It's looking unlikely that more than a small percentage of the deteriorating audio-visual legacy of American academic research is going to be saved. Colleges, universities, and research institutions may provide a good test case of how the challenges of sifting and salvation could play out. Triage seems likely to be the order of the day.
The First Queen of Celebrity Gossip: Rona Barrett
posted April 1, 2015
Reelin' in the Years, a San Diego-based footage-licensing company, dusts off Rona Barrett's Hollywood interviews; those join the archives of David Frost and the Merv Griffin Show in the company's offerings, along with the music footage that was formerly Reelin's focus. More archive additions are on the way.