Archival Film of the Day: The Shakers
posted December 7, 2011
The Shakers (1974), Tom Davenport Films Source: Folkstreams.net: A National Preserve of Documentary Films about American Roots Cultures Duration: 29′ 59″ The Christian sect, The Shakers, adopted a singular approach to propagating their faith and their creed – it included a vow of celibacy that ensured the group would likely cease to exist. It was only
Clip of the Day: Andy Rooney
posted November 5, 2011
Andy Rooney discusses television news, in 1994 Source: C-Span Video Library Duration: 26’ Andy Rooney died on Friday, November 4 2011 in New York City, aged 92, a month after the last of his many regular appearances on the CBS News network’s “60 Minutes” program. His weekly segment on the show, “A Few Minutes With
Bill Morrison’s Found-Footage Portrait of The Great Floods
posted November 3, 2011
Bill Morrison’s films using decayed found footage are legendary in experimental film circles, and this fall and winter you may have an opportunity to see his latest, The Great Flood, accompanied live by the stellar guitarist Bill Frisell and his quartet. (Morrison and Frisell’s project was the subject of a feature article in these pages,
Archival Film of Today: Mode de Paris
posted November 2, 2011
Mode de Paris (Paris Fashion, 1926) Source: Europa Film Treasures Duration: 4′ 49″ The models weren’t as skinny, and fashion runway style has changed in other ways, too, judging by this stencil-colored film by an unknown director, made in The Netherlands in 1926 by the Unie Filmrevue film company. Still, by the standards of the
Archival Film of the Day: Sorley Maclean’s Island
posted October 29, 2011
Sorley Maclean’s Island (1974) Source: Scottish Screen Archive Duration: 4’19” (excerpt) In an excerpt from a 22-minute film, the poet Sorley Maclean (1911-1966), the “father of the Scottish Gaelic renaissance,” recites two poems (in Gaelic) at a ceilidh, followed by scenes of his native island of Raasay, where Scottish Gaelic was the first language, during
Archival Film of the Day
posted October 28, 2011
Prices Unlimited (1944) Director: Erle C. Kenton Source: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Film Archive Collection: War Film Collection Duration: 10’30” In a narrative short produced by Universal Pictures for the U.S. Office of Price Administration and the U.S. Government Office of War Information, it’s evening of another WWII day. As Gracie
Archival Video of the Day
posted October 28, 2011
Source: Texas Archive of the Moving Image Donor: Texas Department of Public Safety Historical Museum and Research Center Filmed in Hays County and San Marcos, c. 1950. Duration: 18’10” The Texas Department of Public Safety knows how to nail its man. 12 key moments, insights, questions, and concerns: i) Shouldn’t they bag that hammer? ii)
Portraits of San Francisco Movie Theatres
posted September 7, 2011
From the Rediscovered in Old Email File comes word of this outstanding book from way back in October 2010: Rebecca McBride’s Left in the Dark: Portraits of San Francisco Movie Theatres (Charta Books) features 59 photographs and 11 essays by curators and writers, including Gary Meyer, a programmer for the Telluride Film Festival and owner
A Century of Sooner Cinema
posted September 3, 2011
Shot in Oklahoma: A Century of Sooner State Cinema by John Wooley (University of Oklahoma Press) A former entertainment writer with the Tulsa World and author, co-author, or editor of more than 20 books traces the history of cinema in Oklahoma since 1904, when a Thomas Edison crew came from New Jersey to film cowboys
New Home for Film Australia Collection
posted June 30, 2011
On July 1 2011, Australia’s National Film and Sound Archive wil inherit 5,000 films of the country’s social history, and it will all be free to documentary makers interested in making use of it. As The Canberra Times reports, the collection is not new, but just being reassigned from another authority, Screen Australia. It comprises