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THE NATIONAL FILM PRESERVATION FOUNDATION Looking Ahead “Sensational . . . a treasure trove of old, obscure, forgotten, rediscovered, and fascinating footage from the first century of film.” Roger Ebert Ebert & Roeper and the Movies After wrapping up two significant national projects in 2004, the NFPF began plans with the preservation community for new collaborations that will benefit all those who enjoy American film. Archival DVDs presenting long-unavailable motion pictures have redefined the boundaries of film history and become basic tools in libraries and universities. In addition to laying the groundwork for new sets, we are reissuing the original four-DVD Treasures from American Film Archives. Spanning nearly a century of filmmaking, from the first movie exhibited in the United States to a 1985 experimental documentary of New York’s Battery Park, the set introduced orphan films and archival preservation work to home audiences. It was honored with awards from the National Society of Film Critics and the Video Software Dealers Association. When Treasures went out of print in fall 2004, the Cecil B. De Mille Foundation and Sterling Vineyards ® generously stepped forward with funds to reissue it. The Encore Chevrolet Motor Company’s Master Hands (1936) traces the manufacture of an automobile from foundry to finished product. Industrial films such as this documentary short will be covered in an NFPF guide slated for publication in 2006. The Encore Edition of the NFPF’s first DVD set, Treasures from American Film Archives, will be issued in May 2005. The four-disc anthology brings together films preserved by 18 institutions. Edition will be available in May 2005 and distributed by Image Entertainment. Before films can be studied and enjoyed, they must be preserved. Some sectors of American motion picture production are still so poorly documented that there are no reference publications to guide archivists deciding which titles to save first. One of the most problematic areas is the industrial and institutional film. More than 250,000 were sponsored by corporations, trade associations, advocacy groups, and charitable organizations to explain programs and to promote products. Today these works are significant historical documents that reveal as much about the culture that produced the films as about the subjects themselves. We are beginning work with industrial film expert Rick Prelinger (Internet Archive) on a new guide to the field. The goal is to create a national road map for saving significant industrial and institutional films before they are lost. 8
2004 REPORT Our Community of Support The National Film Preservation Foundation’s grants and collaborative projects are made possible by our community of support. We depend entirely on private contributions to sustain operations and grow our programs. Our founding donors—the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and The Film Foundation—continue to assist in more ways than can be counted. Also leading the way with multiyear gifts are the Creative Artists Agency, the Cecil B. De Mille Foundation, the Directors Guild of America, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Ted and Lea Pedas, the Buuck Family Foundation, the Marmor Foundation, the Wilding Family Foundation, Bonded Services, and the commercial laboratories that contribute preservation services to our grant programs. Government employees play an important part through the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC number 1169) and increase their workplace giving every year. Finally we single out The Andrew W. Mellon John Waters (center) with Mike Kuchar (left) and George Kuchar at the 2004 New York Film Festival. Four films by the Kuchar brothers, restored through The Film Foundation’s Avant-Garde Masters grants, were shown at the festival. Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, The Film Foundation, and Sterling Vineyards for providing the grants that make our collaborative projects possible. The NFPF extends a special thank-you to our new 2004 donors and all those who have contributed over the past years. “We view the preservation of film as key to preserving a shared cultural heritage.” Paula Connelly Sterling Vineyards The Bargain (1914), starring William S. Hart, showing detail from the same frame “before” (left) and “after” the Library of Congress’s restoration. This Western survives through a paper copy made as a copyright record. With seed money from the NFPF, the Library scanned and digitally restored the film and will create a 35mm viewing print. 9
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