sundance 2006 - Zoael

Saving Their Her-itage
The Woman’s Film Preservation Fund Makes Its Presence Known
THE WOMEN’S FILM PRESERVAtion
Fund (WFPF) is the only
project in the world specifically
preserving the cultural legacy of women
in cinema by restoring and conserving
their films. Founded in 1995 by New
York Women in Film & Television, in conjunction
with the Museum of Modern Art
(MoMA) and the American Movie
Channel (AMC), the WFPF has contributed
to the restoration of over fifty
short and feature films in all genres and
from all eras. The Fund awards cash
grants, as well as in-kind post-production
services, donated by Cineric in New
York, to preserve or restore American
films in which women have played a significant
creative role as director, editor,
screenwriter, actor, animator or in
another craft. The films range from A
Fool and His Money (1912) by Alice
Guy-Blaché to Harlan County, USA
(1976) by Barbara Kopple, and includes
footage of 20th Century plantation work,
Raisin’ Cotton (1938-1941), and
Gandhi in India (1934).
Other artists include Dorothy Yost,
screenwriter of Alice Adams and a
number of Astaire/Rogers musicals,
Sonya Levien, screenwriter whose thirty-five
year career spanned the silent
and sound eras including Quo Vadis
(1951) and Oklahoma (1955)), Lois
Weber, once the highest paid director
in Hollywood who always tackled controversial
topics such as abortion and
capital punishment, Marie Menken,
avant-garde filmmaker whose 1950s
work influenced Andy Warhol, Jonas
Mekas and Stan Brakhage, and Helen
Gardner, director and the first actor to
build her own production company. A
panel of professional filmmakers,
preservationists, curators, and educators
includes Mary Lea Bandy, Chief
Curator, Department of Film and
Media, the Museum of Modern Art,
Marian Masone, Managing Director of
Preserve and protect
your film and sound assets
BEFORE THEY’RE GONE FOREVER.
68
Festivals and Associate Director of
Programming at the Film Society of
Lincoln Center, Thelma Schoonmaker,
two-time Academy Award-winning editor,
Drake Stutesman, author and editor
of Framework and Catherine Wyler,
filmmaker and Artistic Director of the
High Falls Film Festival.
The Fund’s larger purpose is to
raise public awareness of the contribution
of women to cinema history
and to augment the growing scholarship
around these subjects through
promoting crucial access to these
films. WFPF screens films from its
archive every year during MoMA’s
Save and Project event held in June
and is currently touring nationwide
with a four-hour program. This show
includes short features actresses
Francine Everette starring in Spencer
William’s Dirtie Gertie from Harlem
USA (1946), an African-American version
of Rain set during WWII, and
Iron Mountain Film & Sound
Archive Services—
Complete film, video and audio archival services
for the entertainment industry.
Hollywood • Nashville
New York • Toronto
Paris • United Kingdom
Grace Cunard in Unmasked (1917),
who was known as the “Queen of the
Serials;” films by directors Alice Guy-
Blaché (Matrimony’s Speed Limit,
1913), Meredith Monk (Ellis Island,
1979), Maya Deren (Divine
Horsemen: The Living Gods of
Haiti, 1947-1951), Storm De Hirsch
(Divination, 1964) and Gunvor
Nelson, whose work Stan Brakhage
considered to be “more true to the
intrinsic possibilities of film than any
but a few in the history of the medium.”
The 1971 collectively made documentary,
The Women’s Film, the
first to address political issues leading
to the women’s movement’s second
wave; and pioneering animation from
Mary Ellen Bute (1940-1959).
Donations can be made through the
NYWIFT website. Annual deadline for
grant applications is November 30th. For
more information go to the WFPF link:
http: www.nywift.org/article.aspx?id=21.
What if Gone With the Wind was really gone? An important piece of film history and a
valuable asset would be lost forever. Unfortunately, too many companies fail to adequately
safeguard against possible disaster.
Iron Mountain’s film and sound archiving services can tailor a media archiving solution to
meet your specific needs. We offer secure, climate-controlled, above- and below-ground
vaults that meet or exceed industry standards. And with our leading inventory, tracking,
and transport system, you can access your media anytime via the Web.
Since 1951, prestigious film companies, audio/video producers, recording studios and
record labels have trusted Iron Mountain to preserve their priceless assets. Find out why.
Phone us today: (800) 899-IRON, or visit us at www.ironmountain.com
(800) 899-IRON www.ironmountain.com
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