In this May 17 post, Bradley E. Reeves (Appalachian Media Archives) shared his new 23-minute video compilation, made to stand-in for the live presentation he would have given at the Orphans / Eye International Conference in Amsterdam. The Tennessee Valley Authority: Built for and Owned by The People (2020) will remain up for future viewings and research. Finding he didn’t have time enough to include a recent archival cache in the first mix, Reeves cut another stand-alone video. For post-symposium posting. It began with a connection to the symposium’s water theme, but morphed into a biography of someone who left behind media
Month: June 2020
More Ways of Water via IULMIA
The Ways of Water (Encyclopaedia Britannica Educational Corp., 1971) 16mm, color, sound, 13 min. Cinematographer: Les Blank Provided with permission from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. (c)1971 by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Thanks to Rachael Stoeltje, Director of Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive, the symposium was able to screen a high-quality digital copy of this exceptional work, made from a 16mm print from IU’s large collection of distribution prints of educational films. Film Digitization Specialist Carmel Curtis did the scanning. Further, due to Stoeltje’s work with Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., the rights holder granted permission to keep The Ways of Water streaming as part of
Archives Day and Liberty
It’s International Archives Day. June 9, 1948: The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization convened a meeting of archivists who created the International Council on Archives. In 2007, ICA declared the 9th of June as International Archives Day, an occasion to raise awareness of the importance of these memory institutions. Although sometimes perceived as dead-letter offices or institutions where the Ark of the Covenant gets forgotten, archives are, advocates contend, essential for a healthy society. An ICA declaration of 2010 ends with this: “Open access to archives enriches our knowledge of human society, promotes democracy, protects citizens’ rights and
Polish Settlements in Brazilian Wilderness (1933)
“Hello, Orphanistas,” Grazia Ingravalle (Brunel U London) greets us as this video made for Orphans Online 2020 begins. It reminded me of her generous report on the 2019 NYU Orphan Film Symposium at the Austrian Film Museum in Vienna, which she entitled “An Orphans International.” There too she invoked the forced bilingual portmaneau that has hung around the event since 2001. I never intended orphanista to last beyond the symposium that featured films of the Mexican Revolution, but after Emily Cohen published “The Orphanista Manifesto” in American Anthropologist (Dec. 2004) it took on a life and a capitalization of its own. Indeed the
[Read on. . . . ] Polish Settlements in Brazilian Wilderness (1933)
Bill Morrison’s Sunken Films
Created especially for the final session of Orphans Online, Bill Morrison‘s compilation Sunken Films (June 2020) appears here for the first time, updated after the May 29 panel “Never Lost But Found in the Ocean: On Biographies of Film Copies.” Film historian Maria Vinogradova conceived of the topic in collaboration with Morrison, whose newest work is inspired by an unlikely recovery of celluloid from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. A recording of the original session will be posted here soon. Here’s the description of the May 29 session: Occasionally lost films are found. There are also found films never known
The Case of the Fishermen (1947)
Presenter Charles Musser shares his slide talk that preceded the Orphans Online screening of The Case of the Fishermen on May 26, 2020. The film is embedded below and can be viewed directly at vimeo.com/413840816. Digital access to this newly preserved film comes from the National Museum of African American History and Culture and its Pearl Bowser Collection. Thanks to NMAAHC archivist Blake McDowell. Charles Musser Rediscovering Another Lost Union Films Production: The Case of the Fishermen (1947) What might be called the Carl Marzani-Paul Robeson-Union Films Project has been underway for more than 20 years. It began when I stumbled across a
Paper Recycling in Schools, a Super 8 film from Brescia, Italy
Another thing we missed by not being able to assemble in Amsterdam for the Eye International Conference / Orphan Film Symposium in May 2020 was a presentation about film restoration by Alice Plutino and Alessandro Rizzi (University of Milan). It was also a good match for the symposium because the rare Super 8 film they restored is also about early environmental education. Below is the abstract and description submitted for the Orphan Film Symposium — which the program committee unanimously agreed should be part of the symposium. Their video demonstrating the color restoration is also below, and at vimeo.com/415570346. The
[Read on. . . . ] Paper Recycling in Schools, a Super 8 film from Brescia, Italy
More from CCTV: 1980 Puppet Show
In Chinese with English subtitles. Title: Puppet Show 1980 – Asian CineVision CCTV broadcast, 26:19 An additional part of Klavier Wong’s presentation on the history and preservation of Chinatown Cable Television of New York, she offers this broadcast of a puppet show. This video presents glove puppet shows performed by Quanzhou puppet troupe from Fujian Province, China. The troupe visited New York City in September 1980. They held performances at American Museum of Natural History and at Yung Wing School in Chinatown. Footages are originated from the audiovisual archive of CCTV which is part of “Asian CineVision records” (TAM 416)
Letter from Olomouc, CZ: “truly the best festival”
As response to “Orphans Online” comes in, we must thank Tereza for this encouraging note. Used with permission. From: Tereza Bernátková <t…email> Date: Sat, May 30, 2020 at 12:08 PM Subject: Orphans 2020 To: <orphanfilm@nyu.edu> Dear Orphan Film Symposium organizers, Thank you. Orphans 2020 was truly the best festival I’ve ever been to. Not only were all sessions so inspirational, the organization was so smooth, it also felt so friendly and close as the ideas about avant-garde cinema, archive films, and equality and justice were widely shared. I’m so grateful I could attend the festival for my first time. Bill
[Read on. . . . ] Letter from Olomouc, CZ: “truly the best festival”
The Ways of Water (1971) a distinctive EB film shot by Les Blank
The Ways of Water (Encyclopaedia Britannica Educational Corp., 1971) 16mm, color, sound, 13 min. Cinematographer: Les Blank Provided with permission from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. (c)1971 by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Thanks to Rachael Stoeltje, Director of Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive, the symposium was able to screen a high-quality digital copy of this exceptional work, made from a 16mm print from IU’s large collection of distribution prints of educational films. Film Digitization Specialist Carmel Curtis did the scanning. Further, due to Stoeltje’s work with Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., the rights holder granted permission to keep The Ways of Water streaming as part of
[Read on. . . . ] The Ways of Water (1971) a distinctive EB film shot by Les Blank
Helen Hill at the Harvard Film Archive
Helen Hill at the Harvard Film Archive by Amy Sloper The Harvard Film Archive has been the home for Helen Hill’s work since 2007. The story of the material’s arrival to the archive, and the spirit of collaboration and innovation that characterized this process has been well documented, as has her introduction to the archival community through Orphans. The preservation history of Hill’s ten most well-known titles and her home movie reels has also been documented, though we at the HFA hope to gather this information in one place in the coming months to facilitate easier research access to this