Three of the program committee members for the 2020 Orphan Film Symposium preview Orphans Online, explaining why the three themes were selected and how orphan films in particular address them. The live streams of May 26-29 begin at 10am, 2pm, and 6pm (EDT) each day. Still other videos continue to be placed on this blog daily.
Anna McCarthy, chair of Cinema Studies at NYU, leads a conversation with Giovanna Fossati (Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam), Jennifer Peterson (Woodbury University, Los Angeles), and Dan Streible (New York University, NYC).
Audio only:
Always curating, Giovanna made for the occasion a playlist on the water theme. 9 very short movies, 1899 to 2020. “Because Amsterdam.”
Amsterdam / The Netherlands and Water
A pair of films restored from the wondrous 68mm format that the American Mutoscope Co. and its European partners shot from 1896 to 1903. These by Nederlandsche Biograaf- en Mutoscope Maatschappij, cinematographer Emile Lauste.
Prinsengracht (1899) Phantom ride on the Amsterdam canals
Een kinderfeest op ‘t eiland Marken [Children’s Party on the Island of Marken] (1899)
De Filmschatten van Eye [The Film Treasures of Eye] (2020) Less than a month ago Annabel Essink used other of these 68mm images, projected on the walls and interiors of an empty Eye building. Made for National Museum Week in late April 2020. We were anticipating the debut of a new group of 68mm film restorations done in 8k to open Orphans 2020. Alas, we know what happened.
University of Amsterdam students in Giovanna’s course “This Is Film: Film Heritage in Practice” selected rights-free archival footage to make one-minute montages on Orphans 2020 themes — which were looking forward to screening at the symposium. Here is one.
Go with the Flow (Zena Berendse, Didi Liang, Darius Krolikowski) — A panoramic final shot from the water reveals a rainbow on the waterfront where today Eye is located.
The Netherlands – water, enemy and ally
Watersnood in Noord Holland (Kinematograaf Pathé Frères, 1916) “This film about the flooding around the Zuiderzee was probably used at the time to collect money for the victims. In shots taken from a moving boat, we see flooded farms, fields, and roads. The residents sail in small boats. The reportage ends with an appeal to the audience to help the victims of the disaster.” More here.
Overstroming te Eemnes [Flood at Eemnes] (1921)
https://youtu.be/BhDYnPqNnRI
Comedy
Watersnood in buurt YY [original name of the Amsterdam’s neighborhood De Pijp] (Emile Lauste, 1899)
Poetic images
Molens van de Zaanstreek [Windmills of the Zaan region] (1898) One more 68mm phantom ride.
Motus Aquae (Mega Phipps and Liam Devine, 2020)
This is Film! Film Heritage in Practice YouTube channel
Bedankt / grazie, Giovanna.
We hope soon to meet you all in person at Eye on the river IJ.
Because Amsterdam.