Rick Prelinger’s Lost Landscapes of San Francisco
posted November 28, 2010
The New York Times, via the San Francisco Bay Guardian, has this feature article today about renowned archivist Rick Prelinger’s annual showcase of films and other memorabilia of old San Francisco. The Library of Congress acquired most of Prelinger’s archive a celebrated collection of “ephemeral film” — industrial, educational, amateur and other film and video
AMIA Conference Coverage
posted November 6, 2010
Saturday, November 6, 2010– The Philadelphia Enquirer‘s movie critic, Carrie Rickey, provides an entertaining and inviting overview of the annual meeting of the Association of Moving Image Archivists – held this year in Philadelphia in collaboration with the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives, and now coming to a close. Rickey deftly captures some
Update: American Indian Film Gallery
posted November 4, 2010
The American Indian Film Gallery, a project of MacDonald & Associates (featured earlier in Moving Image Archive News), has to date placed online some 290 vintage films about Native American life from the Arctic to Cape Horn. The films can be viewed and downloaded free of charge. They present aspects of the life of 102
Librarians Ask for Fairer Fair-Use Ruling
posted September 30, 2010
Three librarians associations are among five organizations that have filed a friend-of-the-court brief to protest a ruling that they say could severely narrow the definition of “fair use” of copyrighted materials including moving images.
Iota Online Fundraising Auction
posted September 5, 2010
iotaCenter, a nonprofit organization that supports experimental film and video, is holding its annual fundraising auction. Organizers have collected donations of animation drawings, artwork, and photos from members and supporters. The event is for members, only, but anyone can visit the event’s online auction listing pages, and join during the auction. Among items offered are
Searching East Asian Archives
posted July 28, 2010
East Asian cities have become showcases for some of the most lavish architecture of modern times. They may prompt Western visitors to exclaim: “Is this Asia?” But how are the cities portrayed in cinema? For the book they recently edited, Cinema at the City’s Edge: Film and Urban Networks in East Asia (University of Washington
Keeping an Eye on Surveillance
posted July 23, 2010
Torin Monahan explores what happens when social anxiety reigns, and surveillance seems to offer a remedy, in his latest book, Surveillance in the Time of Insecurity (Rutgers University Press). There, the associate professor of human & organizational development and associate professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University examines the interplay of insecurity, surveillance, and inequality in
Can that Laughter
posted July 22, 2010
In its online “Daily” feed, The Paris Review has reprinted an interview with Ben Glenn II, a TV historian and expert in the history of canned laughter. It’s from Mike Sacks’ book, from last year, And Here's the Kicker: Conversations with 21 Top Humor Writers on their Craft (Writers Digest Press).
NZ Film Archive Unearths Early-Film Treasures
posted June 7, 2010
The New York Times reported on June 7 that 75 films of historical or cultural importance to the United States have been discovered in the New Zealand Film Archive (Ngā Kaitiaki O Ngā Taonga Whitiāhua), and will be repatriated to the US and placed under the care of the National Film Preservation Foundation, the nonprofit
German Film Archive Online
posted June 1, 2010
Deutsche Kinemathek, the German national film archive, has posted a searchable database of its films available for distribution. Users can search the database of about 3,700 films by title, director, and cast. That provides detailed information about cast and crew, film synopses, and print information, as well as still photographs. Highlights of the collection include