Articles about All Categories, tagged grant film
Orphan Film Spotlight: Adaptive Behavior of Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrels
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| Working for peanuts in Adaptive Behavior of Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrels (1942). |
Preserved by the University of Oregon, Adaptive Behavior of Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrels (1942) depicts members of the titular species (not to be confused with chipmunks) roaming around Crater Lake, Oregon, before moving indoors to show captive squirrels learning how to solve a series of increasingly challenging tasks. Tantalized by out-of-reach peanuts, the determined critters literally pull strings for food.
The man behind the squirrels was University of Oregon psychology professor and educational filmmaker Lester F. Beck (1909-77), whose love of animals stemmed from growing up on an Oregon ranch; he would later build a house that allowed wild rodents to crawl into a maze suspended from the living room ceiling. Beck called film “one of the greatest aids to learning since … Read more
When Buster Keaton Met Samuel Beckett: FILM and NOTFILM
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| Buster Keaton caught by the camera in FILM (1965). |
Sometimes preservation can give a film a second life, or even inspire a movie about it. A case in point is FILM (1965), an avant-garde short that united two great 20th-century artists: Samuel Beckett and Buster Keaton.
Producer Barney Rosset, founder of Grove Press and Beckett’s publisher, envisioned producing a trilogy of short films written by his most famous clients, but only Beckett’s script made it to the big screen. It remains the only movie written by the Nobel Prize–winning author/playwright, who closely supervised the Brooklyn-set production during his only trip to America. Director Alan Schneider was a longtime Beckett collaborator who had staged the first American production of Waiting for Godot, while the cinematographer was Oscar-winner Boris Kaufman (On the Waterfront).
The star, in one of his last major roles, was … Read more
NFPF Preserved Film Screenings
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| The title card of Lyman H. Howe’s Famous Ride on a Runaway Train (1921). |
The NFPF blog awakens from its winter hibernation to bring you news of two NFPF-related screenings. This Wednesday, February 24, Executive Director Jeff Lambert will present “NFPF Preservation Highlights,” consisting of films saved through our grant programs (or appearing on our Treasures DVDs) at the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley, California. Jeff will provide an overview of the NFPF’s activities and will introduce eight movies representing the wide range of our projects, with highlights such as Notes on the Port of St. Francis (1951), Frank Stauffacher’s poetic portrait of San Francisco, narrated by Vincent Price, and Lyman H. Howe’s Famous Ride on a Runaway Train (1921), a thrill-packed novelty short filmed from the train that inspired America’s first roller coasters. The film, … Read more
New in the Screening Room—A Regular Bouquet: Mississippi Summer (1964)
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| Students at a Freedom School in Mississippi in 1964, photographed by Richard Beymer. Courtesy Washington University Film & Media Archive. |
Actor Richard Beymer took a Bolex camera to Misissippi in the Freedom Summer of 1964. He documented the African American community alongside his fellow activists and volunteers working to register black voters and provide educational instruction to children. The film has been preserved by the Washington University Film & Media Archive with a grant from the NFPF. The New York Times profiled the film on the occasion of its 50th anniversary here.
Beymer’s film is an astonishing document of a turbulent moment in American history. He captures the joy of community life while at the same time providing a clear-eyed view of the struggle for equality. Nadia Ghasedi, who leads the Visual Media Research Lab at Washington … Read more
Orphan Film Spotlight—Roach’s Lullaby (1973) and Welcome to Spivey’s Corner (1978)
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| Coharie elder Leonard Emanuel demonstrates hollerin' techniques in Welcome to Spivey's Corner (1978). |
Thanks to everyone who attended last week’s Exploratorium screening of films preserved through NFPF funding. Those who couldn’t make it will be glad to know two of the screening’s biggest hits can be watched online.
Roach’s Lullaby (1973), preserved by the New York Public Library, was praised by the New York Times as a witty and “bold excursion into one of the city’s great conflicts—the war against the roach.” The documentary profiles three New Yorkers who demonstrate eccentric methods of pest removal. Directed by Claudia Weill and Eli Noyes, Roach’s Lullaby is a prime example of on-the-go, hand-held 16mm documentary-making. And yes, it has a song about roaches.