NFPF News

NFPF Treasures To Save and Project

A pre-preservation film strip from Elijah Pierce: Woodcarver (1974). The newly preserved print that will screen has been color-corrected to restore its original vibrancy.

Attention New Yorkers! Twelve films preserved through NFPF grants will be playing at “To Save and Project,” the Museum of Modern Art’s annual festival of newly restored films from archives worldwide, held January 9-30.

Eight of the films mae up a program devoted to Chicago-based experimental filmmaker Heather McAdams, whose works, dating from 1980 to 1995, are primarily assembled from found footage and view the detritus of American culture through an antic feminist lens. The films were preserved by the Chicago Film Society through a 2021 NFPF Federal Grant and a 2022 Avant-Garde Masters Grant (awarded in conjunction with The Film Foundation, with funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation).

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8 More Movies Added to the Online Field Guide to Sponsored Films

Eight movies now join the Online Field Guide to Sponsored Films, the free screening room of entries from The Field Guide to Sponsored Films, written by Rick Prelinger and published by the NFPF in 2006.

Video conferencing and other joys of the future are predicted in Living Unlimited (1951).

Viewers can enjoy 185 sponsored films in the screening room. They were commissioned during the 20th century by a grab-bag of organizations: businesses promoting commercial products, charities highlighting good works, advocacy groups bringing attention to social causes, and state and local governments explaining their programs. All eight new additions are derived from HD scans created by the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center of the Library of Congress.

Two of these films have never before appeared online. Memo to Mars (1954), made by Wilding Picture Productions for the U.S. … Read more

The NFPF teams with Alamo Drafthouse on Silent Movie Day to screen Clash of the Wolves

Master-of-disguise Rin-Tin-Tin dons a false beard to avoid detection in Clash of the Wolves (1925), screening at four Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas on Sept. 29th.

To celebrate silent film history and raise funds for film preservation, the National Film Preservation Foundation and Silent Movie Day are joining forces to present a special screening of Clash of the Wolves (1925), a star vehicle for the legendary canine Rin-Tin-Tin. The film screens on Sunday, September 29th, at four Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas around the country. Proceeds from the screening will go to support the NFPF’s preservation efforts. You can donate to the NFPF directly by clicking here.

Inducted into the National Film Registry in 2004, Clash of the Wolves was the ninth feature to star the most successful animal in film history. At the height of his fame, Rin-Tin-Tin (1918–32) … Read more

Avant-Garde Masters Grants Preserve the Work of Four Filmmakers

Ariel (1983) by Nathaniel Dorsky

Early films by Nathaniel Dorsky, as well as works by Tatsu Aoki and Midwestern feminist filmmakers JoAnn Elam and Kathleen Laughlin will be preserved and made accessible through the 2024 Avant-Garde Masters Grants, awarded by The Film Foundation and the National Film Preservation Foundation with funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.

Four early works by renowned filmmaker Nathaniel Dorsky will be preserved by the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. Fool’s Spring: Two Personal Gifts (1966-67), a birthday gift exchange between Dorsky and longtime partner and filmmaker Jerome Hiler, will be made available to the public for the first time. Pneuma (1977-83) and Ariel (1983) are experiments with the material and chemical properties of film, yielding vibrant abstractions of energy and color. Drawing on … Read more

66 Films to be Saved by the 2024 NFPF Grants

The National Film Preservation Foundation is proud to announce the winners of its 2024 federally funded grants. 32 institutions—six of which are new to our grant programs—will use these awards to preserve 66 films. Though some have been previously digitized, our grants will ensure their full preservation on film, which under archival storage conditions remains a more reliable and stable medium than digital video.

Varnette's World (1979), directed by Carol Parrott Blue and featuring the art of Varnette Honeywood, will be preserved by the National Museum of African American History and Culture with NFPF support.

A prominent group of films focuses on the work of African American artists. Elijah Pierce: Woodcarver (1974) profiles the renowned self-taught folk artist, recipient of a 1982 National Heritage Fellowship, and will be preserved by Ohio State University. The … Read more