NFPF News

Avant-Garde Masters Grants Set to Preserve Five Films

Caligari's Cure (1982) by Tom Palazzolo

A semi-autobiographical feature by Tom Palazzolo, two queer cinema classics by Michael Wallin, a subjective investigation of persona by Natalka Voslakov, and an abstract portrait of life by Ricardo Bloch and Sally Dixon will be preserved and made available through the 2023 Avant-Garde Masters Grants, awarded by The Film Foundation and the National Film Preservation Foundation. Funding is provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.

Chicago-based artist Tom Palazzolo's absurdist feature film, Caligari's Cure (1982), is both an irreverent retelling of Palazzolo's childhood and a loose adaptation of Robert Weine's 1919 classic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. The Village Voice film critic J. Hoberman wrote, "The brazen, comic-book mise-en-scène resembles that of Red … Read more

Reminder: Catch THE UNKNOWN on the big screen, September 30th!

Mark your calendar: on Saturday, September 30th, the National Film Preservation Foundation and Silent Movie Day will join forces to present a special screening of Tod Browning’s macabre masterpiece The Unknown. Featuring Lon Chaney and Joan Crawford, the film screens the day after Silent Movie Day at nine Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas throughout the USA. Proceeds will support the NFPF’s preservation efforts.

Lon Chaney in The Unknown (1927), screening at nine Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas on Sept. 30th.

The September 30th screenings take place at the following Alamo Drafthouse locations; tickets are available through the links:

Alamo South Lamar (Austin)
Alamo Wrigleyville (Chicago)
Alamo Sloans Lake (Denver)
Alamo DTLA
Alamo 28 Liberty (Manhattan)
Alamo Yonkers
Alamo Raleigh
Alamo Stone Oak (San Antonio)
Alamo New Mission (San Francisco) … Read more

“Preserving the Avant-Garde” in San Francisco

This Monday the 4 Star Theater in San Francisco will screen a program of experimental films to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Avant Garde Masters grant program, a fruitful partnership between the NFPF and The Film Foundation.

Remembrance (1969), screening in the program "The Film Foundation: Preserving the Avant-Garde."

Screening as part of the series “Scorsese: More than a Gangster,” the program is titled “The Film Foundation: Preserving the Avant-Garde.” Started in 1990 by Martin Scorsese, The Film Foundation has furthered the cause of film preservation by ensuring the survival of nearly 1,000 works of world cinema. Among these are 214 works (by 83 artists) preserved through Avant Garde Masters grant program, which is supported by the Film Foundation, administered by the NFPF, and receives funding from the Hobson/Lucas Family … Read more

NFPF-Preserved Films at the Century of 16mm Conference

Multiple SIDosis (1970), one of eight films screening in the Century of 16mm program “16mm Orphan Films Preserved through the National Film Preservation.”

In 1923 Eastman Kodak introduced 16mm nonflammable film and radically changed the history of filmmaking, which became affordable and feasible to millions. The new format facilitated the rise of home movies and amateur moviemaking. Filmmaking was no longer the preserve of well-heeled industries—16mm democratized it.

To celebrate this momentous anniversary, the Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive has organized “A Century of 16mm,” which includes an academic conference, commissioned films, exhibitions of 16mm technologies, and screenings.

Among the conference programs, scheduled for Thursday, September 14th, is “16mm Orphan Films Preserved through the National Film … Read more

The NFPF teams with Silent Movie Day to screen THE UNKNOWN

Lon Chaney gives his most disarming performance in The Unknown (1927), screening at nine Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas on Sept. 30th.

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 Tod Browning’s macabre masterpiece, The Unknown. Featuring Lon Chaney and Joan Crawford, the film will screen on Saturday, September 30th—the day after Silent Movie Day—at nine Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas throughout the USA. Proceeds from the screening will go to support the NFPF’s preservation efforts. You can donate to the NFPF directly by clicking here.

Directed by horror legend Tod Browning and released in 1927, The Unknown is a highwater mark of Browning’s silent-era work and one of ten films he made with Lon Chaney. Set in … Read more