IndieCollect is a film preservation organization founded by Sandra Schulberg in 2010. Its goal is to preserve U.S. independent films.
Background
editSchulberg worked for five years to restore the 1948 film Nuremberg: Its Lesson for Today and realized the need to preserve independent films.[1] When the studio DuArt Film and Video shut down its film photochemical processing division, it had 60,000 cans of film left behind in its vaults.[2] IndieCollect requested permission from DuArt to access its vaults. IndieCollect engaged in outreach and enlisted institutions including the UCLA Film and Television Archive,[1] Museum of Modern Art, George Eastman House, Anthology Film Archives, Library of Congress, and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to rescue film negatives from the vaults.[2] Film titles were identified and either added to archives or returned to filmmakers.[1] While negatives could be returned to filmmakers, they could not be projected, requiring making a print from the negative to do so.[3] For Solomon Northup's Odyssey, IndieCollect used crowdfunding to develop a print of the film created.[3]
Films restored by IndieCollect
edit- Jazz on a Summer's Day (1959)
- The Atomic Cafe (1982)
- In the Soup (1992)
- Early films by Christine Vachon
- Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (1988)
- Home movies of Frank Lloyd Wright
- The War at Home (1979)
- F.T.A. (1972)
- Horace B. Jenkins's Cane River (1982)
- James Ivory's 1957 student film Venice: Themes and Variations
- Gordon Parks's Solomon Northup's Odyssey (1984)
Status
editIndieCollect is working to assess 2,000 videotapes from Downtown Community Television Center (DCTV) that were stored in poor conditions.[1] The organization received a $200,000 challenge grant from the Ford Foundation in August 2014 to archive 6,000 films in three years. With the grant, IndieCollect intends to create an index, an encyclopedia, and engage in identification-and-collection outreach.[9]
References
edit- ^ a b c d Guerrasio, Jason (July 17, 2014). "Safekeeping: Tips On How To Archive Your Films". tribecafilminstitute.org. Tribeca Film Institute. Retrieved December 17, 2014.
- ^ a b c Anderson, John (August 20, 2014). "The Movie Crypt at the Top of the Stairs". The New York Times. Retrieved December 17, 2014.
- ^ a b Boyce, Simone (October 20, 2014). "Abandoned independent films". Fox 5. 2014 Fox Television Stations, Inc. and Worldnow. Retrieved December 17, 2014.
- ^ Film Restoration Initiative
- ^ Jane Fonda and Three IndieCollect Restorations to Appear This Weekend at the 2020 HFPA Restoration Summit|Chaz's Journal|Roger Ebert
- ^ JAZZ ON A SUMMER'S DAY - kinorep.com
- ^ The Campaign to Revive Early Films from Christine Vachon and Todd Haynes|Filmmaker Magazine
- ^ Early Films From Todd Haynes & Christine Vachon Set to Premiere|IndieWire
- ^ Salovaara, Sarah (August 14, 2014). "IndieCollect, a Film Preservation Initiative, Receives $200,000 Challenge Grant from Ford Foundation". Filmmaker. Retrieved December 17, 2014.