San Francisco Cinematheque Archives Assessment

Recipient: Polta, Steve (San Francisco, CA 94103 USA) in affiliation with San Francisco Cinematheque

Goal: Hiring two consultants to assess the preservation needs of a collection of 303 historical and contemporary avant-garde experimental films, videos, and audiotapes created since 1955; 1,908 cataloged files on the works and careers of individual artists; and 328 institutional files. The funding will also support the purchase of preservation supplies and equipment recommended in 2003 following an assessment of the paper-based collections.

Description: San Francisco Cinematheque's archives supports the organization's mission to broaden the cultural impact of artist-made film and video by preserving and providing public access to important materials documenting the field's history and culture. This grant will support the assessment of the physical conditions and preservation needs of two important collections within the archives: (1) Cinematheque's paper collection, which contains rare and unique manuscript material and ephemera documenting the careers of artists and the work of the field's exhibiting and support institutions. This assessment will be followed by the purchase of appropriate storage supplies, as recommended. (2) Cinematheque's collection of 303 analog audio recordings of presentations by artists, historians and scholars of the field at Cinematheque events from the mid-1970s through the mid-1990s. This assessment will be followed by the production of a preservation plan which will be used to secure preservation funding.

Grant: 199546 / PG-50802-10,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants,   Year Awarded: 2010

To Tell the Truth

Recipient: Pomeroy, Ali (New York, NY 10011 USA) in affiliation with Moving Image (New York, NY 10013 USA)

Goal: Production of a six-hour documentary series tracing the history of the nonfiction film, from the beginnings of cinema to the present.

Description: In six hour-long episodes, TO TELL THE TRUTH will trace the evolution of non???fiction film from the dawn of cinema to the current era. The series will show how documentaries have both shaped and reflected their times and our view of the past. In the process, we will disseminate scholarship from the field of visual studies; educate viewers about the choices behind, and consequences of, on-screen ???reality???; and help expand the audience for substantive documentaries past and present. Above all, TO TELL THE TRUTH will capture a unique cultural history of America.

Grant: 197099 / TR-50071-09,   Division: Public Programs,   Program: America's Media Makers Production,   Year Awarded: 2009

Icebound

Recipient: Anker, Daniel (New York, NY 10023 USA) in affiliation with New York Foundation for the Arts (Brooklyn, NY 11201 USA)

Goal: Production of a 90-minute documentary film about the attempt to save the icebound community of Nome, Alaska, from a diphtheria epidemic in 1925.

Description: ICEBOUND, a 90-minute documentary film, will recount the famous 1925 dog sled race in which twenty men and more than 150 dogs, relayed antitoxin across 674 miles of Alaskan wilderness, battling blizzards and temperatures as low as 70 degrees below zero, to save the icebound community of Nome, Alaksa from a dreaded diptheria epidemic. This "Race Against Death" is on of the most harrowing cliffhangers of the 20th Century. It enraptured an entire generation of Americans, but not just as an adventure story. It was a chance for Americans to reflect on how the nation had grown from a rugged and dangerous frontier to a modern and urban society, brought together by advances in transportation and mass communication.

Grant: 186449 / TI-50081-08,   Division: Public Programs,   Program: Media TV Production,   Year Awarded: 2008

Reeling Them In: Invigorating the Humanities Through Film At Two Texas Historically Black Colleges

Recipient: Palmer, James M (Prairie View, TX 77446-0156 USA) in affiliation with Prairie View A & M University (Prairie View, TX 77445 USA)

Goal: A collaboration between Prairie View A & M University and Texas Southern University to prepare faculty at both institutions to develop and teach courses on the history and the critical interpretation of film.

Description: Recognizing the social, aesthetic, and economic importance of cinema for the history of the twentieth century, Prairie View A&M and Texas Southern Universities seek an NEH grant to help develop and enhance courses that address history, literature, and culture through film. We will collaborate to create new film courses and establish resources for these courses. An NEH grant is sought because training and funding (as Andrew Garrison, director of the NCTE Commission on Media, has noted) rank as the two biggest hurdles to incorporating film and television successfully into the classroom. Creating a collaborative workshop, in consultation with experts in the field, would be one way to help improve the quality and teaching in the humanities, while a yearlong faculty forum on film is another.

Grant: 184613 / AB-50019-07,   Division: Education Programs,   Program: Humanities Initiatives for Faculty: HBCUs,   Year Awarded: 2007

Treasures from American Film Archives III: The Social-Issue Film, 1897-1930

Recipient: Melville, Annette (San Francisco, CA 94102 USA) in affiliation with National Film Preservation Foundation

Goal: The production of a three-set DVD of films about American social issues that were created as 40 silent films during the initial decades of the motion picture era; a book of program notes and scholarly commentaries will accompany the set.

Grant: 179591 / PA-52066-06,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation/Access Projects,   Year Awarded: 2006

AFI Catalog of Feature Films: 1971-1980

Recipient: Hanson, Patricia K (Los Angeles, CA 90027 USA) in affiliation with American Film Institute

Goal: The continuing preparation of a descriptive catalog of 1,000 feature-length motion pictures produced in the United States from 1971 to 1980.

Grant: 179521 / PA-51996-06,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation/Access Projects,   Year Awarded: 2006

Library Preservation Assessment and Training

Recipient: Faust, Teresa R (Burlington, VT 05401 USA) in affiliation with Burlington College (Burlington, VT 05401-8477 USA)

Goal: A consultant's assessment of the condition of the humanities collections of the Burlington College Library and recommendations for long-term care of print and audio-visual materials.

Grant: 179191 / PA-51753-06,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation/Access Projects,   Year Awarded: 2006

Exiles in Hollywood

Recipient: Thomas, Karen (Washington, DC 20009 USA) in affiliation with Film Odyssey, Inc. (Washington, DC 20037 USA)

Goal: Production of a two-hour documentary film about the contributions to American cinema of exiles from Nazi Germany.

Description: When Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, one of his earliest actions was to ban Jews from working in that country’s storied film industry. The men and women who had created German cinema’s “Golden Age” with films like "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" and "The Blue Angel" were forced to flee. They took their considerable skills to Hollywood, where they made monumental contributions to American cinema in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. These exiles, who include Fritz Lang, Peter Lorre, Billy Wilder, Franz Waxman, and Fred Zinnemann, made pictures that are among the best of the American canon: "Bride of Frankenstein," "Casablanca," "Double Indemnity," "Sunset Boulevard," "High Noon," "The Big Heat," "Some Like It Hot," to name a few.

Grant: 176096 / GN-50594-05,   Division: Public Programs,   Program: Media, Humanities Projects in,   Year Awarded: 2005

Preservation of the 28mm Motion Picture Collection, 1912-1923

Recipient: Loughney, Patrick (Rochester, NY 14607 USA) in affiliation with George Eastman House

Grant: 171630 / PT-50016-04,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Save America's Treasures,   Year Awarded: 2004

AFI Catalog of Feature Films [AFC]

Recipient: Hanson, Patricia K (Los Angeles, CA 90027 USA) in affiliation with American Film Institute

Goal: The preparation of a descriptive catalog of all feature-length motion pictures produced in the United States from 1971 to 1980.

Grant: 168024 / PA-50651-04,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation/Access Projects,   Year Awarded: 2004

AFI Catalog of Feature Films,1971-80 [AFC]

Recipient: Hanson, Patricia K (Los Angeles, CA 90027 USA) in affiliation with American Film Institute

Goal: The creation of a descriptive catalog of all feature-length motion pictures produced in the United States from 1971 to 1980.

Grant: 158304 / PA-24029-02,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation/Access Projects,   Year Awarded: 2002

Creating an Online Film Literature Index

Recipient: Brancolini, Kristine (Redondo Beach, CA 90278 USA) in affiliation with Indiana University, Bloomington (Bloomington, IN 47405 USA)

Goal: The conversion to electronic form of 564,000 paper-based entries in the annual FILM LITERATURE INDEX (1976-2000), which will be made available on the Internet.

Grant: 158327 / PA-24083-02,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation/Access Projects,   Year Awarded: 2002

Creating an Electronic Series of American Silent-Era Films

Recipient: Melville, Annette (San Francisco, CA 94102 USA) in affiliation with National Film Preservation Foundation

Goal: The production and distribution of a set of Digital Video Discs (DVDs) containing American silent films created from 1922 to 1929.

Grant: 158334 / PA-24109-02,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation/Access Projects,   Year Awarded: 2002

To Tell The Truth

Recipient: Pomeroy, Alexandra (New York, NY 10011 USA) in affiliation with New York Foundation for the Arts (Brooklyn, NY 11201 USA)

Goal: Scripting of a six-hour documentary series on the history of non-fiction film.

Grant: 116927 / GN-30137-02,   Division: Public Programs,   Program: Media, Humanities Projects in,   Year Awarded: 2002

AFI Catalog of Feature Films,1971-80 [AFC]

Recipient: Hanson, Patricia K (Los Angeles, CA 90027 USA) in affiliation with American Film Institute

Goal: The creation of a descriptive catalog of all feature-length motion pictures produced in the United States from 1971 to 1980.

Grant: 158149 / PA-23673-01,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation/Access Projects,   Year Awarded: 2001

Graduate Program in Moving Image Archive Studies

Recipient: Ricci, Steven J (Los Angeles, CA 90024-1323 USA) in affiliation with University of California, Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA 90024 USA)

Goal: The creation and administration of a two-year degree-granting graduate program in Moving Image Archive Studies.

Grant: 158177 / PA-23781-01,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation/Access Projects,   Year Awarded: 2001

Catching the Shadow: Women and 19th-Century Photography

Recipient: Houck, Jeanne (Charlotte, VT 05445 USA) in affiliation with Clio History

Goal: Planning of a one-hour documentary film on the early years of photography in the United States (1886-1900), focusing on the experiences of women photographers.

Grant: 157072 / GN-26227-01,   Division: Public Programs,   Program: Media, Humanities Projects in,   Year Awarded: 2001

Robert Flaherty: Father of the Documentary

Recipient: Frost, Frank P (McLean, VA 22101 USA) in affiliation with Hummel Schimmer Memorial Foundation, Inc. (Clifton, VA 20124 USA)

Goal: Consultation with scholars for a documentary film about the life, work, and influence of Robert Flaherty, widely considered the father of documentary film.

Grant: 157047 / GN-26137-01,   Division: Public Programs,   Program: Media, Humanities Projects in,   Year Awarded: 2001

To Tell the Truth

Recipient: Pomeroy, Alexandra (New York, NY 10011 USA) in affiliation with New York Foundation for the Arts (Brooklyn, NY 11201 USA)

Goal: Consultation for a television series on the history of non-fiction film and its role in shaping popular understanding of history, culture, and reality.

Grant: 157049 / GN-26139-01,   Division: Public Programs,   Program: Media, Humanities Projects in,   Year Awarded: 2001

AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1951-1960 and 1971-1980 [AFC]

Recipient: Hanson, Patricia K (Los Angeles, CA 90027 USA) in affiliation with American Film Institute

Goal: The completion of a descriptive catalog of all feature-length motion pictures produced in the United States from 1951 to 1960.

Grant: 158042 / PA-23412-00,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation/Access Projects,   Year Awarded: 2000