1999 AFI/NEA Challenge Grant Awards
The American Film Institute is pleased to announce the following awards to American film archives for film preservation. The awards were made by a five-person panel from funds in the 1999 AFI/NEA Challenge Grant raised by AFI. Grants have been approved by the NEA and recipients notified. Major contributors to grant include Blockbuster, The Film Foundation and the NEA.
1. Anthology Film Archives Awarded $10,900 for preservation of FRAGMENTS OF FAITH FORGOTTEN, a film made by Harry Smith in the mid-1950s.
2. Film-Makers' Cooperative/New American Cinema Group Awarded $11,393 for preservation of: SINS OF THE FLESHAPOIDS (1965) by Mike Kuchar, THIRD EYE BUTTERFLY (1968) by Storm De Hirsch intended for dual screen projection and ANGEL BLUE SWEET WINGS (1966), the first film by Chick Strand.
3. George Eastman House Awarded $113,000 to preserve: BROADWAY LOVE (1918) stars Lon Chaney in a story about millionaires and chorus girls. WHEN BEARCAT WENT DRY (1919), a Lon Chaney film acquired from Netherlands Film Archive. THE DEVIL'S CLAIM (1920), stars Sessue Hayakawa. THE TRESPASSER (1929), first sound film of Gloria Swanson.
4. Louis Wolfson II Media History Center Awarded $17,650 for preservation of unique films dating from 1920s to1950s which document Florida culture. Eleven are home movies (16mm and 8mm) containing rare images of life in this region including home movie footage of the African American community in Miami in the 1950s and film of Jewish family at a bar mitzvah in 1939.
5. New York Public Library/Dance Collection Awarded $18.580 to preserve unique dance performance footage from films made by Carol Lynn at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in the mid-1940s through the 1950s. The 21 items for preservation include early work of choreographers and dancers.
6. New York Public Library/Donnell Media Center Awarded $1,040 to preserve PROTEST: COLUMBIA 1968 documenting the historic campus protest at Columbia University. Donnell Media Center holds only copy.
7. Oregon Historical Society Awarded $17,580 to preserve: CRUISING IN BRITISH COLUMBIA (1927) by William and Irene Finley; COLUMBIA, THE GEM OF THE HIGHWAYS (1919) about newly opened Columbia River Highway; IRISH MELODY(1935) by Robert C. Bruce; and seven reels of Oregon-produced newsreel footage dating from 1914 to 1930s.
8. Pacific Film Archive Awarded $16,890 to preserve independent films by Peter Gessner: TIME OF THE LOCUST (1966) is an anti-war film compiled from news footage while LAST SUMMER WON'T HAPPEN (1968) is about anti-war activists.
9. UCLA Film and Television Archive Awarded $107,000 for preservation of: MOLLY O' (1921) produced by Mack Sennett and starring Mabel Normand. BIG DAN (1923) in which Buck Jones plays a World War I veteran. LIGHTS OF OLD BROADWAY (1925) and JANICE MEREDITH (1924) starring Marion Davies from the collection of William Randolph Hearst. THE POWER AND THE GLORY (1933) with screenplay by Preston Sturges.
10. University of South Carolina Awarded $15,967 to preserve endangered newsreel footage that exists only as nitrate-base camera negative in a collection of 35mm Fox newsreel outtakes. Grant will be utilized to preserve 32 reels depicting Balkan region from 1924 to 1930.
11. University of Washington/Ethnomusicology Archives Awarded $10,000 to preserve 16mm material from collection of 232 reels of film made by Dr. Robert Garfias between 1966 and 1979 depicting vocal and instrumental music from sacred, ritual, and secular traditions worldwide and in the USA.
12. American Film Institute Awards above total $340,000 of $390,000 available for preservation projects during third cycle of Challenge Grant program. Remaining $50,000 will be used by AFI to preserve titles recently acquired for AFI Collection. PRANKS OF BUSTER BROWN AND HIS DOG TIGE (1904), Edison short from the Buster Brown series. THE COWBOY AND THE ARTIST (1911), American Film comedy by Allan Dwan. THE WATER RATS (1912), one reeler by Sigmund Lubin . LES MISERABLES (1918),Victor Hugo classic produced by Fox Film.THE GIRL IN THE PULLMAN (1927), melodrama with Marie Prevost and Harrison Ford. THE LAW AND THE MAN (1928), only surviving print of Trem Carr feature. RHAPSODY OF THE RAILS (1929), documentary from Magic Carpet of Movietone series. LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD (1935), amateur film by actor Lew Ayres featuring Ginger Rogers, Ayres second wife, donated to AFI by actor's widow. THE THREE STOOGES (1950-1951), only existing telecine print of pilot for a never-screened TV series donated to AFI by the Three Stooges Society.
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The 1999 AFI/NEA Challenge Grant Awards Panel met in Los Angeles on May 27, 1999. They were: LISA R. CARTER, Audio-Visual Archivist, Special Collections and Archives, University of Kentucky Libraries; ANDREA LaVERE, Head - Archive and Asset Management Department, DreamWorks, SKG; former AMIA President (1996-1997). PATRICK LOUGHNEY, Head - Moving Image Section, Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division, Library of Congress; LINDA TADIC, Director, Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection, University of Georgia Libraries; AMIA President. RICHARD UTLEY, FPC/Kodak PRO-TEK, Film Preservation Vault Specialist.
Zoran Sinobad and Ken Wlaschin represented the AFI and National Center for Film and Video Preservation.
This was the third and final round of the $$1,100,000 AFI Challenge Grant series.
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