The Film Foundation is a US-based non-profit organization dedicated to film preservation and the exhibition of restored and classic cinema. It was founded by director Martin Scorsese and several other leading filmmakers in 1990. The foundation raises funds and awareness for film preservation projects and creates educational programs about film. The foundation and its partners have restored more than 900 films.
Background
As of 1997, more than half of all films made before 1950 had been lost, and a mere 10% of those produced in the US prior to 1929 survived. Even films made in Eastmancolor after 1950 were already deteriorating.King, Susan. "Save That Movie!", Los Angeles Times, October 2, 1997, accessed December 25, 2021 Because of the risk of deterioration and color fading as films age, Martin Scorsese "began his film preservation crusade in 1980",Kenny, Glenn. "'With Love and Resolution': An Appreciation", Humanities, The Magazine of the National Endowment for the Humanities, Vol. 34, No. 2, March/April 2013 educating both the industry and the public about the problem.Slide, pp. 107–08
In 1990, Scorsese created The Film Foundation together with Woody Allen, Robert Altman, Francis Ford Coppola, Clint Eastwood, Stanley Kubrick, George Lucas, Sydney Pollack, Robert Redford and Steven Spielberg, who all sat on the foundation's original board of directors.McNary, Dave. "Doc org fetes Scorsese", Variety, October 19, 2000, accessed October 20, 2014; and Cruickshank, Douglas. "Martin Scorsese: Teaching Visual Literacy", edutopia.org, October 19, 2006, accessed November 3, 2014The Criterion Collection. "30 Years of The Film Foundation: Martin Scorsese and Ari Aster Conversation Clip", YouTube, November 15, 2020 In 2006, Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, Curtis Hanson, Peter Jackson, Ang Lee and Alexander Payne joined them.Pond, Steve. "Save the Day" , DGA Quarterly, Directors Guild of America, Spring 2007, accessed November 12, 2014 In 2015, Christopher Nolan also joined the board.Mike Fleming, Mike Jr. "Christopher Nolan Joins Film Foundation Board", Deadline, April 22, 2015, accessed May 31, 2018
Description The foundation has been called "the leading organization devoted to fundraising, increasing awareness of preservation, and issuing grants to safeguard this country's cinematic heritage." It aids in preserving movie history by providing support for preservation projects at film archives. Since its inception, the foundation has helped save more than 600 movies.Bacardi, Francesca. "Variety to Honor Martin Scorsese at Unite4:Humanity Event", Variety, February 20, 2014 The foundation seeks to promote the exhibition (as well as preservation) of classic cinema.Cohn, Lawrence. "Scorsese leads tribute to filmmaker Antonioni", Variety, October 20, 1992, accessed October 29, 2014 Since 2002, the foundation has been affiliated with the Directors Guild of America, working out of the Guild's offices in New York and Los Angeles and sharing two officers who also sit on the foundation's board.
The foundation also creates educational programs such as "The Story of Movies", a free interdisciplinary curriculum that the foundation has distributed to millions of students and tens of thousands of classrooms. It teaches about the cultural significance of film and the importance of preservation.Wloszczyna, Susan. "Learning life's lessons from film", USA Today, September 30, 2010, accessed October 20, 2014Childs, B. "The Story of Movies", Teach.com, May 4, 2012, accessed October 20, 2014 The curriculum "is intended to teach kids to think critically about what they see in film, and to consider the filmmaking process and decisions made along the way. It also helps students place films in a historical context, using them as a springboard for conversations about social issues."Standen, Amy. "The Story of Movies: Understanding Films and Filmmaking" , edutopia.org, October 19, 2006, accessed October 29, 2014
The Academy Film Archive houses The Film Foundation Collection. The collection consists primarily of newly struck prints on nearly 100 titles."The Film Foundation Collection", Academy Film Archive, accessed July 6, 2016 The Film Foundation, UNESCO, and the Fédération Panafricaine des Cinéastes (FEPACI) jointly run The African Film Heritage Project, which preserves culturally significant movies made in Africa and allows Africans to see those movies, as many of them received only limited distribution on their home continent."Ottawa film scholar teams up with Martin Scorsese to restore lost African classics", CBC News, July 25, 2017 The project was formally begun in June 2017.
By 2021, the foundation and its partners had restored more than 900 films.Pedersen, Lise. "Working with Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation Analyzed at France’s Lumière Festival", Variety, October 15, 2021 The Film Foundation Restoration Screening Room launched May 9, 2022, with the presentation of the 1945 film I Know Where I'm Going! Screenings will run on the second Monday of each month and feature introductions and post-screening conversations about the importance of the films.
References
Sources Slide, Anthony (1992; 2000). Nitrate Won’t Wait: A History of Film Preservation in the United States, McFarland and Company
Further reading Frick, Caroline (2011). Saving Cinema: The Politics of Preservation, Oxford University Press (2011)
See also World Cinema Project A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies Cinephilia
External links
film-foundation.org, the foundation's official website. the story of movies official website