after April fooling

Photo by Rick Prelinger:
March 29, 2008, Howard Besser (in T-shirt) chairs the Orphan Works session. At left, Peter Decherney.

As per Orphans tradition, I sent out an April 1 e-mail to all symposiasts/ orphanistas. Said April Fool's Day message purported to be an Associate Press news item about the Library of Congress advocating copyright reform -- in part because of the influence of the 6th Orphan Film Symposium.

Apologies to anyone who glanced at the AP mock-up and presumed this was a real and true news story.

For the record, here's what it said [with corrections added]:

Apr 1 [ ;>) ], 7:54 PM EDT

Library of Congress Advocates for "Orphan Works"

WASHINGTON, DC (AP [not really; just an AP mocku-up]) -- Librarian of Congress James H. Billington issued his annual report on the state of American libraries and archives [the Librarian does issue such an annual report], surprising some observers by adding unexpected caveats to the otherwise pro forma statement. In particular, the Librarian noted the need for a dramatic turn in copyright law [He has not.].

"Without a new emphasis on protecting so-called 'orphan works,'" Billington wrote, "archives across the United States be increasingly paralyzed in their most basic conservation and preservation services." The need to protect the estimated 10 million [a made-up figure] books, films, and audio recordings in copyright limbo will soon outrank the need to preserve classic Hollywood movies and best-selling novels.

Intellectual property law professor Haden Wright-Fuller [no such person ] of Duke University responded with surprise to the Librarian's new direction. Writing on his blog [no link here; no blog[ Tuesday, Wright-Fuller cited the influence of recent Supreme Court decisions on Billington's policy recommendations. "Without question, the
majority opinions in Eldred v. Ashcroft [the 7-2 majority rejected Eldred et al's argument] and more recently in the so-called 'orphan film' case of Kahle v. ABC-Disney [no such case] have placed pressure on the Copyright Office and the Congress to look beyond the positions staked out by the Motion Picture Association and media conglomerates."

Promising [not] further comment in the coming months, Billington cryptically suggested, in language buried in an appendix to the report, that he was swayed by debate at the recent Orphan Film Symposium [if only... Suffice it to say that a Saturday, March 29 discussion at Orphans 6 could not have affected a report issued the following Tuesday] . The symposium took place at New York University on March 29th and brought artists, filmmakers, distributors, scholars and archivists together.

Reacting to news of the Librarian's caveat, filmmaker and preservation advocate Martin Scorsese [of course Mr. S was not part of this fictitious dialog] called it "a significant boon to the survivial of America's film heritage, as expressed through its orphan films."

The White House expressed no opinion on the matter. [This is true.]


-30-
[Apologies to Dr. Billington, who in fact HAS presided over the era of 'orphan works' and also advocated exemptions from some copyright strictures when those exemptions clearly serve the public good.]


All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. [This is the boilerplate of AP and many others. But it does not apply to this blog posting. Anyone may publish, broadcast, rewrite or redistribute this text. In fact, everyone is encouraged to do so, so long as you mention 'orphan works' or 'orphan films.']

Fuller follow-up

Marsha Orgeron with Christa Fuller, 3/29/08.
+
Sam's 16mm Bell & Howell.


One of the animating presences at Orphans 6 was Christa Lang Fuller, widow of director Sam Fuller. Thanks to the Academy Film Archive, we were able to screen the newly preserved film Sam Fuller entitled V-E+1, May 9, 1945. Preservationist Mark Toscano also brought along a newly printed color reel shot by the future filmmaker sometime in 1945 (one Kodachrome camera roll, one Agfa).

Christa brought with her the very 16mm camera that Sam used to film these. It was a popular object. After the presentation, lots of fans got their pictures taken holding the apparatus.

It's over! (wah)

(Orphans 6 + 1)


Such a party.

Dennis James plays the grand at an Orphans 6 reception. (Yes, that's the Empire State Building in the background.) Photo: walkingoffthebigapple.com

The consensus is that the 6th Orphan Film Symposium was a success, if the words and smiles of 300+ people from the archival, academic, artistic, curatorial, creative, industrial, technologic, museological, and collecting collective are any evidence.

From the concluding film of the symposium (Helen Hill's Tunnel of Love) to the pies in the face bestowed upon the symposium director/blogger, there was an abundance of love. Much more on events of the symposium/conference/festival of March 26-29 day by day.

Tomorrow we can discuss the possible interpretations of Melinda Stone's newly-penned Orphans anthem "Everyone Needs a Hoe."

A dozen grad. students at the event kept a 'live blog' flowing. Look for it to grow.

blogs.NYU.edu/OrphanFilm

James Bond preps projection prints.
Photo: Priya Sen

It's here!

(o days left til O.)

Here's the tech run-down for the opening program.


Tribute to Helen Hill
8:00 pm • Wednesday • March 26, 2008 • Cantor Film Center

Formats: 35mm (2x), 16mm (13x), DigiBeta (3x), audio CD (1x)
all films = Academy aspect ratio

mic: Welcome, Dan Streible

(1v) Orphans 6 Trailer by Bill Morrison [DigiBeta 3 MINS., sound]

mic: Dan Streible
(2) Interview outtake, Orphan Ist. 16mm, sound, 3 MINS.
(3) Madame Winger Makes a Film 16mm, sound, 10 MINS.

mic: John Canemaker

mic : Bill Brand, Sorensen and/or Resnick
(4) Rain Dance 16mm, sound, 4 MINS.

mic: Peter Limburg
(5) Helen La Belle 35mm, sound, 14 MINS.
go straight to
(6) Vessel 16mm, sound, 6 MINS.

mic: John Porter
(7) Phil’s Film Farm 16mm, SILENT, 10 MINS.

mic: Award presentations Kissel, Courtney
Uman (8) Removed (1999, Naomi Uman) 16mm, sound, 6 MINS.
Kinder (9) Grandfather (2008, Jimmy Kinder) 16mm sd, 3 MINS.

mic: Haden Guest
(10) Mouseholes 16mm, sound, 8 MINS.

mic: Courtney Egan
(11) Termite Light 16mm, SILENT, 3 MINS.
(12v) Cleveland Street Gap DigiBeta, sound, 3 MINS.

mic: Kelli Hix: * Keep mic open for autoharp accompaniment
(13) Home Movie Day New Orleans 16mm, SILENT, 4 MINS.


2 mics: Pistol Pete & Rayna sing two songs (with 1 guitar)
MIC STAND (stage or by piano?)

mic: Kara Van Malssen & Dwight Swanson
(14) [Helen Hill’s Home Movies] 16mm, silent, 5-7 MINS.
(18-24fps, all OK speeds)

mic: George Ingmire
(15) Think of Me First as a Person 35mm, sound, 10 MINS.


#16 is a MAYBE.

(16) [blowup of flood-damaged film] 16mm, silent, 4 MINS.
* PLAY WITH audio CD (Helen’s voice, 2006) 4 MINS.


mic: Kevin & Becky Lewis
(17v) Quacks (1981) DigiBeta, sound, 3 MINS.

* LEAVE HOUSE DARK 15-20 SECONDS, NO IMAGE or SOUND.
Then go straight to


(18) Scratch and Crow 16mm, sound, 4 MINS.

mic: Dan Streible

about the Cantor Film Center

(only 3 days left....)


All of the sessions of the 6th Orphan Film Symposium convene in the Cantor Film Center.


Like most everyone else, in the 1990s the university took this 600-seat art house cinema and subdivided it into smaller auditoria. Orphans 6 meets upstairs (room 200, technically). We will have 309 seats (and the fire marshal will not let person #310 into the room).

The large projection booth will offer us 35mm changeover projectors + the imported Eastman 52 model 16mm projector (the latter courtesy of James Bond and Full Aperture Systems of Chicago). The symposium also will show DigiBeta and BetaSP video (with a swell new Christie video projector), as well as DVDs and lots of computer projection.

We'll even host a live video iChat with orphanistas in The Exploratorium in San Francisco. Apple has loaned us some very nice new Mac technology.

the great Canemaker

(27 days 'til . . . )

As you can glean from this news item -->
John Canemaker has had an amazingly accomplished career in animation, with his 2005 Academy Award, 2006 Emmy Award, 2007 Jean Mitry Award from le Giornate del Cinema Muto, and now a Winsor McCay Award being just the most recent distinctions.

John Canemaker will offer remarks in praise of Helen Hill's animated films at the Orphan Film Symposium's opening night tribute to her work.

Milestone Film and Video distributes a compilation of his work.

Who are the Onondagas and why are they using half-inch open-reel video?

(31 days left 'til projectors roll)

Jason Livingston is a film and video maker teaching at Ithaca College. He found a 16mm film in his parent's closet (how many times have we heard that before?). It turned out to be short a documentary from 1972 called Onondagas v. NYS. This documentary was an early effort of the Ithaca Video Project, which used black-and-white, 1/2-inch, open-reel videotape.


So why does this work only survive (apparently) as a 16mm projection print? Why was it in the Livingstons' closet?