Academy Film Archive

Last updated

Academy Film Archive
Formation1944
Founded at Hollywood, California
PurposeOverseeing the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ educational and cultural activities

The Academy Film Archive is part of the Academy Foundation, established in 1944 with the purpose of organizing and overseeing the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ educational and cultural activities, including the preservation of motion picture history. Although the current incarnation of the Academy Film Archive began in 1991, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences acquired its first film in 1929.

Contents

Preservation

Located in Hollywood, California at the Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study, the Archive has a diverse range of moving image material. The Archive's collection comprises 107,000 titles and 230,000 separate items, including early American cinema, a vast collection of documentary films, filmed and taped interviews, amateur and private home movies of Hollywood legends, makeup and sound test reels, and a wide selection of experimental film, as well as Academy Award-winning films, Academy Award-nominated films, and a complete collection of every Academy Awards show since 1949. [1]

Since acquiring the Packard Humanities Institute Collection, the Archive has the world's largest known trailer collection. The Archive is also concerned with the preservation and restoration of films, as well as new technologies and methods of preservation, restoring over 1100 titles of historical and artistic importance. [2]

Notable preserved projects

[2] [3] [4] [5]

Access

The Archive offers access to its collections to researchers and scholars. Based on availability, preservation status and condition of the materials, visitors may visit the Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study to arrange appointments through the Access Center. [6] Additionally, the Academy Film Archive lends prints to non-profit institutions for screenings. [7]

In some circumstances, the Archive may be able to make collection materials available for licensing.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Academy Awards</span> Annual awards for cinematic achievements

The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment industry in the United States. Given annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), the awards are a recognition of excellence in cinematic achievements of primarily American films, as assessed by the Academy's voting membership. The various category winners are awarded a copy of a golden statuette as a trophy, officially called the "Academy Award of Merit," although more commonly referred to by its nickname, the "Oscar." The statuette, depicting a knight rendered in the Art Deco style, was originally sculpted by Los Angeles artist George Stanley from a design sketch by art director Cedric Gibbons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Pickford</span> Canadian-American actress (1892–1979)

Gladys Marie Smith, known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American stage and screen actress and producer with a career that spanned five decades. A pioneer in the US film industry, she co-founded Pickford–Fairbanks Studios and United Artists, and was one of the 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Pickford is considered to be one of the most recognisable women in history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences</span> Professional honorary organization

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motion pictures. The Academy's corporate management and general policies are overseen by a board of governors, which includes representatives from each of the craft branches.

The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since the awards debuted in 1929. This award goes to the producers of the film and is the only category in which every member of the Oscars is eligible to submit a nomination and vote on the final ballot. The Best Picture category is often the final award of the night and is widely considered as the most prestigious honor of the ceremony.

The Academy Award for Best Animated Feature is given each year for animated films. An animated feature is defined by the Academy as a film with a running time of more than 40 minutes in which characters' performances are created using a frame-by-frame technique, a significant number of the major characters are animated, and animation figures in no less than 75 percent of the running time. The Academy Award for Best Animated Feature was first awarded in 2002 for films released in 2001.

The Academy Award for Best Visual Effects is an Academy Award given for the best achievement in visual effects.

The Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film is an award for documentary films. In 1941, the first awards for feature-length documentaries were bestowed as Special Awards to Kukan and Target for Tonight. They have since been bestowed competitively each year, with the exception of 1946. Copies of every winning film are held by the Academy Film Archive.

The Academy Honorary Award – instituted in 1950 for the 23rd Academy Awards – is given annually by the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). Since 2009, it has been presented at the separate annual Governors Awards rather than at the regular Academy Awards ceremony. The Honorary Award celebrates motion picture achievements that are not covered by existing Academy Awards, although prior winners of competitive Academy Awards are not excluded from receiving the Honorary Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kimberly Peirce</span> American film director

Kimberly Ane Peirce is an American filmmaker, best known for her debut feature film, Boys Don't Cry (1999), which won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Hilary Swank's performance. Her second feature, Stop-Loss, was released by Paramount Pictures in 2008. Her film Carrie was released on October 18, 2013. She is a governor of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and a National Board member of the Directors Guild of America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terry Sanders</span> American film director

Terry Sanders is an American filmmaker having produced and/or directed more than 70 dramatic features, televisions specials, documentaries and portrait films. He co-heads the American Film Foundation and has produced and photographed the Oscar-winning dramatic short A Time Out of War. He also received an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision. He also produced and co-directed Crime & Punishment, USA with his now-deceased brother, Denis Sanders.

Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski are an American screenwriting team. They are best known for writing postmodern biopics with larger-than-life characters. They coined the term "anti-biopic" to describe the genre they invented: Movies about people who don't deserve one. They are uninterested in the traditional "great man" story, focusing instead on obscure strivers in American pop culture.

Linwood G. Dunn, A.S.C. was an American pioneer of visual special effects in motion pictures and an inventor of related technology. Dunn worked on many films and television series, including the original 1933 King Kong (1933), Citizen Kane (1941), and Star Trek (1966–69).

A City Decides is a 1956 American short documentary film directed by Charles Guggenheim about the racial integration of St. Louis Public Schools. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Douglas Fairbanks</span> American actor (1883–1939)

Douglas Elton Fairbanks Sr. was an American actor and filmmaker. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films including The Thief of Bagdad, Robin Hood, and The Mark of Zorro, but spent the early part of his career making comedies.

Cari Beauchamp is an American author, historian, journalist, and documentary filmmaker. She authored the biography Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Power of Women in Hollywood, which was subsequently made into a documentary film. She is currently the resident scholar of the Mary Pickford Foundation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Herrick Library</span> Library in Beverly Hills, California

The Margaret Herrick Library, located in Beverly Hills, California, is the main repository of print, graphic and research materials of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). The library contains a digital repository and has historical materials that include those relating to the Oscars awards show.

References

  1. ↑ "About the Archive: General Info". Oscars.org. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. March 30, 2020.
  2. 1 2 "Preserved Projects". Oscars.org. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
  3. ↑ Hollywood Home Movies from the Academy Film Archive (1931–70)|Wexner Center for the Arts
  4. ↑ "Past Awards". National Society of Film Critics. December 19, 2009.
  5. ↑ Preservation and Scholarship Special Recognition: Oscar's Film Collection|International Documentary Association
  6. ↑ "About the Archive: Rules". Oscars.org. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. July 29, 2014.
  7. ↑ "About the Archive: Loan Policies". Oscars.org. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. July 29, 2014.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.