Film preservation, or film restoration, describes a series of ongoing efforts among film historians, archivists, museums, cinematheques, and non-profit organizations to rescue decaying film stock and preserve the images they contain. In the widest sense, preservation assures that a movie will continue to exist in as close to its original form as possible.
A lost film is a feature or short film in which the original negative or copies are not known to exist in any studio archive, private collection, or public archive. Films can be wholly or partially lost for a number of reasons. Early films were not thought to have value beyond their theatrical run, so many were discarded afterward. Nitrate film used in early pictures was highly flammable and susceptible to degradation. The Library of Congress began acquiring copies of American films in 1909, but not all were kept. Due to improvements in film technology and recordkeeping, few films produced in the 1950s or beyond have been lost.
A film base is a transparent substrate which acts as a support medium for the photosensitive emulsion that lies atop it. Despite the numerous layers and coatings associated with the emulsion layer, the base generally accounts for the vast majority of the thickness of any given film stock. Since the late 19th century, there have been three major types of film base in use: nitrate, acetate, and polyester.
Sans Soleil is a 1983 French documentary film directed by Chris Marker. It is a meditation on the nature of human memory, showing the inability to recall the context and nuances of memory, and how, as a result, the perception of personal and global histories is affected. The title Sans Soleil is from the song cycle Sunless by Modest Mussorgsky, a brief fragment of which features in the film. Sans Soleil is composed of stock footage, clips from Japanese movies and shows, excerpts from other films as well as documentary footage shot by Marker.
The Coffin Ship is a 1911 American silent film, a nautical melodrama produced by the Thanhouser Company of New Rochelle, New York. Featuring William Garwood in a starring role, the identities of the motion picture's other two principal cast members remain undetermined.
Péter Forgács is a Hungarian media artist and independent filmmaker. He is best known for his "Private Hungary" series of award winning films based on home movies from the 1930s and 1960s, which document ordinary lives that were soon to be ruptured by an extraordinary historical trauma that occurs off screen.
The 26th National Society of Film Critics Awards, given on 5 January 1992, honored the best filmmaking of 1991.
The following is a list of winners of the Golden Calf Special Jury Prize at the Nederlands Film Festival.
Eye Filmmuseum is a film archive, museum, and cinema in Amsterdam that preserves and presents both Dutch and foreign films screened in the Netherlands.
The Forbidden Quest is a 1993 pseudo-documentary written and directed by Peter Delpeut.
Experimental filmmakers ask whether things could not be done differently. Underground films analyse and critique the mainstream film industry. They step back and reflect. Simultaneously, they take forward leaps to assess new options. Sometimes the makers are self-taught visual artists who make innovative work thanks to their original point of view. Other filmmakers primarily play with the medium film and seek an alternative to the dominant visual culture.
Peter Delpeut is a Dutch filmmaker and writer. Several of his films have heavily used found footage. He has won several literary awards for his writing.
Collage film is a style of film created by juxtaposing found footage from disparate sources. The term has also been applied to the physical collaging of materials onto film stock.
The Vicar Of Wakefield is a 1910 American silent short drama produced by the Thanhouser Company. The film was adapted from Oliver Goldsmith's 1766 novel The Vicar of Wakefield, but covers only part of the plot and deviates significantly from the book to allow the story to be told within the confines of a single reel of film.
When the Earth Trembled (1913) is an American silent disaster film starring Ethel Clayton and Harry Myers. The film, a short feature, may be the first fiction film to depict the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
Rosa Porten was a prolific German screenwriter, actress, and director during the silent film era.
The Floor Below is an American silent film starring Mabel Normand, Tom Moore and Helen Dahl. It was long thought lost, until a print was found "in the estate of a Dutch collector" by the Nederlands Filmmuseum.
The Girl Spy Before Vicksburg is a 1910 American silent film produced by Kalem Company of New York and shot at the company's "winter studio" in Jacksonville, Florida. Directed by Sidney Olcott, the Civil War drama stars Gene Gauntier, Robert Vignola and JP McGowan. Gauntier, in addition to performing as the production's title character, is credited with writing its storyline or "scenario".
Superstition is a 1919 German silent drama film directed by Georg Jacoby and starring Ellen Richter and Victor Janson.
Janis Rafailidou, born in Greece 1984, is an artist engaging with sculpture, video art and film. She was recently featured in the 59th International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia with her 2020 short film Lacerate, and her work has been acquired by various institutions, such as Centraal Museum, Stedelijk Museum, and Fondazione in Between Art Film. Her solo exhibition at the iconic Eye Filmmuseum 2023, showcased videos, films and large-scale sculptures, establishing her practice in the dichotophy of art and film.