Treasures from American Film Archives

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The Treasures from American Film Archives series of DVDs is produced by the National Film Preservation Foundation (NFPF), a nonprofit organization created by the U.S. Congress in 1997. The NFPF publishes these DVD sets, with accompanying booklets and extensive commentary, to promote public access to the films preserved by the American archival community.

Contents

The NFPF's inaugural DVD set — Treasures from American Film Archives, issued in 2000 — was the first video anthology sampling the range of films preserved by American cultural institutions. Featuring home movies, avant-garde films, documentaries, government films, cartoons, newsreels, political ads, and silent-era narratives saved by 18 archives from Alaska to West Virginia, the set presented 50 historically significant works that had never been available before on video. By providing these examples on video, the set helped popularize the idea of the orphan film. When the first edition went out of print in 2005, it was reissued as the Encore edition.

Since 2000, the NFPF has issued five other box sets, each with a specific theme. More Treasures from American Archives, 1894–1931 showcases the creative range of American motion pictures in their first four decades through examples preserved by the nation's leading silent-film archives. It was the first NFPF set to feature audio commentary. Treasures III: Social Issues in American Film, 1900–1934 looks at socially inflected films during the formative years cinema, when virtually no issue was too controversial for the big screen. Treasures IV: American Avant-Garde Film, 1947–1986 is the first multi-artist survey of the avant-garde film movement in the years following World War II. Treasures 5: The West, 1898–1938 explores how the West was imagined and documented in early cinema. Lost and Found: American Treasures From the New Zealand Film Archive presents a sampling of repatriated American films previously existing only in foreign archives.

To date, six sets of DVDs present 227 films on 17 discs for a total runtime of 3,059 minutes (51 hours). All NFPF-produced sets are region-free and playable around the world. These sets are:

Another box set was announced in 2011, intended for release in 2014: Treasures 6: Next Wave Avant-Garde, with the following titles: Report by Bruce Conner, Radio Adios by Henry Hills, Hi-Fi Cadets by Lewis Klahr, A Visit to Indiana by Curt McDowell and Ted Davis, Plumb Line by Carolee Schneemann, and 11 thru 12 by Andrea Callard. [1] [2] It has yet to be released.

The DVD sets

Treasures from American Film Archives: 50 Preserved Films (2000, encore edition 2005)

Select reviews:

The films:
Disc 1

Disc 2

Disc 3

Disc 4

More Treasures from American Film Archives, 1894–1931 (2004)

Four feature films (over an hour in length) are included in this set; also: 46 short advertisements, documentaries, promotional and educational films, and some early experiments with color and sound. [3] [4]

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The films:

Disc 1

Disc 2

Disc 3

Treasures III: Social Issues in American Film, 1900–1934 (2007)

Exposing abuse or lampooning reform, films in the early 20th century put a human face on social problems and connected with audiences in a new way. Topics include: prohibition, abortion, unions, atheism, the vote for women, organized crime, loan sharking, juvenile justice, homelessness, police corruption, immigration—in their first decades, movies brought an astonishing range of issues to the screen.

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The films:
Disc 1 – "The City Reformed"

Disc 2 – "New Women"

Disc 3 – "Toil and Tyranny"

Disc 4 – "Americans in the Making"

Treasures IV: American Avant-Garde Film, 1947–1986 (2008)

Independent cinema from Bruce Baillie to Andy Warhol, artists who worked outside the mainstream and redefined American film are collected in this set. An array of films never before released on VHS or DVD with styles ranging from animation to documentary are showcased in this collection of classics and rediscoveries, selected from five of the nation's foremost avant-garde film archives.

Select reviews:

The films:

Disc 1

Disc 2

Treasures 5: The West, 1898–1938 (2011)

A set celebrating the dynamic, gender-bending, ethnically diverse West that flourished in early motion pictures, including both narrative and nonfiction films; travelogues from 10 western states Kodachrome home movies; newsreels about Native Americans; and documentaries and industrial films about such Western subjects as cattle ranching.

Select reviews:

The films:
Disc 1

Disc 2

Disc 3

Awards for the Treasures DVDs

2000

2001

2004

2005

2009

2011

Film archives participating in the series

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References

  1. ↑ "NFPF ANNOUNCES PRODUCTION OF NEW AVANT-GARDE DVD SET". December 7, 2011. Archived from the original on January 6, 2012. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
  2. ↑ Mike Everleth (November 19, 2013). "Sneak Preview: Treasures VI: Next Wave Avant-Garde". Underground Film Journal. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
  3. ↑ "National Film Preservation Foundation: 2004-07-21 More Treasures Line-Up". www.filmpreservation.org. Retrieved 2024-07-04.
  4. ↑ Hernandez, Raoul (December 10, 2004). "DVDs Gift Guide". www.austinchronicle.com. Retrieved 2024-07-04.
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