Orphans of the Storm: Saving 'Orphan Films' in the Digital Age

In the storm of millennial transitions, technological change, and fiscal retrenchment, what becomes of motion pictures abandoned by their owners? How and why should orphan films be preserved?

The University of South Carolina is hosting a symposium to address these questions. The event will feature an eclectic mix of noted film scholars, archivists and preservation experts from leading institutions, and filmmakers who work with orphaned material. The "orphan" rubric will be considered broadly, taking in all manner of "at-risk" films: newsreels, silent films, experimental works, public domain materials, amateur footage, kinescopes, advertising films, documentaries, independent productions and more.

As the twenty-first century dawns, what is being done to preserve orphan films? What approaches and technologies are being used to save the motion picture record of the twentieth century? How are filmmakers and historians using these records?

PRELIMINARY SCHEDULE (subject to change)

Thursday, September 23
9-12         Newsfilm Library Open House
1-3          Technological Frontiers of Film Preservation:  A Colloquium
3:15-5       What Is an 'Orphan Film'?
8-10         Screenings from the Prelinger Archives; and
             + Joe Lauro, Historic Films, "Lost Treasures of American Music"

Friday, September 24
9 - 10:45    Newsreel Preservation
11-12:45     Documentary
2-3:30       Experimental Films
3:45-5:30    Silent-era Cinema
             Screenings from the Netherlands Film Museum and elsewhere
             + restored "The Two Orphans" (1911) and other rarities

Saturday, September 25
9 - 10:45    Early African-American Cinema
11-12:45     Television and Video Preservation
2-3:30       Low" Films
3:45-5:30    Use of Orphan Films by Contemporary Filmmakers
Wrap Party
8-10         Screenings by Alan Berliner and Péter Forgács

• Callie Angell, the Andy Warhol Film Project at the Whitney Museum of American Art, on preserving the Warhol films
• Jennifer M. Bean, University of Washington-Seattle, "Frozen in Time: Looking at the Dawson City Archive Collection, 1913-1919"
• Alan Berliner, filmmaker (FAMILY ALBUM)
• Paolo Cherchi Usai, George Eastman House/University of Rochester, "What Is An Orphan Film? Definition, Rationale, and Controversy."
• Hart Cohen, Western Sydney University, "The Films of T.G.H. Strehlow"
• Donald Crafton, Univ. of Notre Dame, on the found footage in Bruce Conner's A MOVIE
• Steve Davidson, Wolfson Media Center, Miami, on local television newsfilm
• Nico de Klerk, Netherlands Film Museum, on foundlings of film history
• Raymond Fielding, Florida State University, on newsreels and preservation
• Péter Forgács, filmmaker, (PRIVATE HUNGARY) Private Film & Photo Archives Foundation, Budapest
• Jon Gartenberg, Gartenberg Media Enterprises/Independent Film Preservation Project, The Estate Project for Artists with AIDS, "Rude Awakening: Restoring the Legacy of Experimental Filmmaker Warren Sonbert"
• Robert Haller, Anthology Film Archives, on rediscovering Ed Emshwiller's PROJECT APOLLO (USIA, 1968)
• Robert Heiber, Chace Productions (Burbank, CA), "Sound Preservation, Restoration or Remastering"
• Steven Higgins, Museum of Modern Art, on the Biograph collection
• Joe Lauro, Historic Films, "Motion Picture Recordings of Lost American Music"
• Suzanne Lee, National Film Preservation Foundation, "Preserving Orphan Films: Public Policy in Practice"
• Gregory Lukow, UCLA Film and Television Archive, "The Impact of the 'Orphan Film' Metaphor on Contemporary Preservation Practice"
• Karen Lund, Library of Congress, on the National Digital Library
• Mike Mashon, Library of Congress, "Television and Video Preservation"
• Sarah Meyerson, Film Technology Co., on preserving network TV news archives
• Bill Morrison, filmmaker (A FILM OF HER)
• William T. Murphy, National Archives and Records Administration, "The Unhappy State of American Newsreel Preservation"
• Charles Musser, Yale University, on preserving SYMBOL OF THE UNCONQUERED
• Francis Poole, University of Delaware, on films orphaned in educational collections: Rhythm of Africa (France/Chad, 1947), Jackson Pollock (1951), Natural History of Psychotic Illness in Childhood (UK, 1958)
• Rick Prelinger, screenings from the Prelinger Archives
• Charlene Regester, University of North Carolina, on the films of Oscar Micheaux
• Eric Schaefer, Emerson College, "Saving Rubbish: The High Priority of Preserving Low Films"
• Jacqueline Stewart, University of Chicago, on early African-American Cinema
• Linda Tadic, Media Archives and Peabody Award Collection, University of Georgia, on preserving local television
• Yuri Tsivian, University of Chicago, on early Russian cinema
• Tom Whiteside, Duke University, "H. Lee Waters' Movies of Local People"