 The Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division at the Library of Congress cares for one of the largest film collections in the world. It consists mainly of American films because one of the key methods of acquisition has been copyright deposit. Under American copyright law all those registering a film must deposit a copy of the artifact in good condition in the Library's collection. The first film was actually deposited in October 1893 although at that time the deposit was in the form of individual photographs, As films were printed on a nitrate base and were highly flammable the Library did not keep copyright deposit prints between about 1911 and 1942. However thanks to the American Film Institute the Library has since filled this major gap with the acquisition of several studio collections. The Division has its own film preservation laboratory where deteriorating films are restored and transferred onto a new nonflammable safety base. Films can be viewed free of charge in our Washington offices by any scholar undertaking research leading to publication providing suitable duplicate materials exist. Regular film programs are mounted in the Library's Pickford Theater and are open to the public without charge. Many of the staff at our Motion Picture Conservation Center near Dayton, Ohio are paid out of gift funds. Donations from the Film Foundation have been one of the major sources of income for this purpose. Because the Center's overheads are already met, every cent raised goes directly towards the restoration and duplication of films in the collection. One of the most complex projects which have benefited from Film Foundation support was the restoration of ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT. We had in our collection an unused fine grain of the original release version but it had no soundtrack. The reassembly of matching sound proved a major challenge. From the beginning The Film Foundation was committed to establishing direct communication between the national film archives and the film industry. It is hard to believe that there was little contact before the Foundation was created. Now there are many public/private partnerships which have led to the preservation of numerous important Hollywood films The Foundations cooperation with American Movie Classics on their six annual Film Preservation Weekends has made the public significantly more aware of the need for film preservation and has resulted in more than one and half million dollars being donated to the major film archives to help them safeguard the nation's cinema heritage. Martin Scorsese's concerns about color fading in projection prints and the material alteration of films for airline and television use not only resulted in the formation of the Film Foundation but also in the 1988 National Film Preservation Act. This legislation and the subsequent 1992 and 1996 National Film Preservation Acts, lead to the formation of the National Film Registry which now contains 250 titles. This legislation also enabled the Library to undertake studies on the current state of American film, television and video preservation the results of which were the basis for "Redefining Film Preservation: a National Plan." The National Film Preservation Foundation was created by the Library of Congress to fulfill one of the recommendations of this plan. Although originally The Film Foundation never intended to act as a fund raiser for film preservation, it has become the most consistently successful institution in this field of activity. The Foundation came to the Library of Congress's aid when it was setting up the National Film Preservation Foundation and gave the new body enough funds to establish a basic administrative structure. Now the National Film Preservation Foundation is also successfully raising funds for film preservation. The Film Foundation has also been very responsive to the needs of individual archives and is mercifully free of bureaucracy. Most important of all it has helped organizations like the Library restore films of the caliber of ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT so that current and future generations can enjoy them in the form their creators intended. —
David Francis, Chief |
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©2002, The Film Foundation
