Women’s Film Preservation Fund Program June 9, 2006

The Women’s Film Preservation Fund (WFPF), part of New York Women in Film and Television (NYWIFT), was established in 1995 in association with MoMA to preserve American films in which women have played a significant creative role. Since its founding, this important initiative has supported the preservation of over sixty films made between 1912 and 1990, including the works of such germinal cinematic figures as Mary Ellen Bute, Gunvor Nelson, Storm de Hirsch, Maya Deren, and the pioneer of all women filmmakers, Alice Guy-Blaché. The only fund of its kind in the world, WFPF is dedicated to saving the cultural legacy of women in film history and publicizing the need for film preservation.

Presented as part of To Save and Project, the programs are organized with the cooperation of NYWIFT, Lois Bianchi, Suzanne Pancrazi, and Drake Stutesman.

Program 1:
Coney. 1975. USA. Directed by Caroline Ahlfors Mouris. A five-minute pixilated tour of New York's infamous Coney Island amusement park. 5 min.
The Gravediggers from Guadix. c. 1960. USA. Directed by Marie Menken. Pioneering avant-garde filmmaker Marie Menken depicts the lives of ascetic cave-dwelling Spanish monks who dig graves for the locals. 20 min.
Meditation on Violence. 1948. USA. Directed by Maya Deren. A beautiful display of a man practicing martial arts moves. 13 min.
Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act of Man. 1975. USA. Directed by Mimi Pickering. A searing documentary on the coal waste dam disaster in West Virginia. 40 min. Program 78 min.
Friday, June 9, 6:15. T2

Program 2:
A Fool and His Money. 1912. USA. Directed by Alice Guy-Blaché. Produced by Solax. With James Russell. A film of firsts, A Fool and His Money was the first American film to feature an all African-American cast, as well as being directed by the first woman filmmaker. Long thought lost, this vaudeville-style comedy, recently unearthed in California, has not been presented publicly for decades. Starring cakewalk king William Russell, the film follows poverty-striken Sam. At first jilted by Lindy, the lady he loves, for a wealthier man, Sam happens upon new wealth and manages to win her back. But when Sam loses it all in a poker game, Lindy offers her hand to the winner. Preserved with a Women's Film Preservation Fund grant by AFI's National Center for Film and Video Preservation at the Library of Congress Motion Picture Conservation Center. 10 min.
The Blot. 1921. USA. Directed by Lois Weber. A moving political melodrama about the inequalities of pay in the United States as experienced by an impoverished college professor and his family. 78 min. Both films silent, with piano accompaniment by Ben Model.
Friday, June 9, 8:15. T2

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Pictured above:

A Fool and His Money. 1912. USA. Directed by Alice Guy-Blaché