To Save and Project: The Ninth MoMA International Festival of Film Preservation
October 14–November 25, 2011
Highlights this year include films by Roger Corman, Forugh Farrokhzad, George Kuchar, Claude Lanzmann, Alberto Lattuada, Louis Malle, Agnes Martin, Georges Méliès, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, Jean Rouch, Raúl Ruiz, and Seijun Suzuki, as well as an illustrated history of 3-D, tributes to George Kuchar and Saul Bass, and a special concert on October 30 featuring “cruel and unusual” silent film comedies from the Desmet Collection of the Eye Film Institute, The Netherlands. Complementing the annual festival is a Jack Smith retrospective, featuring 11 newly struck prints acquired for MoMA’s collection and introduced on November 13 by Mario Montez, star of Smith’s Flaming Creatures (1962–63) and Normal Love (1963–65).
Download an overview of the Ninth MoMA International Festival of Film Preservation in PDF format (Adobe Acrobat required)-
Related Film Screenings
Upcoming
Past
The Movie Orgy
1968. USA. Joe Dante. 270 min.
Le Quai des brumes (Port of Shadows)
1938. France. Marcel Carné. 91 min.
The Honeymoon Killers
1969. USA. Leonard Kastle. 106 min.
“It’s a Good Life” from Twilight Zone: The Movie
1983. USA. Joe Dante. 25 min.
The Intruder
1962. USA. Roger Corman. 82 min.
Hoop-La
1933. USA. Frank Lloyd. 75 min.
Dramma della Gelosia (The Pizza Triangle/Drama of Jealousy)
1970. Italy. Ettore Scola. 105 min.
L’Assassino (The Assassin)
1961. Italy. Elio Petri. 98 min.
Tres tristes tigres
1968. Chile. Raúl Ruiz. 105 min.
Color
1958. Uruguay. Lidia García Millán. 3 min.
Niemandsland (No Man’s Land)
1931. Germany. Victor Trivas. 81 min.
Calcutta
1969. France/India. Louis Malle. 99 min.
The House Is Black
1962. Iran. Forugh Farrokhzad. 22 min.
Jean Rouch: Early Films from West Africa, 1946–1951
A program of rarely screened ethnographic films that Jean Rouch recorded in the West African countries of Mali and Niger, preserved by the Archives françaises du film du CNC, Bois d’Arcy. Rouch (1917–2004) radically transformed nonfiction cinema and anthropology. His more than 100 films shattered any quaint notions of objectivity or unmediated, singular truth, irrespective of whether his subjects were the cultures, ceremonies, rituals, attitudes, music, and magic-making of the Songhay tribe of the upper Niger or those of his fellow Parisians. Even today, Rouch’s films remain provocative and controversial in their interrogations of racism, colonialism, self-portraiture, the imaginary and the unreal, improvisation, the aura of the camera (what he called the “ciné-trance”), and the condition of observing and being observed.
Au pays des mages noirs (In the Land of the Black Magi)
1946–47. France. Jean Rouch. 12 min.
Initiation à la danse des possédés (Initiation into Possession Dance)
1948. France. Jean Rouch. 22 min.
Les magiciens de Wanzerbé (The Magicians of Wanzerbé)
1948. France. Jean Rouch. 29 min.
Cimetières dans la falaise (Cemetery in the Cliff)
1950. France. Jean Rouch. 18 min.
Les Hommes qui font la pluie (The Men Who Make the Rain)
1951. France. Jean Rouch. 28 min.
Les Halles centrales
1927. France. Boris Kaufman. 22 min.
Études sur Paris
1928. France. André Sauvage. 83 min.
Afraid to Talk
1933. USA. Edward L. Cahn. 69 min.
Zigeunerweisen (Tsigoineruwaizen)
1980. Japan. Seijun Suzuki. 148 min.
World Day for Audiovisual Heritage
MoMA Film Collections Manager Katie Trainor writes, “Acknowledging the sociocultural value of moving images and recorded sound, and the need to raise awareness regarding their preservation, UNESCO in 2005 declared October 27 as the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage. To commemorate this occasion, we present an evening of sounds and images that have been drawn from the rich archival community of New York City, and that bear witness to the faces and voices of the unseen, unheard, and forgotten. From gorgeous 1930s footage of Tibet and its exiled people to the audio recordings of working-class immigrants who lived in an Orchard Street tenement on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, this program celebrates the power of moving images and sound to transcend language and cultural boundaries while also embracing and celebrating diversity.” Program approx. 100 min.
La Spiaggia (The Riviera)
1954. Italy. Alberto Lattuada. 100 min.
Gabriel
1976. USA. Agnes Martin. 78 min.
Angae (Mist)
1967. South Korea. Kim Soo-yong. 77 min.
3-D Is Coming to This Theater! An Illustrated History of Stereoscopic Cinema
Stefan Drössler, director of the Munich Filmmuseum, is one of the world’s leading authorities on the history of 3-D. In this richly illustrated lecture, he traces the technology back to stereophotography, the magic lantern, and the origins of cinema, with fascinating examples from Lumière, Skladanowsky, and Méliès, and brings it up to the digital cinema of today. Different approaches in various countries such as Germany, France, the U.S., the U.S.S.R., Hungary, Great Britain, and Hong Kong are shown in 3-D clips, along with excerpts from little-known paper print films from 1900, the first 3-D sound films from the 1930s, the first 3-D feature film from 1947 (shown in its entirety later in the evening), the Festival of Britain in 1951, the first Hollywood 3-D craze in the 1950s, the Russian wave in the 1960s and 1970s, and Asian experiments in the 1980s. Drössler also describes the technological challenges that have led to the development of modern digital 3-D cinema, and reflects on the artistic possibilities of stereoscopic film. 130 min.
Cruel and Unusual Comedy from the Desmet Collection of the Eye Film Institute, The Netherlands: A Special Concert
Two outrageous, groundbreaking programs of early European film comedy, featuring original music performed live by maestro Donald Sosin and his NYC Eclectic Electric Band. Before the stardom of Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd and the worldwide success of American comedy after World War I, there was the European cinema of Zigoto, Bébé, Onésime, Little Moritz, Robinet, and Max, a phenomenal outpouring of Euro-clown comedies populated by distinctively named screen characters who were featured in over 70 different series from France alone between 1908 and 1914. Produced by prestigious companies like Ambrosio in Italy, Messters in Germany, and Gaumont and Pathé in France, this body of work was, on the whole, more psychologically inclined, self-consciously surreal, and in some ways edgier than American slapstick. Long deserving better recognition, particularly in the U.S., these films can now be rediscovered after 90 years thanks to painstaking preservation efforts. Centering on representative themes of sex, violence, madness, music, and science fiction, this selection from the legendary collection of Dutch film distributor Jean Desmet anticipates the fuller retrospective that will take place at MoMA in 2012. Organized by Ron Magliozzi, Associate Curator, Department of Film, The Museum of Modern Art; accompanist-historian Ben Model; and historian Steve Massa; in collaboration with archivist Elif Kaynakci, EYE Film Institute. Approx. 110 min., plus a 15-minute intermission.
Il Cappotto (The Overcoat)
1952. Italy. Alberto Lattuada. 99 min.
An Evening with Alejandro Jodorowsky
As a coda to the exhibition of his work that took place at MoMA PS1 earlier this year, Alejandro Jodorowsky (Chilean, b. 1929) introduces his visionary 1973 film The Holy Mountain. Following the screening, which is presented in conjunction with To Save and Project, Jodorowsky will take part in an onstage conversation with Klaus Biesenbach, Director, MoMA PS1 and Chief Curator at Large, The Museum of Modern Art; and Joshua Siegel, Associate Curator, Department of Film, The Museum of Modern Art. The Holy Mountain is a surreal and picaresque satire depicting the journey of a Christ-like figure, the Thief, to a symbolic mountain. Jodorowsky immersed his actors in months of preparatory spiritual and occult exercises, and was also responsible for the costumes and set designs, and for cowriting the musical score. A quintessential cult film, The Holy Mountain famously played for 16 straight months at New York’s Waverly Theater. Special thanks to ABKCO Music & Records, Inc. Program 150 min.
Women’s Film Preservation Fund, Program 1
MoMA celebrates its ongoing relationship with New York Women in Film and Television (NYWIFT) with two programs of films preserved through its Women’s Film Preservation Fund (WFPF). The only fund of its kind, the WFPF was founded in 1995 by The Museum of Modern Art and NYWIFT in order to preserve the cultural legacy of women in the film industry. Both programs are organized by Anne Morra, Associate Curator, Department of Film, The Museum of Modern Art, in collaboration with Drake Stutesman, co-chair, The Women’s Film Preservation Fund.
Elaine Summers: Film and Dance Performances, 1964–1977
Program One revisits the films of choreographer/dancer Elaine Summers, whose innovative performances at New York’s Judson Memorial Church in the early 1960s remain influential. Screenings include Judson Fragments (1964, USA), with cinematography by Stan Vanderbeek, Ka Kwong, and Summers; Another Pilgrim (1968, USA), with Jon Hendricks, Rev. Al Carmines, Remy Charlip, and Sandra Neals; and Windows in the Kitchen (1977, USA), featuring a performance in The Kitchen’s 1970s Broome Street space with Matt Turney and music by Jay Clayton. Preservation coordinated by Orphan Film Symposium director Dan Streible, New York University Moving Image Archiving Preservation Program, Bill Brand, and the New York Public Library with support from the National Film Preservation Foundation.
Prints courtesy Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
Women’s Film Preservation Fund, Program 2
"Recording Something Essential": Hazel Greenwald, Esther McCoy, Marguerite Paris
All Women Are Equal
1974. USA. Marguerite Paris. 15 min.
Henrietta Szold
1946. USA. 32 min.
Dodge House 1916
1965. USA. Esther McCoy. 18 min.
Master Georgian Filmmaker Mikhail Kalatozov: Two Early Films
Jim Shvante (marili svanets) (Salt for Svanetia)
1930. USSR. Mikhail Kalatozov. 55 min.
Lursmani Cheqmashi (The Nail in the Boot)
1931. USSR. Mikhail Kalatozov. 50 min.
Survival City
1956. USA. Anthony Muto. 10 min.
Warlock
1959. USA. Edward Dmytryk. 122 min.
All That Jazz
1979. USA. Bob Fosse. 123 min.
The Adventures of Hajji Baba
1954. USA. Don Weis. 94 min.
The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing
1955. USA. Richard Fleischer. 109 min.
The Driver
1978. USA. Walter Hill. 91 min.
Kes
1970. Great Britain. Ken Loach. 111 min.
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
1943. Great Britain. Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger. 163 min.
Mikey and Nicky
1976. USA. Elaine May. 106 min.
The Films of Stuart Sherman, 1977–89
In excited anticipation of a more comprehensive, ambitious premiere of Stuart Sherman’s films in next year’s preservation festival, this program features a smaller selection of short pieces that relate to the influential performance artist’s table-top "Spectacles" of the 1970s. In addition to his moving-image work, Sherman (1945–2001) worked in a variety of other mediums, including poetry, sculpture, and collage, and he collaborated with Charles Ludlam in the early days of the Ridiculous Theatrical Company and with Richard Foreman's Ontological-Hysteric Theater. This program includes Scotty and Stuart (1977), Skating (1978), Camera/Cage (1978), Piano Music (1979), Theater Piece (1980), Typewriting (Pertaining to Stefan Brecht) (1982), Brecht Film (1985), Mr. Ashley Proposes (Portrait of George) (1985), Berlin Tour (1988), and Black-Eyed Susan (Portrait of an Actress) (1989). Newly preserved by The Museum of Modern Art with funding from The National Film Preservation Foundation.
The Velvet Underground Tarot Cards
1966. USA. Andy Warhol. 67 min.
Le Voyage dans la lune (A Trip to the Moon)
1902. France. Georges Méliès. 16 min.
Le Voyage extraordinaire (The Extraordinary Voyage)
2011. France. Serge Bromberg, Eric Lange. 60 min.
Pourquoi Israël (Israel, Why)
1973. France/Israel. Claude Lanzmann. 185 min.
Jack Smith Program 1
Respectable Creatures. 1950–66. USA. Directed by Jack Smith. 24 min.
Scotch Tape. 1959–62. USA. Directed by Jack Smith. 3 min.
Overstimulated. 1959–63. USA. Directed by Jack Smith. 5 min.
Flaming Creatures. 1962–63. USA. Directed by Jack Smith. 43 min.
Jack Smith Program 2
Yellow Sequence. 1963–65. USA. Directed by Jack Smith. 15 min.
Jungle Island. 1967. USA. Directed by Jack Smith. 20 min.
No President. 1967–70. USA. Directed by Jack Smith. 45 min.
Jack Smith Program 3
Normal Love
1963–65. USA. Jack Smith. 120 min.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and MoMA Present Saul Bass: A Life in Film & Design
Saul Bass (1920–1996) is internationally celebrated as one of the greatest designers of the twentieth century. Bass created some of the most compelling images of postwar visual culture, often in collaboration with his wife Elaine, and permanently transformed the worlds of corporate identity and graphic design. He is also legendary for his design work in film, particularly his iconic title sequences, and for his enduring collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock, Otto Preminger, and Martin Scorsese. This special event features the New York premiere of Saul and Elaine Bass's Academy Award-winning short Why Man Creates (1968), newly preserved by the Academy Film Archive, as well as a rich selection of title sequences, commercials, and corporate campaigns. The event marks the publication of a definitive new book, Saul Bass: A Life in Film & Design (Laurence King, 2011), designed by Jennifer Bass, Saul’s daughter, with an introduction by Martin Scorsese. Among the evening's guest presenters are the book's author, Pat Kirkham, a distinguished design historian who knew Bass personally; Chip Kidd, the award-winning contemporary graphic designer and writer noted for his brilliant book covers; and Kyle Cooper, a legendary graphic designer in his own right, with such unforgettable film title sequences as Se7en, X-Men: First Class, the Spider Man trilogy, and countless others. Program 100 min.
Jack Smith Program 4
I Was a Male Yvonne DeCarlo. 1967–70s. USA. Directed by Jack Smith. 28 min.
Song for Rent. 1969. USA. Directed by Jack Smith. 4 min.
Hot Air Specialists. 1980s. USA. Directed by Jack Smith. 7 min.
Cobra Woman. 1944. USA. Directed by Robert Siodmak. Screenplay by Gene Lewis, Richard Brooks. With Maria Montez, Lon Chaney, Jr., Sabu. 71 min.
A Celebration of George Kuchar: Rambunctious Rarities, Moody Masterpieces
This year’s edition of To Save and Project ends on a bittersweet note—but a hilarious and tender one nonetheless: we remember the American filmmaking legend George Kuchar (1942–2011) with a special presentation of five recently preserved films and one video work that span his half-century career—many of them made with his students at the San Francisco Art Institute. The artist Trisha Donnelly and the writer Bruce Hainley, who knew George well, will discuss his life and work (November 17 only). The program concludes by honoring George’s brilliantly talented twin brother and lifelong collaborator, Mike Kuchar, with a screening of his own outrageous, sexy 1996 video work Statue in the Park.
Mosholu Holiday. 1966. USA. “A special guest appearance by Canadian TV star Bill Ronald along with the massive presence of ‘Mrs. Bronx’ herself, Frances Leibowitz, and her girlfriend Iris, make this film a must-see for travel enthusiasts and horror fans” (Kuchar). Courtesy the Austrian Film Museum. 8 min.
Asphalt Ribbon. 1977. USA. “Adapted from a pamphlet of ‘sentimental essays.’ This film uses original text from the book, cuts it with sex, violence, rock n' roll, an actor driving a fake truck, and footage of actual trucks. The story is an ode to American truck drivers. This film has original music by the students” (Kuchar). Courtesy Harvard Film Archive. 19 min.
I, an Actress. 1977. USA. “This film was shot in 10 minutes with four or five students of mine at the San Francisco Art Institute. It was to be a screen test for a girl in the class. She wanted something to show producers of theatrical productions, as the girl was interested in an acting career. By the time all the heavy equipment was set up the class was just about over; all we had was 10 minutes. Since 400 feet of film takes 10 minutes to run through the camera ... that was the answer: Just start it and don't stop till it runs out. I had to get into the act to speed things up so, in a way, this film gives an insight into my directing techniques while under pressure” (Kuchar). Courtesy Pacific Film Archive. 9 min.
Wild Night in El Reno. 1977. USA. “This film documents a thunderstorm as it rages in full fury above a motel in May on the southern plains. There's sun, wind, clouds, rain and electrical pyrotechnics…with perhaps a glimpse of a fleeting human figure. But only a glimpse” (Kuchar). Courtesy Harvard Film Archive. 6 min.
Motel Capri. 1986. “Mother Superior commits murder to save a soul from eternal damnation. Motel Capri was original material improvised as we went along. Scenes were concocted to suit the individual members of the class and my Catholic upbringing, plus immersion in horror movies, helped mold the plot. The class also was populated by students interested in splatter and macho cycle gear. Joyce Wieland, the Canadian artist and filmmaker is featured here as the mother superior. She was reading her lines in the Marlon Brando technique (they were pasted onto the face of her student co-star)” (Kuchar). Courtesy Harvard Film Archive. 18 min.
Statue in the Park. 1996. USA. Written and directed by Mike Kuchar. “Two strippers decide a walk in the park might lift their spirits, which do get a big boost when they contemplate a park monument dedicated to sailors in this audacious, ‘beefy’ romp” (Mike Kuchar). Courtesy Video Data Bank. 18 min.
Temple of Torment. 2006. USA. “There is so much to absorb: the wetness from the sky. The hooded figure in the box. A big plate of pasta, and that chair on wheels. Messages of moral guidance clash with actions that are on a collision course with dilapidation. And through it all the water runs, the fridge is full and hearts yearn for that which mellows the melody of God’s glockenspiel. For the winds of change rattle the bones of the grim reaper as he swings his scythe in rhythm to a cacophony of corruption intrinsic to this orchestra pit of purgatorial preludes and egg laying swan song" (Kuchar). Courtesy Video Data Bank. 18 min.
Hoop-La. 1933. USA. Directed by Frank Lloyd. Image courtesy of The Museum of Modern Art Film Stills Archive