Established in 1995 by New York Women in Film and Television (NYWIFT) and The Museum of Modern Art, the Women’s Film Preservation Fund (WFPF) is the only program in the world exclusively dedicated to the preservation of the cultural legacy of women in the film industry.
Since 1995 the WFPF has provided support for more than 100 American short and feature films. The fund’s core mission is to identify and preserve works in which the role of women was fundamental to the production; to present the preserved films in a public forum; to encourage scholarship about women in film history; and to partner with organizations demonstrating similar goals. The WFPF is especially respected at MoMA as a former Chief Curator of the Department of Film, Mary Lea Bandy (1943–2014), was a founder.
In celebration of WFPF’s 20th anniversary, MoMA has invited the WFPF programming committee to select films that reflect the essential role of women in the continuing development of cinema as an art form.
Organized by Anne Morra, Associate Curator, Department of Film, MoMA, with WFPF programming committee members Ina Archer, Kirsten Larvick, Susan Lazarus, Raquel Salazar-Foster, and Kim Tomadjoglu.
Special thanks to New York Public Library Dance Collection; Indiana University; George Eastman House; Women Make Movies; The Library of Congress; Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research; UCLA Film & Television Archive; Universal Pictures; Northeast Historic Film; Academy Film Archive; Duke University; Pacific Film Archives; Chicago Film Archive; Park Circus; and Cinema Conservancy.
