Jaws. 1975. USA. Directed by Steven Spielberg. On view in Hot and Humid: Summer films from the Archives
In 2008 the Department of Film “celebrated” summer with a short series of films from MoMA’s collection set during the season in which everyone relaxes in the sun, and most people end up being caught off-guard.
"Those Pictures at the 'Movies' started all my troubles," from a postcard series published by the SAS Company, 1914. The Museum of Modern Art, Department of Film Special Collections
Okay, they were previously 0% findable. Still, by adding the MoMA Film Department Special Collections inventory to the MoMA website, film researchers can now discover over 100 primary-source collections on film-related figures and topics.
In Heaven There Is No Beer? 1984. USA. Directed by Les Blank
Sally Berger interviews documentary filmmaker Les Blank on the occasion of his MoMA film retrospective Les Blank: Ultimate Insider
Bye Bye Birdie. 1963. USA. Directed by George Sidney
As a regular contributor to Inside/Out, I endeavor to bring topics related to MoMA’s Department of Film and cinema history to you, the reader. I am always interested in talking and writing about films, debating their aesthetic merits, content, form, performances—and I am also very curious to know which films my colleagues across the Museum are seeing, and why.
Transylvanian International Film Festival
To many of us who love the idea of vampires and Dracula, the notion of a Transylvanian International Film Festival (TIFF) sounds like something dreamed up by Mel Brooks, funny and weird. But surprise, this festival in Cluj, a city—at once medieval, Austro-Hungarian, and modern—of about 350,000 by the foothills of the Carpathian mountains, not only celebrated its 10th anniversary this week, but is a knockout of a film festival.
The Loveless. 1982. USA. Written and directed by Kathryn Bigelow, Monty Montgomery
French-Caribbean filmmaker Euzhan Palcy (b. Martinique, 1958) creates politically engaged work exploring themes of race, gender, and social justice from a decidedly feminist perspective. She has written, produced, and directed over 15 fiction features and documentaries since 1983, when her first film, Rue Cases-Nègres (Sugar Cane Alley) won a Silver Lion award at the Venice Film Festival. The director came to The Museum of Modern Art for the opening of her first U.S. career retrospective, Filmmaker in Focus: Euzhan Palcy</a>, (in the MoMA theaters through May 30) and spoke with us about her earliest recollections of filmgoing; her experience as a black woman in the film business; her breakthrough debut; and such signature films as A Dry White Season
Renowned Irish actor Gabriel Byrne joined us to discuss Revisiting The Quiet Man: Ireland on Film</a>, an exhibition he curated with the Irish Film Institute and MoMA. Using John Ford’s iconic 1952 film The Quiet Man as a point of departure, the exhibition examines cinematic depictions of the Irish—in both American and Irish films—from 1910 to the present day.
Film canisters holding 35mm print of Dr. No
James Bond took up residence at MoMA 25 years ago this June. You might have thought a posh London apartment or a secluded villa on the Caribbean island of Mustique might better suit the suave international man of intrigue, but in fact Bond—well, the 35mm films at least—resides in Hamlin, Pennsylvania, zip code 18427.
With Turner Classic Movies (TCM) celebrating MoMA’s film-preservation work with a special 24-hour festival (all day today!) featuring 14 preserved films, I thought it made good sense to write about our efforts to preserve films, the background and importance of film preservation, and about the Celeste Bartos Film Preservation Center, where this valuable works take place and where the Museum stores all of its films in climate-controlled conditions to prevent any further deterioration.
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