October 2007 Archives

If you were, like me, bodily removed by police from the Herzog event due to overcrowding, you can console yourself by downloading the audio file of the Slought Foundation event here, or catch a video excerpt of his Penn talk here.

In conjunction with a Slought Foundation exhibition, West Philly is host to a different Herzog event every night this week. Tonight a screening of Encounters at the End of the World at the International House, tomorrow Herzog in conversation with Paul Holdengraber, tackling the question "Was the 20th Century a Mistake?" Finally, on Thursday, "a public conversation between Werner Herzog and Karen Beckman." See the Penn Cinema Studies schedule of events for details.

I first saw Fizcarraldo and Aguirre with my family, when I was in high school. It was a strange double feature viewed from my seat on the plaid couch, alongside my parents and sister. My sister laughed a lot. I knew I was watching something extraordinary. It was the burgeoning home video industry that made that revelation possible for me as a teenager. A new popular audience for Herzog's work seems to have sprung up since Grizzly Man. It is very exciting to have events like this in Philadelphia, and it is a fitting time for such an exhibition.

The 2007 conference of the Association for Moving Image Archivists was held this autumn in Rochester NY, the home of Kodak, the George Eastman House, and RIT's Image Permanence Institute. This was my first time attending AMIA. I was impressed by the diverse array of professionals who had gathered, including technicians, administrators, students, archivists, educators, artists, librarians, footage providers, vendors, and, of course, the great many who wear several of these hats simultaneously. I wasn't able to be there for the whole conference, but the sessions I attended clearly reflected a shared passion for and commitment to the restoration and preservation of the artifacts of our visual culture. Highlights for me included:

• an excellent presentation from three NYU students on their "Continually Unwinding Project: A Story of Research and Recovery of a Series of 1930’s New Jersey Local Films." This presentation underscored the importance of returning an orphaned film to the local site of production and the challenges of finding an archival home for such films.
• a fun screening of Scopitones, "Jukebox Films From the 60’s." Lovely babes, ludicrous dance routines, and glorious Technicolor. The very thought of the interior mechanics of the Scopitone jukebox is at once alarming and exhilarating.
• a discussion on "Simplifying Licensing in the Digital Era" in which a panel of mostly ACSIL members presented their proposal for a sane licensing model that focuses more on audience than on format.