This N That - February/March 2012
Free Movies! We like Free Movies! To paraphrase the Genie in The Thief of Bagdad, Free, Free, FREEEEE!
EUscreen is a digital repository for Europe's television heritage and there are links galore to sites for free public domain films of all sorts.
From their homepage:
The EUscreen project aims to promote the use of television content to explore Europe's rich and diverse cultural history.
It will create access to over 30,000 items of programme content and information, and by developing a number of interactive functionalities and dynamic links with Europeana it will prove valuable to the widest range of cultural, educational and recreational users.
EUscreen started in October 2009 and the project consortium, which includes 28 partner institutions from around Europe, is being co-ordinated by Utrecht University.
You can access films under categories such as:
Open Video Repositories
Video Footage for Remix and Reuse
Open-Source Films and Projects
Public Domain and Free-to-Share Film Listings
Watch Excellent Films for Free
Documentaries Free (and Less Free) to Share - Okay, so not everything may be free.
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Vitagraph Corporation was one of the earliest film studios on the East Coast. One of the last remaining structures from the studio, bearing the studio name, is in danger of being demolished. Please help by signing the petition at change.org to see if this landmark structure can be saved.
This excellent blog has some fabulous photos of the Vitagraph Stack, take a look.
Forgotten NY also has a piece and some cool historical photos.
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Kevin Brownlow will be in the Bay Area in March/April for screenings of the epic silent film, Napoleon. If you have not done so already, buy some tickets here. Mr. Brownlow will also be presenting a special lecture with clips on the restoration of Abel Gance's masterpiece at the Pacific Film Archive on Friday, March 30th at 7:00 pm. Buy tickets here.
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Speaking of Napoleon, do not forget that the San Francisco Silent Film Festival is offering a wonderful poster to commemorate the event. The poster is a classic and a classic one sheet size 27x40. You can buy one for $30 and it's gorgeous and well worth every penny. So, if you can't make the screenings, console yourself with this gorgeous poster!
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(Image: Flicker Alley)
Martin Scorcese's excellent and award winning film Hugo (based on the Brian Selznick novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret) features the Flicker Alley/Lobster Films restoration of George Melies 1902 film Le Voyage dans la lune. The film featuring original tints has been lovingly and painstakingly restored. A documentary about the restoration as well as the film itself will be available on DVD in a limited edition. The snippets shown in Hugo were magical. Melies was a magician on screen and off and his films still evoke wonder, amazement and delight over 100 years later.
AIR has a YouTube channel with clips from the restoration for your viewing pleasure!
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AIR has a YouTube channel with clips from the restoration for your viewing pleasure!
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In Palo Alto, near Stanford University is a gem of a theater on University Avenue. It's called, naturally, The Stanford Theater. Owned and operated by David Packard under the aegis The Stanford Theater Foundation, classic films from all eras are screened every week. The Stanford is also comitted to regular screenings of silent films.
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Because one can never read or see enough about George Melies these days. Brian Darr of the fabulous blog Hell on Frisco Bay has an excellent piece on Melies: Part 1 entitled The Making of George Melies and Part 2 The Remaking of Georges Melies over at Fandor. Give it a read, you won't be sorry!
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That's it for this edition of This N That!
Keep watching movies, they'll never let you down!
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Because one can never read or see enough about George Melies these days. Brian Darr of the fabulous blog Hell on Frisco Bay has an excellent piece on Melies: Part 1 entitled The Making of George Melies and Part 2 The Remaking of Georges Melies over at Fandor. Give it a read, you won't be sorry!
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That's it for this edition of This N That!
Keep watching movies, they'll never let you down!
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