FCAL nternational unveils its as the worldwide...
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16 Reprinted from Archive Zones, Spring 2016 Issue No. 97 © FOCAL International FOCAL International’s Chair Sue Malden was delighted to announce: “Bob has also accepted our invitation to present the Jane Mercer Memorial Lecture which will take place at ITV on the Southbank 24 th May, just two days before the Awards Ceremony on 26 th May. It will be a wonderful bonus to a thrilling week of archive industry events.” STOP PRESS! EVENT FOCAL INTERNATIONAL AWARDS 2016 Tickets Tickets are on sale already, so you’ll need to hurry if you want to book tickets or a table http://www.focalint.org/focal-international-awards. And there are still some Sponsorship Opportunities available – please talk with ANNE JOHNSON at FOCAL International if you are interested +44 (0)20 7663 8090 or +44 (0) 7712 6635 05. To see the full list of 191 submissions and final nominations, click on the category drop-down list here http://www.focalint.org/focal- international-awards/2016/the-focal-international-awards-2016. The most highly-prized Awards in the archive industry will again attract a star-studded worldwide audience to The Lancaster London Hotel on Thursday, May 26. Presenting the 13 th annual FOCAL International Awards, in association with AP, will be former BBC Chief News Reporter, Kate Adie. The Awards cover every activity in the archive industry and associated media. Producers, directors and technical headline- makers honour their own in 17 categories which recognise the creative use of footage in all variety of genres, across all media platforms as well as the contribution made to the global production industry by archivists, film libraries, researchers and technicians, plus the work done to restore and preserve those irreplaceable assets. Unprecedented! Organiser of the Awards competition, Julie Lewis, promises, “It’s going to be another gripping competition. We received 191 submissions from 17 countries – amazing archive heavy productions featuring, for example, Amy Winehouse, Steve McQueen, Marlon Brando and Kurt Cobain all vying for a place in the final nominations – and that is just in the Cinema category! We also have an unprecedented 12 nominations for the Jane Mercer Footage Researcher of the Year Award. So it’s going to be a very tight race in all categories. Our amazing team of over 50 international jurors have been watching submissions for weeks to compile the shortlists in all 16 categories.” “And the nominations are… The United States is well represented in the Footage Researcher of the Year nominations – from a very strong field of 12 entries. And, adds Julie Lewis, “We are delighted with both the international turnout and the prevalence in this year’s shortlist of so many highly- acclaimed archive-based films such as Amy, Cobain and Best of Enemies.” Lifetime Award for lifetime preservationist… FOCAL International honour Robert Gitt – “national treasure” and ‘King’ of stunning restorations The climax of the FOCAL International Awards Gala will be the presentation of FOCAL’s annual Lifetime Achievement Award. The ‘gift’ of the FOCAL International Executive, this year it goes to arguably the most famous living archivist, whose international reputation has been forged in a career spanning over 50 years. Robert Gitt is recognised as one of the foremost experts in the preservation and restoration of motion pictures. Director Martin Scorsese who endorsed his nomination, commented, “Bob Gitt has dedicated his life to film preservation, and in all honesty I can’t think of anyone more deserving of FOCAL’s Lifetime Achievement Award.” In 1970, Gitt joined The American Film Institute in Washington, D.C., where he served initially as Film Booking and Technical Manager of the AFI Theater at the Kennedy Center. Three years later, he became AFI’s Technical Officer and began to work on film restoration projects, including Frank Capra’s Lost Horizon (1937), which he completed at UCLA, and The Blot (1921), influential in cementing Lois Weber’s reputation as an important pioneer woman director. In 1977, he began work at UCLA Film & Television Archive as its first Preservation Officer, where he was actively involved in the preservation and restoration of hundreds of classic Hollywood films, both silent and sound. Most recently he was asked by Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker to supervise the digital restoration of perhaps the most beautiful Technicolor film of all time, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s The Red Shoes (1948), in collaboration with the BFI and ITV. Kate Adie
Transcript of FCAL nternational unveils its as the worldwide...
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FEATURE
Reprinted from Archive Zones, Spring 2016 Issue No. 97 © FOCAL International
FOCAL International’s Chair Sue Malden was delighted to announce: “Bob has also accepted our invitation to present the Jane Mercer Memorial Lecture which will take place at ITV on the Southbank 24th May, just two days before the Awards Ceremony on 26th May. It will be a wonderful bonus to a thrilling week of archive industry events.”
STOP
PR
ESS!
EVENT
F O C A L I N T E R N AT I O N A L AWA R D S 2016
FOCAL International unveils its as the worldwide archive
TicketsTickets are on sale already, so you’ll need to hurry if you want to book tickets or a table http://www.focalint.org/focal-international-awards. And there are still some Sponsorship Opportunities available – please talk with ANNE JOHNSON at FOCAL International if you are interested +44 (0)20 7663 8090 or +44 (0) 7712 6635 05.To see the full list of 191 submissions and final nominations, click on the category drop-down list here http://www.focalint.org/focal-international-awards/2016/the-focal-international-awards-2016.
The most highly-prized Awards in the archive industry will again attract a star-studded worldwide audience to The Lancaster London Hotel on Thursday, May 26. Presenting the 13th annual FOCAL International Awards, in association with AP, will be former BBC Chief News Reporter, Kate Adie.
The Awards cover every activity in the archive industry and associated media. Producers, directors and technical headline-makers honour their own in 17 categories which recognise the creative use of footage in all variety of genres, across all media platforms as well as the contribution made to the global production industry by archivists, film libraries, researchers and technicians, plus the work done to restore and preserve those irreplaceable assets.
Unprecedented!Organiser of the Awards competition, Julie Lewis, promises, “It’s going to be another gripping competition. We received 191 submissions from 17 countries – amazing archive heavy productions featuring, for example, Amy Winehouse, Steve McQueen, Marlon Brando and Kurt Cobain all vying for a place in the final nominations – and that is just in the Cinema category! We also have an unprecedented 12 nominations for the Jane Mercer Footage Researcher of the Year Award. So it’s going to be a very tight race in all categories.
Our amazing team of over 50 international jurors have been watching submissions for weeks to compile the shortlists in all 16 categories.”
“And the nominations are…The United States is well represented in the Footage Researcher of the Year nominations – from a very strong field of 12 entries. And, adds Julie Lewis, “We are delighted with both the international turnout and the prevalence in this year’s shortlist of so many highly-acclaimed archive-based films such as Amy, Cobain and Best of Enemies.”
Lifetime Award for lifetime preservationist…
FOCAL International honour Robert Gitt – “national treasure” and ‘King’ of stunning restorationsThe climax of the FOCAL International Awards Gala will be the presentation of FOCAL’s annual Lifetime Achievement Award. The ‘gift’ of the FOCAL International Executive, this year it goes to arguably the most famous living archivist, whose international reputation has been forged in a career spanning over 50 years.
Robert Gitt is recognised as one of the foremost experts in the preservation and restoration of motion pictures. Director Martin Scorsese who endorsed his nomination, commented, “Bob Gitt has dedicated his life to film preservation, and in all honesty I can’t think of anyone more deserving of FOCAL’s Lifetime Achievement Award.”
In 1970, Gitt joined The American Film Institute in Washington, D.C., where he served initially as Film Booking and Technical Manager of the AFI Theater at the Kennedy Center. Three years later, he became AFI’s Technical Officer and began to work on film restoration projects, including Frank Capra’s Lost Horizon (1937), which he completed at UCLA, and The Blot (1921), influential in cementing Lois Weber’s reputation as an important pioneer woman director.
In 1977, he began work at UCLA Film & Television Archive as its first Preservation Officer, where he was actively involved in the preservation and restoration of hundreds of classic Hollywood films, both silent and sound. Most recently he was asked by Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker to supervise the digital restoration of perhaps the most beautiful Technicolor film of all time, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s The Red Shoes (1948), in collaboration with the BFI and ITV.
Kate Adie
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Reprinted from Archive Zones, Spring 2016 Issue No. 97 © FOCAL International
EVENT
13th Awards night extravaganza industry honours its own
Testimonials“Bob has led the preservation and restoration team at UCLA for many years and is one of the world’s most admired and respected conservation and restoration experts,” said film historian Clyde Jeavons. “He has restored probably more important American movies – silent and sound, classic and obscure – than all the other US archivists put together, and has been a pioneer of techniques to recover early and late Technicolor and to restore the first Hollywood sound-on-disc systems, even working from cracked and broken shellac recordings. In short, he has helped to make available to the highest possible standards countless films threatened by loss and decay.”
“Bob Gitt set the standard for what we call film restoration,” said Grover Crisp, Sony Pictures EVP Asset Management, Film Restoration and Digital Mastering. “Film preservation existed prior to Bob Gitt, but the kind of restoration we know of today is the result of Bob’s standard-setting work for almost 40 years.”
Gitt has also specialised in resuscitating early sound films, including over a hundred 1926-1931 Vitaphone one-reel short subjects, and has lectured widely on the subject of film and sound preservation. His latest project is Part II of his epic History of Sound on Film (A Century of Sound, 1933-1975) – described as “a gold mine for specialist researchers and technology buffs” – which was launched earlier this year on BluRay.
These are extracts from key endorsements of Robert Gitt’s nomination received by FOCAL International:
“Thelma and I had the pleasure of working very closely with Bob on the restoration of Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger’s The Red Shoes (1948). During what became a nearly three-year project, Bob carefully and patiently led his team at the UCLA Film & Television Archive through the painstaking process of reviewing over 200 reels of 35mm nitrate and acetate materials, including the original nitrate negatives that were the source of the restoration and several vintage Technicolor dye-transfer prints that were used as reference. This was the first digital restoration carried out by The Film Foundation and UCLA. Bob brought his deep knowledge of nitrate film, his expert eye, and his passion for preservation to the project, translating it beautifully to the digital realm. The result was a truly stunning restoration.”
Martin Scorsese
Bob is not only one of the world’s greatest living experts in the field of film and sound preservation and restoration, he is also one of the most generous collaborators in the film archive business. Many archivists around the globe owe a great deal to him for the way he has shared his knowledge and expertise over the years, and in the USA he has trained many of its leading film preservationists.
Anne Fleming Ex-Curator, NFTVA/BFI
Sony Pictures and UCLA collaborated on a number of film restoration projects throughout the 1990s that were mostly overseen by Bob Gitt. It was working with and observing Bob that helped me to develop our own restoration programme. It was his leave-no-stone-unturned approach to evaluation and testing on every project, and a decidedly unique dedication to perfectionism, that I frankly stole and have emulated ever since.
Grover CrispSony Pictures EVP
Working with Bob was always a pleasure as he would generously share his insight and technical expertise. Of all the many restoration projects supported by TFF, the one that stands out is The Night of the Hunter with the incredible out-take footage of Charles Laughton directing that Bob preserved and produced as a two-hour presentation. The resulting film and Bob’s narration are a master class in filmmaking. His contribution to cinema history is immeasurable and he is truly deserving of this honour.
Margaret Bodde The Film Foundation
Robert Gitt is a national treasure. Through his work as senior film preservationist at UCLA Film & Television Archive, Bob Gitt helped establish modern methods of film preservation and restoration…His restorations of such films as Becky Sharp (1935), Stagecoach (1939), and My Darling Clementine (1946) are legendary. Over his long career until his retirement in 2007, Bob Gitt also trained a whole generation of film preservationists.
Dr. Jan-Christopher HorakDirector, UCLA Film & Television Archive
Robert Gitt
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Reprinted from Archive Zones, Spring 2016 Issue No. 97 © FOCAL International
EVENT
Final Nominations – FOCAL International
To see the full list of 191submissions to the FOCAL International Awards from 17 countries click on the category drop-down list here http://www.focalint.org/focal-international-awards/2016/the-focal-international-awards-2016
To buy tickets for the FOCAL International Awards Ceremony 26 May at the Lancaster London Hotel go to http://www.focalint.org/focal-international-awardsU
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Best Use of Footage in a History Production
Sponsored by
A German Youth (Une Jeunesse Allemande) Local Films/Alina Film/BlinkerFilmProducktion (France, Switzerland, Germany)
Every Face Has a Name Auto Images (Sweden)
Red Gold (L’Or Rouge) Vivement Lundi ! (France)
Best Use of Footage in a Current Affairs Production
Sponsored by
Clockwork Climate Artline Films (France)
India’s Daughter Assassin Films (UK)
The Queen of Ireland Blinder Films (Ireland)
Best Use of Footage in a Factual Production
Sponsored by
Best of Enemies Magnolia Pictures (USA)
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution Firelight Films, Inc (USA)
The Killing Fields of Dr. Haing S. Ngor DeepFocus Productions, Inc (USA)
Best Use of Footage in an Entertainment Production
Sponsored by
A City Dreaming Indie Movie Company for BBC NI (UK)
Best of Enemies Tremolo Productions/Magnolia Pictures (USA)
Children Over Time RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana (Italy)
Best Use of Footage in an Arts Production
Sponsor sought
Arena: Night and Day BBC (UK)
By Sidney Lumet A Production of Augusta Films and American Masters Pictures in association with RatPac Documentary Films, Steven Spielberg’s Righteous Persons Foundation, Matador and Anker Productions, Inc. (USA)
Imagine: The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson Essential Arts Entertainment/Nitrate Film/ BBC (UK)
Best Use of Footage in a Music Production
Sponsored by
Amy On The Corner (UK)
Cobain: Montage of Heck End of Movie, LLC (USA)
Eurovision at 60 BBC Entertainment Production (UK)
Best Use of Sports Footage
Sponsored by
Building Jerusalem New Black Films Limited (UK)
Free to Run Point Prod/Yuzu Productions/Eklektik Productions (Switzerland, France, Belgium)
I Believe In Miracles Baby Cow Productions and Spool Films (UK)
Best Use of Footage in an Advert or Short Production
Sponsor sought
Gatorade ‘Heritage’ Stalkr/TBWA/Chiat/Day (USA)
Lenor ‘Odes to Clothes: Marvellous Scarf ’ The Director Studio for Grey Düsseldorf (UK/Germany)
MTV ‘Tagline Here’ Stalkr/ Ghost Robot (USA)
Best use of Footage about the Natural World
Sponsor sought
Beasts Behaving Badly Barcroft Productions (UK)
The Nature of Things: Jellyfish Rule! CBC (Canada)
Wild 24 NHNZ / Nat Geo Wild (New Zealand)
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Reprinted from Archive Zones, Spring 2016 Issue No. 97 © FOCAL International
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Awards In Association With AP Archive
Best Use of Footage on non-Television Platforms
Sponsor sought
Bitter Lake BBC Productions (UK)
Britain on Film BFI (UK)
The Beatles 1+ Video Collection Apple Corps Limited (UK)
Best Use of Footage in a Cinema Release
Sponsored by
Amy On The Corner (UK)
Cobain: Montage of Heck End of Movie, LLC (USA)
Free to Run Point Prod/Yuzu Productions/Eklektik Productions (Switzerland, France, Belgium)
The Jane Mercer Footage Researcher of the Year Award
Sponsored by
Colleen Cavanaugh Anthony, Alexis Owens (Stalkr/USA) Transparent – Title Sequence Season 2; The Big Short; MTV Tagline Here
Jessica Berman Bogdan (USA) Cobain: Montage of Heck; Narcos
Prudence Arndt, Deborah Ford (USA/France) Free To Run
Footage Employee of the Year
Sponsored by
Tim Emblem English (BBC Studios and Post Production)
Paul Davis (Getty Images)
Bhirel Wilson (BBC Motion Gallery/Getty Images)
Best Archive Restoration/Preservation Project or Title
Sponsor sought
La Noire de... Restored by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project in collaboration with the Sembene Estate, INA, Eclair Laboratories and Centre National de Cinematographie. Restoration carried out at Cineteca di Bologna (USA/Italy)
MariusCompagnie Mediterraneenne de Films-MPC and the Cinematheque franÇaise, with the support of the CNC, the Franco-American Cultural Fund DGA-MPA-SACEM-WGAW, the help of ARTE France Cinema Department, the Audiovisual Archives of Monaco, and the participation of SOGEDA Monaco/Digimage Classics (France)
The Memory of JusticeRestored by the Academy Film Archive in association with Paramount Pictures and The Film Foundation. Restoration funding provided by The Material World Charitable Foundation, Righteous Persons Foundation, and The Film Foundation. (USA)
Varieté Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung and Filmarchiv Austria (Germany/Austria) Sponsored by VGF Verwertungsgesellschaft für Nutzungsrechte an Filmwerken mbH Förderverein „Freunde und Förderer des deutschen Filmerbes e.V.“
Footage Library of the Year
Sponsored by
Historic Films Archive
Huntley Film Archives
Kinolibrary
Lifetime Achievement Award
A gift of the FOCAL International Executive
Robert Gitt
Who Will Be the Winners This Time?
The Queen of Ireland
Children Over Time
Amy
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
Cobain: Montage of Heck
