Our favorite art form is crumbling away at an alarming rate. The world’s film heritage — barely a century old — is shriveling, disintegrating and turning to vinegar like so much cheap wine. In a statistic quoted in this short produced by Greg Ferarra of Cinema Styles, fully eighty percent of the films made before 1930 have been lost forever.
As film bloggers, we can do something about it: if we have disposable cash, we can donate to groups like the National Film Preservation Foundation. If we’re a little short (of cash, that is), we can still help by using our bully blog pulpit to help get the word out, and there’s no easier way than by participating in the upcoming For the Love of Film: The Film Preservation Blogathon, hosted by Ferdy on Films and Self-Styled Siren.
Though it’s too late for some films, there are still many worth saving, and we can all help. Join in beginning Valentine’s Day, February 14, for a week of fascinating reading, and maybe even a little rabble-rousing aimed at saving some endangered works of art.
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Thanks for the post and the support Rick. I look forward to your entry and hope we can raise awareness and money with this blogathon.
Me too.
Wonderful venture here. Kudos to Marilyn, Greg and you Rick!
Sam, thanks, but I’m not involved except in a planned participatory, and publicity sense. I am a very firm believer in the cause, however, and am looking forward to participating in the ‘thon.
Thanks, Rick, for this shout-out on the blogathon. The lead-up to the blogathon has been a flurry of activity on our fan page, but that will be good practice for the work of the blogathon itself. If you want me to publicize your planned contribution, let me know what it (they) is, and I’ll post it on the fan page and send it out into Twitterland.
I’m looking forward to getting some edumacation about classic film during that week – the FB posts have already been great.
Unrelated, Rick – I finally saw The Wages of Fear, yet another I’ve sought out from your posts here. Pretty terrific suspense, especially since it was my first viewing.
[...] Rick Olson speakson the “Film Preservation Blogothon” passionately at his “Coosa Creek Cinema” home: http://coosacreek.org/mambo/2010/01/22/preserving-our-favorite-art/ [...]
I’m glad you liked Wages, Daniel. It was suspenseful, but fell for my money a bit short of being a classic.
Thanks for posting. I’ll be sure to check it out.
[...] http://coosacreek.org/mambo Screen-cap from Roman Polanski's "Ghost Writer" Possibly related posts: [...]
Where art thou Rick? You are sorely missed in the blogosphere, and your analysis of French cinema remains the standard. But I know the demand that’s involved here day in and day out, and I am often questioning my own sanity for staying the course to this point.
But I wanted to say hello, and hope all is well with you my friend.