Re: Lost Films

From: Andy Ditzler (email suppressed)
Date: Mon Oct 20 2008 - 17:55:55 PDT


In 1965 Andy Warhol made a series of videos using an early Norelco video
recorder. Though the tapes survive, they are "lost" in the sense that
there are no existing machines which can play them. The only one of
these tapes that can be seen is one of Edie Sedgwick, which is playing
on a video monitor in Warhol's film "Inner and Outer Space." (I think it
was Callie Angell who observed the irony that a 16mm film is the only
viewable record of these early videotapes.)

Warhol's film known as "Andy Warhol Films Jack Smith Filming Normal
Love," a single reel documenting the production of an outdoor scene in
Normal Love, was seized by police in New York in the early 1960s and to
my knowledge has not been recovered.

Continuing with the New York underground, aren't some of Bill Vehr's
films missing? And all of Jerry Joffen's? I'm sure there are more
examples from this era.

All of Kenneth Anger's films prior to Fireworks are considered lost, as
is his film "Thelema Abbey" (1955). There is also Anger's "The Love That
Whirls" (1949), the footage for which was confiscated by the lab.

Andy Ditzler
Atlanta, GA

----- Original Message -----
From: "Christiane Gruen" <email suppressed>
To: <email suppressed>
Sent: Thursday, October 16, 2008 4:43 AM
Subject: Lost Films

> Dear all,
>
> I am writing on behalf of the 'Deutsche Kinemathek - Museum für Film
> und Fernsehen in Berlin', where we are currently preparing 'Lost
> Films', a web-based project that aims to provide a common platform for
> users to share information concerning films known or believed to be
> lost.
>
> The project went into operation in June last year, and will finish in
> November, when the 'Lost Films' website officially goes online. The
> first stage was a Wiki (http://www.lost-films.eu), that was used to
> gather initial titles. Around 400 titles were submitted by various
> specialists, from which 35 were then selected to launch the new
> database.
>
> We are currently gathering, selecting and digitising documents
> (scripts, stills, posters, press items, music scores, and film clips,
> etc.) to illustrate the 35 chosen titles. At the same time, we are
> inputting basic information concerning other lost films compiled from
> various sources, to provide potential users with a starting point for
> contributing knowledge and documents of their own in future. Presently
> we have over 1300 titles.
>
> The entries mostly concentrate on narrative film. However, we would
> very much like to expand our current entries to include more
> experimental films.
>
> So if anybody knows of any experimental films, which are believed
> lost, please post to the list or get in touch with us at the email
> addresses listed below.
>
> Thanks!
>
> The 'Lost Films' team
> Jürgen Keiper (email suppressed), Christiane Grün
> (email suppressed), Oliver Hanley
> (email suppressed)
>
>
> 'Lost Films' is a collaboration between the Deutsche Kinemathek, the
> Bundesarchiv Filmarchiv, the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, the
> centre nationale de la cinematographie, Filmarchiv Austria and the
> Narodni Filmovy Archiv (Czech National Film Archive). It is financed
> by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural
> Organisation).
> --
> Psssst! Schon vom neuen GMX MultiMessenger gehört? Der kann`s mit
> allen: http://www.gmx.net/de/go/multimessenger
>
>
> __________________________________________________________________
> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
>

__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.