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Preserving the Theatrical Experience fx)r Older Films
ttnc key hi promoliiij; icportory exhibition is incrcasini; ilic availabilily of good-guality 35min prints of older U.S. films. Currently these prints are screened in a handful of commercial theaters, nonprofit niuseiuiis and archives, and tllm festivals. The commercial repeilory market is small compared to first run exhibition, but such screenings are important in continuing public education aKnit .Vmerican culture and film an.
Repert0i7 piDgrammers. in informal interviews this spring, believed that availability of titles in good-quality .^.Smm prints has declined over the past five years, although no national statistics have been kept lliey identified as unavailable many relatively recent independently produced narrative features as well as older "classic" titles, with the availability of the latter varying significantly among the major studios. The range of .^."^mm prints available to an exhibitor currently depends on per.sonal contacts, the theater's reputation, and its nonprofit or commercial status. A few difficulties nterely involve communication and logistics. Tracking down exhibition prints of older .American films is probably the most timeconsuming challenge of rei^rtory work and c;ui require contacting any number of studios, exhibitors, archives, or collectors.
ITie following four recommendations suggest various options to expand access to .American films as they were originally experienced.
Recommendation 4.1: Repertory Exhibitors
I'rgc rvhibitors of older American films to work as a group to incrciise 35mm print availability Representatives of several major studios have expressed genera! w illingness to strike new 35mm exhibition prints if preprint is a\ailable and if assured of a sufficient number of exhibition engagements. However, it is currently difficult to get collective feedback from exhibitors of older .American films. Many such exhibitors -the commercial theaters, nonprofit museums and archives, and film festivals-exchange information informally, but they lack a means of [xxiling preferences for print suppliers.
As a first step, the N.itional Film Preservation Board plans to convene a working session of studio, distributor, archive, and exhibitor representatives to review the current interrelationships of market demand, preservation work, and exhibition print prixiuction for older .American fiction films and look for ways to integrate exhibitor input. Ideally, after meeting informally. s(vciali/ed repertory exhibitors would choose to form an organization of their own to work with print suppliers.
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Rfdffvtiftf Film Prrserwuion