The Educational screen (c1922-c1956])

FILM COUNCIL MONTH Toward greater and better community use of informational films • Throughout April, local film councils in the U.S. will sponsor special film programs to give new emphasis and recognition to the role informational films are playing in community life and to encourage the organization of new film councils so that virtually every community in the country will know how to get and how to use informational films. Screenings of Film and You* the National Film Board of Canada production descrihing a film council in action, will be encouraged by 1<"CA as an effective way of showing people what films and film councils can do in and for a community. Some film councils have planned film festivals or film workshops ; others are conducting film and discussion programs focused on specific community interests and jjroblems. A list of suggested film material for such programs can he secured from FCA headquarters, 6 West Ontario St., Chicago 10. Eight authoritative and clearly-written guides on film council organization and activities are also available from FCA — a "how-to-do-it" pamphlet series, including the following titles : How to Form a Film Council, How to Obtain and Screen Films for Community Use, How to Conduct a Survey of Community Film Needs and Resources, How to Organize a Community Film Information Center, How to Organize and Conduct Commimity Film Workshops, How to Conduct a Community Film Forum, How to Evaluate Films for Community Use, How to Organize a Film Festival. (Entire series of eight pamphlets, $1.00; single pamphlets, 15c each.) Several film jjroducers are cooperating w'ith the FCA in making available selected lists of their films free of charge to any film council holding a community'film rally during April. Councils wishing to obtain films should write directly to the FCA national headc|uarters in Chicago. Film Councils Around the Nation • What's hai'pkning in the film council movement in the United States ? There is substantial evidence that the film council idea is taking hold, that community groups, all over the country are beginning to discover that they can, by cooperative effort, assure themselves a wider accessibility to films useful for information and education. This is occurring not only in the large cities, where it might be expected, but also in small towns and cities. Out in Colton, Oregon, for example, the Film Council is ccxjperating with the Clackamas County Parents Association in a drive to establish a film library and film information service ♦See the February issue of Educational Scrken, pages 66-77, for a description of what the film is about and how to get it. For additional information, write to FCA headquarters, 6 W. Ontario St., Chicago 10. in the Countv Lil)rary. Down in Greenville, South Carolina, the newly-formed Cireenvillc Film Council is working closely with the Hoard of l->lucation to establish a broad audio-visual i)rogram which will be of service to community and school alike. Des Moines, Iowa, organized a film council on December 6. 1948, which got off to a very fast Start. The local public library has assigned a special room to Council mend>ers which will be kept permanently set uj) for film showings. .A local 16mm film distributor donated to Council members a projector which will be kept in the library, and a film information center is lieing set up in the library itself. The Milwaukee, Wisconsin Film Council recently held a meeting in cooperation with the local Radio Council and is scheduling a special Motion Picture . Equipment Show as a feature of its annual meeting | in May. The Newark, New Jersey Film Council, which has long been one of the most active in the country, continues to hold regular monthly meetings featuring screenings of selected films, gets out a monthly "Film Council Notes" which features selected audio-visual materials on special subjects from time to time. The latest venture of the Newark Council is the sponsorship of a series of monthly meetings on unusual ex])erimental and documentary films, the first of which was held in February. In Spokane, Washington, the Film Council cooperated in the establishment of a union catalog of films available in Spokane and the Inland Em])ire. The catalog, when completed, will list over 2,000 film subjects available in and around that region, and will be maintained and kept uj) to date ])y the library. The Chicago Film Council inauginated a series of monthly film premieres of selected educational and informational subjects in January of this year, which is attracting considerable attention in the Windv City. These C(jnsist of the ])ick of new productions issued each month. The Cleveland l<"ihn Coiuicil is ])Ianning to put on an even bigger film festival on June 16 of this year than it did last year. In addition, it has sponsored a series of successfid film meetings during the past six months on such topics as traffic safety, films in industry, films for recreation, international understanding. The Charlotte, North Carolina Film Council has undergone reorganization within the past year and is acting as the Films Division of a new Charlotte Adult Education Council, a plan which the leaders feel will increase the use of films and audio-visual materials in informal youth and adult activities in that city. The Toledo, Ohio Film Council has held a series of successful film forum meetings — one of which, built around the film Ilniuan Gnnctli, got quite a spread in the local papers and resulted in increased interest in film council activities. In Ann Arbor. Michigan, the Film Council is sponsoring a public evening course on the problems of film utilization — in conjunction with the local ])uhlic school adult education program. The Massillon, Ohio Film Council has endeavored to work out an arrangement with the local public 152 Educational Screen