Educational screen & audio-visual guide (c1956-1971])

60 FOREC.js.srr EFLA in 1959 and in 1960 by Elliott Kone and Emily Jones 650 Probably the best word to describe EFLA's reaction to the past year is "breathless." While maintaining the regular membership program of evaluation cards, bulletins. Film Review Digests, infonnation service to members and others, and such other activities as conferences, film distribution, and publication sales, EFLA organized and presented its first American Film Festival. The Festival has been well reported in the audiovisual magazines and by word-of-mouth from those who attended, so it seems unnecessary here to give all the details. However, a few statistics may be in order. Film entries for the festival started coming in early in November. When the dust cleared away after the official closing date on January 20, we found that we had entry forms for 442 16mm films and 149 filmstrips. Thirty-five pre-screening committees sacrificed their time and eye-sight to rate the entries during February, and from their report, 250 films and 80 filmstrips were selected for showing at the festival. Since each of the committees contained at least six people (some had more) the number of volunteers involved in the pre-screening procedure was about 200. The festival itself took place at the Statler Hilton Hotel in New York on April 1-4, 1959. About 500 people registered, and many of them came back on succeeding days. Ten screening rooms were going full blast for three days and three rooms were used for the final showing of award-winning films on Saturday. Blue Ribbon Award trophies were given to 45 films and filmstrips at the award banquet on Friday night. The reaction to the festival has been overwhelmingly enthusiastic. A number of suggestions for improving the rating system have been made and there were the inevitable laments from those who found two films they wanted to see running at the same time. But considering it was a first effort, it was remarkably successful, and far exceeded the modest expectations of the EFLA staff. Perhaps the most gratifying aspect of the Festival was that everybody seemed to enjoy it. After-effects of the Festival are still being felt. One of these is a widening view of the scope of the 16mm film. EFLA has always interpreted the "Educational" in its title to mean education in the broadest sense, but there has been a tendency to assume that we are concerned only with classroom films. A look at the list of 32 categories and five major areas of interest in the festival should dispel this idea. Education and Information, Art and Culture, Religion and Ethics, Health and Medicine, and Business and Industry are major areas, in each of which EFLA has an interest ( and members ) ; and the festival not only dramatized that fact, but also stimulated the flow of information from one field to another. EFLA's role in the whole audiovisual field is basically different from that of any other organization, simply because it does cut across the boundry lines. There are organizations dealing with audiovisual programs in the schools, the public library, in the churches, in industry and many other areas. These groups work intensively within their own fields and their work is invaluable. But EFLA's program and interests are extensive—covering all sul?ject areas in dealing with Educational Screen and Audiovisual Guide — December, 1%9