Moving image review (1988]-)

A recent letter from Arthur March, the curator of the New England Ski Museum in Franconia, New Hampshire, asked me to clarify our organization's geographical range. While NHF has clearly defined its moving image preservation mission, we intentionally left the geographical range open, stating only that we are concerned with "northern New England." For now, as we are based in Maine, our primary focus is here. As our resources expand, so will our services and the area to which we can supply them. Cooperation with other organizations will always be our key to success. As one of our goals is to foster awareness of current moving image collections in New England, I'd like to introduce to you a few of the colleagues in New Hampshire with whom we share material and experiences. Larry Benaquist's film studies program at Keene State College, Keene, and his compilation film, Through the Eye of the Camera: the Changing Rural World of New Hampshire in the Thirties, introduce students and the public to area archival film. Mary Beth Stock at the Southeastern Regional Education Service Center in Deny is preparing a videodisc of stills and archival footage of New Hampshire The New England Ski Museum's film collection documents nordic skiing from the 1930 to 1960s. This is teacher Hannes Schneider, founder of Cranmore Mountain. for school use. If you have or know of material that might be useful to this project, please call 603 432-9442. Shaler McReel ofde Rochemont Films, inc. in Newington is helping NHF list and locate Louis de Rochemont 's New England productions, which began with a 1915 Maine newsreel and include the 1949 feature Lost Boundaries with Mel Ferrer, made in Kennebunk, Kittery and Portsmouth. John Bardwell at the University of New Hampshire Department of Media Services is identifying and cataloguing a photo: New England 'Ski Museum large collection of New Hampshire and Maine logging footage, which includes a film on woods work, King Spruce, which is available on videotape. Our common work moves us all along the road to saving and learning to use northern New England's moving image heritage. David S. Weiss Why Not Project Fragile Film? by Pamela Wintle, Archivist Smithsonian Institution Human Studies Film Arhives. Scenario: In a trunk in your aunt 's attic you find some rolls of 8mm film. She remembers that they were filmed by her father in the 1940s, and the projector broke twenty years ago. The films have not been shown since. A friend loans you a projector and the family is called together. The lights are turned out, the first image flickers on the screen — it is a family picnic. Afterwards, when the lights are turned on, family members reminisce and laugh over the antics of relatives. Realistically, however, chances are greater the scenario ended sadly, with the projector severely damaging the film, possibly so badly that the screening concluded abruptly. Even new projectors subject film to stress. As every school audiovisual spe cialist, film librarian and distributor knows, films wear out. An old, poorly maintained projector and an inexperienced operator are a ruthless combination . Film ages. It becomes less flexible and it shrinks. Depending on the storage history of the film, these problems can range from minor to severe. Other problems caused by mishandling include broken and torn film, shredded perforations, burns, separation of emulsion from the base and bad splices. "Repairs" are sometimes made with paper clips, surgical adhesive tape, scotch tape, masking tape and staples. All of these can cause further irreversible damage to the film. Severe perforation damage and tearing make it very difficult, if not im possible, to make copies. If that film or section of film is unique, it is lost forever. (continued on pg. 7)