From the celebra ted docum entary fi lm maker and cinema historian
THEAFI?
Basil Wright
by Austin Lamont
An idiosyncratic history & apprecia tion of the movies .. .
WTIlIER
On December '1 6, the House o f Rep resenta ti ves ddc<1t c d an I.?n"b l in~ b ill which would have provided tht:.' American Film Institute w ith d irect federal fund ing.
... from Vitascope to Video, from Melies to Lasl Tango "A big, b ri ght, breezy mo ns ter of a book . . o ne trusts his eye, his en thus iasm, his experie nce" - Rober t Mazzocco, N ew York Review of Books " He is one of the treasures of o ur ci nema [a nd ] a brill ia nt teacher ... he has a lovely w it .. ," - London T im es " His pages b urst with ent h us ias m ... hi s can vas is large and always alive. - Kirkus Reviews 1I
709 pages (including a 22-page index) • $15 • Knopf ~
84
JAN.·FEB. 1975
The bill , HR17021, was defea ted by a Iwoto-o ne vote. The I-Io llse defeat kilk'I.:i any Se nat e action b u t the b ill ma y be r('introduced in the 1975 Cong ress by it s original sponsor, Rep resentative John Brademas of Indiana. Most o f the pro ple in thl' non -t heatrical film commun ity who have heard of thl' AFI have heard so meth in g negative about it , and have heard d isappo inting t hi r~ gs about its di rector, Geo rge Stevens, Jr. 1 hl' plain truth , as thl' AFl's rccord ckarly shows, is that Steve ns is mainl y interes ted in the Ho llywood fi lm industry; <md even when the AF I had money, thl' film commun itv outside of Ho llywood got li ttle of it, despitl' the ir obvious need s." ' ''' hen Ihe AF I was fo unded , one purpose was to coo rdi lldte, serve , a nd aid the film com mu nity as an umbrell el org,1I1ization. It didn ' t. The fi lm com rTHlni ty found out that the AF I wasn't rl'ally interested in se rvin g thl' no n -t hea trica l secti o n , that Gco rge Steve ns, Jr. d id n' t live u p to hi s com mi tment s to them , and th at they would have to do their own coo rd inatin g and get their aid elsewhere. And so they have. One recen t exarnpk' is thl' COl11l11 it tee on Film and TV Resou rc/.:.'s and Sl'rvict."5 (Thl' Moho nk Confl'rence) which was co nceived a nd o rgan izl:.'d o u tside of the A FI and funded by fo u nda tions; their report is du e in ea rly s p ring. A seco nd is the Associa tion o f Ind epende n t Vidl'o and Fi lmmake rs, a new trade association in 0Jl'W Yo rk fina nced by members' due s a nd a fou ndatio n gran t. The A FI directly fund s onl y two ch ief ac ti vities; the AF I Cata log, and thL' Center for Advilncl'd Fil m S tud y in Beverl y Hill s. Mos t of the res t o f its activitil'S, incl ud ing its grants to independen t filmmake rs, a re handled by co ntract (no t by grant) from th e Na tio nal Endowment. Under the defeated bill, the AF I wo uld nu longer have had any th ing to do with
the Nationa l Endow men t for th e Arts. A reading of th l' b ill gives il hint of w hat the new AF I wou ld have been li ke . ThL' bill p rovided for about fi fty per cen t gove rn me nt rep resenta tion on the AFI Board of Trus tees. It dl so gave the AF I powe r to " undertake and coo rd inate ... the prod uction of fi lms for charitable, patriotic, l'd lIca tional, or other p ubl iC purposes"; the AFI could also co nt ract out s uch film s . It so u nded ve rv m u c h as if the AFI was planni ng to bL:comt' <1 producing o rga n ization , per ha ps simil.1f to the Na tional Film Board of Canada. If this did happe n, the AF I as it wa s origina lly con cei ved would have wit hered away, w hich co uld have mean t abando n ment of, amo n g other th ings, the u n fi n is hed AF I Cat,llog - a serio us loss. Rep resentat ivl' Brademas, s pon so r o f the AFI bill, ass u res us that the Natio nal Endowml'nt for the Arts wo uld continue to makl' fil m grants, but no longL'r to tIll' AF I. T he En dowmen t's Publ ic Med i;"! Panel, which screens all vidl:.'O .lnd fi lm appl ica tio ns, is made li p of a broad ly represen tative gro u p of film experts w hosl' decis io ns have been fa ir to the entire film community, and w hose gra nts hnve been \veJ I-ad minislL'red . The film community it self ha s bt..:.coll1e more ex pe rienced at coope rat ion and in mak ing g ro u p dec ision s. But perha ps an umbrella o rga n iz<l ti on would s till be needed , a nd so me of the th ings it migh t want to look into are more coo pera tion betwcen Hollywood and the non- th eatrical fi lm comm u nity; dis tributi on of no n -t heatrica l fi lms; fu rth er development of regiona l fi lm s tu dy ~en t e rs and cincl11.1t hequl's; s tron ge r loca l him organ iza tions; accrl'd it atio n fo r film schoo ls; and a cod~ of eth ics fo r fil m fes tiva ls . Th e best way to keep in fo rmcd abo u t any future bi ll is th rougJ~ yo ur loc,a l fi l ~11 organization. Meanwlll lc there s s tili somethin g yo u Cel n d o: wri te to S C' n a t ~ r Pel! a n d ask th at fu nd ing for the Pub li c Media section of the Na tio nal Endowmen t fo r th e A rts be inc reased in the futurc. Th a t's w here th e non - theat ri c., 1 film comm u ni ty's leadersh ip is c0I11.i n9 fr~m no \\', and that's where leadershi p In fi lm will be co ming from in th e fu ture. Yo u can gct f urth ~ r in format ion o n the AFI bill, or regis ter yo ur op inion, with a ny of t he fo ll owi ng Rep rese nt a tives and Senators: Jo hn Bradl'mas, C h<li rma n , H Oll se Select S u bcom mitt ee o n Ed u ca ti on. Was hing to n DC 20515. C laibo rne Pe n, Chai rman , Scna te Spt'cia l S u bcomm ittee on Arts <lnd Hu ma nit ies, Wa shing ton DC 20510 ~~~ TH E FOREMOST AU THORI TY ON
Aus tin LamonI. the former M,ln.l ging Editor of FILM CO ~I~I£S T, h.1 S returned to filmmaking .
FILM CARE AND REPAIR
• Film public.l tions documen ting th is ,lrc Film Society Review, January thro ugh May, 197 1; Film Qutlrkrly, Summer 1961 and Winll'r 1971-72; FilM COMMEST, S ummer 1971; Scrt.'t'/!. S ummer 1971 ; and Varie ty, August 20and Novi;'mbcr 27, 1974.
FILMTREAT INTERNATIONAL
SCRATCH REMOVAL . INSPECTION COMPlETE FILM REJUVENATION PEERLESS PROCESS FOR NEW FILM PROTECTION 130 SAlEM51 . GlE NOAlE CA 9120) . 21312' 2·2181 2SO W6' SI • HEW YORK NY 10023 • 21211" ·2SOO