As the third presentation in a new screening series of archival rediscoveries unspooling under the banner of “Lost and Found,” the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is pleased to present rare public presentations of several films featuring a founding member of the Academy and Oscar-winning actress, Mary Pickford.

Silent film star Mary Pickford was arguably the most famous woman of the early 20th century. Born in Canada, but making her early success as a child stage performer in New York, she appeared in an estimated 205 features and short films which made her among the most recognizable figures in the world. She was also an accomplished businesswoman, running her own production company and co-founding United Artists. Shortly after talkies ended the art of silent cinema, Pickford retired from the screen. The following restorations include several rarities, providing a unique opportunity to view the films of Mary Pickford as her contemporary audiences once did.

All films will be accompanied with live music performed by Michael Mortilla.

	Mary Pickford in Sparrows (1926)

Sparrows (1926)
Wednesday, June 14, 2006 – 7:30 p.m.
The Library of Congress’s restoration of Pickford’s penultimate silent film receives its West Coast premiere. Many people, including her business partner and on screen rival Charlie Chaplin, considered Pickford’s darkest feature to be her best. The film’s highly stylized set design and atmospheric cinematography illustrate the growing influence of German expressionist cinema on American filmmakers in the 1920s. The setting is ideal for this Dickensian tale of orphans on a baby farm, complete with an evil caretaker and an ominous-looking swamp. The feature will be preceded by the newly restored Sparrows trailer and outtakes.

Pickford and James Kirkwood in Behind the Scenes (1914)

Behind the Scenes (1914)
Wednesday, June 28, 2006 – 7:30 p.m.
Pickford stars as Dolly Lane, a successful stage actress who abandons her career to wed a handsome farmer. She soon discovers that love doesn’t curb her desire for the footlights. Director James Kirkwood, who worked with Pickford on nine features, does double duty here as the husband. The only known existing nitrate print with original tints was acquired from a private donor in the 1970s for $850 by James Card, the former curator of the motion picture collection at George Eastman House. This new Eastman House restoration, which utilized those original film elements, makes the film accessible to audiences for the first time in many years. The feature will be preceded by a Technicolor test of Mary Pickford from the set of The Black Pirate (1926), two rarely screened Pickford shorts, The Mirror and When the Cat’s Away, both from 1911, and the only surviving reel from her 1914 feature A Good Little Devil, directed by Edwin S. Porter.

“Lost and Found” is a new periodic screening series designed to showcase archival prints of films that have been recently rediscovered, or restored from new materials that improve the presentational quality of their previously available versions. In some instances the films may be incomplete or damaged, making access unlikely through more traditional venues. The series will serve not only as a rare opportunity to access “lost” films, but also will call attention to some of film preservation’s more notable success stories.