October 25, 2000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:  Leslie Unger - (310) 247-3000

                         lunger@oscars.org

Beverly Hills, CA - A program of unique "orphan films" that have been preserved by film archives from across the country will be presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on November 14, at 8 p.m., in the Samuel Goldwyn Theater. The Academy has partnered with the National Film Preservation Foundation to host the event.

"Treasures of American Film Archives" will include films and film excerpts from ten different American film archives. The Academy event is the last of several public screenings that have been held since a total of eighteen U.S. archives joined forces with the NFPF in a cooperative project to preserve and present orphan films important to a variety of communities.

Included in the November 14 program are the following films (excerpted in some cases):

• "Blacksmithing Scene," 1893 (Museum of Modern Art)
• "Princess Nicotine;" Or, "The Smoke Fairy," 1909 (Library of Congress)
• "The Original Movie," 1922 (Academy Film Archive, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)
• "The Fall of the House of Usher," 1928 (George Eastman House)
• Groucho Marx's Home Movies, ca. 1933 (National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution)
• "Running around San Francisco for an Education," 1938 (Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley Art Museum )
• "Marian Anderson: The Lincoln Memorial Concert," 1939 (UCLA Film and Television Archive)
• "Topaz," 1945 (Japanese American National Museum)
• "The Wall," 1962 (National Archives and Records Administration)
• "Battery Film," 1985 (New York Public Library)

As part of the project, archival participants have prepared an 11-hour, 4-disc DVD box set showcasing their best preservation work (released by Image Entertainment in October). Net proceeds from the DVD will support further film preservation.

Tickets for "Treasures of American Film Archives" at the Academy are $5 for the general public and $3 for Academy members and students with valid identification. They may be purchased in advance at the Academy during regular business hours, by mail, or on the night of the event when the doors open at 7 p.m. The Academy is located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. For more information, call 310-247-3600.

For more information about the NFPF and the "Treasures" project, visit www.filmpreservation.org.