AMIA Newsbriefs

HFPA Grants More Than $750,000 to 25 Film Schools and Non-Profit Organizations

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association presented $759,865 in financial grants to film schools and non-profit organizations at its annual Installation Luncheon honoring the organization’s 2008-2009 slate of officers today at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Read the story here:  http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/hfpa-grants-more-750000-25/story.aspx?guid=%7B66608589-DD27-4215-BEB3-29AD180D9B49%7D&dist=hppr

Alan laments loss of a 'palace of dreams'

Illawarra resident and a former operator of the theatre, Alan Bond, is now doing his best to keep the memory of the iconic Burrill Lake complex alive with the help of modern technology.

He has established a special website where former movie goers are invited to view a documentary on the theatre and to share some of their own memories with Internet users.

Read the story here:  http://milton.yourguide.com.au/news/local/news/general/alan-laments-loss-of-a-palace-of-dreams/1230504.aspx

Ask Parky: swearing, screaming and shushing

Just as screen historians will tell you that films have never been wholly silent, they will also insist that movies without spoken dialogue have never entirely died out. There was certainly a time during the Talkie boom when mass silent production ceased, with Britain's last feature being John Argyle's crime drama, Paradise Alley (1931).

Read the story here:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2008/jul/29/walle.swearing

Grande Ambitions: Locarno Preview

Frederic Maire is set to step down as artistic director after the 2010 edition to take up a new job as director of the Swiss Film Archive in November 2009. Inevitably, his decision to leave Locarno earlier than expected has prompted uncertainty as well as speculation as to who may succeed him.

Read the story here:  http://www.screendaily.com/ScreenDailyArticle.aspx?intStoryID=40117&Category=

Lost Indian film restored in London

A rare film by a lesser-known Indian filmmaker found in an antique shop has been painstakingly put together and is scheduled to be shown as part of the Liverpools European Capital of Culture festivities on Friday.

Read the story here:  http://www.screenindia.com/news/Lost-Indian-film-restored-in-London/342986/

UKFC gives theaters cash boost

LONDON -- The U.K. Film Council is to share $940,000 (£475,000) among 56 indie theaters to allow them to spruce up their facilities.

Read the story here: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117989761.html?categoryId=19&cs=1

Heinz History Center launches streaming video website

The Sen. John Heinz History Center's Library and Archives recently added 12 streaming films to their photographic website, Life in Western Pennsylvania (www.lifeinwesternpa.org/films). Thanks to a grant from the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), the library was able to reformat over 2 hours worth of footage from the Bill Beal film collection. Beal, a Pittsburgh filmmaker active from the 1940s through the 1990s, created almost 200 complete works ranging from industrial showpieces for Allegheny Ludlum and PPG to local features such as "Pittsburgh: The City with a Smile on its Face". As a pilot project, brief clips of iconic Pittsburgh scenes have been added to the Life in Western Pennsylvania website in a number of different streaming formats. Subjects include steel works, coal plants, the inclines, aerials of Downtown and Oakland, Sen. John Heinz and the Delta Queen, Vic Cianca directing traffic, and the demolition of the Carlton House.

Comments and questions regarding the site can be sent to photos@hswp.org

NASA launches online historical image gallery

NASA last week launched a new interactive Web site, jointly developed with the non-profit Internet Archive, which initially combines some 21 separately stored and managed NASA imagery collections into a single online resource featuring enhanced search, visual and metadata capabilities.

Read the story here: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9110976

Moviemakers Practice Filmanthropy

What is filmanthropy? It's helping kids from the Bronx, Los Angeles and the Dominican Republic land jobs in the movie industry. It's preserving and restoring films. It's showing classic movies to thousands of people living in Macedonian refugee camps. Here's how Caroline Baron, Vin Diesel, David O. Russell, Martin Scorsese and Jon Turteltaub practice filmanthropy.

Read the story here: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117989742.html?categoryId=3192&cs=1

Mission possible: Film restoration

Spencer Kelly visits the Warner Bros archive in Los Angeles to meet the people painstakingly restoring old films using the latest technology.

Read the story here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/7525143.stm