Initial reflections on 'Archiving the future: mobilizing the past'

There was so much going on at the conference and around the conference that I've struggled to start writing about it, so I'll just start with a short post on my initial reflections on the conference. It was huge - I mean 1500 people at one conference - I've never been to anything like that before! The conference programme was so packed with interesting sounds panels that it was really difficult to choose what ones to go to. As I was there in my professional capacity as an archivist I had to put those panels discussing archives first - not that this was a hardship as I can honestly say that I found all the panels I went to to be interesting (and as regular readers will know, I do happen to love my job, just a bit!). In addition to all the archive-related panels I also managed to squeeze in a bit of personal interest in the form of a panel 'Celebrating Chick Strand through screenings and discussions'.



I stayed in the conference hotel, The Westin Bonaventure, which was a fantastic experience in itself. I'm sure there are lots of huge hotels like that in America but that was the first time I'd ever stayed in one. The map in the conference programme was pretty clear and most of the rooms were close together so I never got lost in the hotel, something that worried me on initial arrival!

Our panel on 'The Cinema Authorship of Lindsay Anderson' went very well - even if I do say so myself. I'll talk more about all these things in later posts. However I just wanted to mention some of my lasting impressions. One thing that worried me a bit was the impression left from a few of the panels I attended that archivists were somehow in the way, that we wanted to block access to material. I know there is that stereotypical image of the 'dusty archive' but I really don't believe that to be applicable to the profession any more. However maybe the fact that this image still persists is something we need to think about. Are we really doing enough to encourage access? Do we worry too much about copyright, legalities etc? My answer to these would be Yes to the first (although of course that's not say it's ok to get complacenet about access) and No to the second (we do afterall, work for whichever institution is paying us and have a responsibility in this sense). However it still made me consider these issues - which can never be a bad thing.

So that's my one gripe/negative impression put to one side now. What about the positive? There were so many! The amazingly varied ways in which researchers use archival material as represented by all the hugely interesting papers I listened to. The sheer number of archives that are out there that I've never heard of - an exciting world of possibilities! The engagement between researchers/academics and archivists (as I said the image of archivists I referred to above seemed to be just that, an image, and not reflective of people's actual experiences, on the whole). The huge potential for crossover between archival work and academic research (this is me speaking in a personal capacity in terms of possibilities for PHD's, further study). The clear passion for their work that was evident in the academics, archivists and researchers at the conference.

I'll get back to more regular posting from now on, after my recent time off, and I'll write more about the various panels I attended, and other exciting things from our travels in America. Other highlights from Los Angeles include a visit to the Margaret Herrick Library and the screening of The Exiles at UCLA. One last thing I have to mention - the Nickel Diner (see business card below) is awesome for breakfast. It was really close to the hotel and did very tasty blueberry pancakes. I never did try the maple bacon donut though - maybe next time!

Archiving the Future| mobilizing the past

Less than a week to go till the Society of Cinema and Media Studies Conference in Los Angeles and I'm getting pretty excited! I've just been having a look at the conference programme and there's some really interesting sounding panels, well, they all sound interesting actually, but of course I'm particularly keen on the ones which discuss the use of, and role of, archives in film studies.

In addition to the packed conference programme there are lots of screenings and special events scheduled in as well. One I'm particularly looking forward to is a screening at UCLA of The Exiles. This is a film I mentioned briefly in a previous post about The Pleasure Garden (1953), a film by James Broughton and starring Lindsay Anderson. In the same blog post where I first heard about the release of The Pleasure Garden there was also discussion of another recently restored film The Exiles (1961). This film was the debut feature of Kent Mackenzie who had previously made a short film Bunker Hill about the eponymously named area of Los Angeles. Inspired by the experience of making this documentary he carried on to make this feature film. It follows a group of young Native American men and women living in the Bunker Hill area and is based entirely on interviews with them and their friends.

Still from The Exiles © Milestone FIlms

Still from The Exiles © Milestone FIlms

The film was restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive in cooperation with University of Southern California Moving Image Archive, National Film Preservation Foundation and Milestone. There's detailed discussion of the preservation process in the press pack for the film. In 2003 a film by Thom Anderson Los Angeles Plays Itself began a renewal of interest in Mackenzie's film. However these plans were shelved partly becuase it was thought that only one 35mm print survived, and also due to concerns over the copyright clearance of the music used throughout the film. When Milestone found out that the music was created specifically for the film, and that there existed both the original negative and the fine grain interpositive for the film, they resurrected the plans to distribute the film. In order to preserve the film before distributing it, it was taken to UCLA where Ross Lipman, the preservationist who also restored Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep (thanks for that one too!), worked on creating preservation materials and new prints.

I can't wait to see the results!

Still from The Exiles © Milestone FIlms

Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference, Los Angeles

I am so excited to be going to this years SCMS conference in Los Angeles! I've never been to the conference before, never been to LA before, so there's plenty to be excited about! The conference programme and the screenings all sound really interesting - can't wait!

Me, Karl Magee (University Archivist here at Stirling university) and Christophe Dupin (Queen Mary University of London) will be presenting a panel on 'The Cinema Authorship of Lindsay Anderson'. Karl Magee will present a paper 'The Auteur in the Archive… Finding Lindsay Anderson' and Christopher Dupin will present a paper 'The Auteur vs. the Institution: The Rise and Fall of the Relationship between Lindsay Anderson and the British Film Institute'. My paper is entitled 'The trouble with The Old Crowd - examining collaboration and authorship'. I won't say much more about it now - best get on with writing my paper!

If anyone wants to read more about the conference the programme is now available