"Print Courtesy of George Eastman House": readers will find this credit on some of the most exquisite and rare films we show at PFA. PFA has long enjoyed a wonderful collaborative relationship with Eastman House, dating back to the spectacular three-month-long series Treasures from the Eastman House in 1972. This fall we present an updated Treasures, featuring gems from that earlier series as well as more recent acquisitions. Again, it will be the first of a series (continuing next year) from this archive whose collections today run the gamut from Méliès to Greenaway, newsreels to home movies, early American avant-garde to classic features; whose preservation work has earned it the Medal of Commendation from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; and whose L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation brings students from around the world to train as future archivists.The Motion Picture Department at George Eastman House, located in Rochester, New York, was founded in 1947. Its first curator, James Card, was a legendary figure, America's answer to Henri Langlois of the Cinémathèque Française. Card's own collection of 800 films was the basis of a collection which now numbers over 20,000 titles. Famous for his rediscovery of Louise Brooks, Card was a great connoisseur of the overlooked American silent cinema and its actresses. Less known were the German films of the thirties he brought to the fore.Paolo Cherchi Usai is film curator today (as well as being cofounder of the Pordenone Silent Film Festival), and like those before him (Card, John Kuiper, George Pratt, and Jean-Christopher Horak), he has expanded the collecting and preservation activities of Eastman House in unique ways. Cherchi Usai's special program on October 8 is both historical and personal, a trove of discoveries and surprises.PFA is grateful for the generous loans from Eastman House over the years, for the archive's accessibility to film researchers, for the pleasure of working with a dedicated and encouraging staff. We especially thank Caroline Yeager, Ed Stratman, and Stacey Van Denburgh for their research and contributions, and of course Paolo Cherchi Usai, whose passion for cinema is always inspirational.Many of our program notes for this series are adapted from the 1972 PFA publication Treasures from the Eastman House, written by Tom Luddy. Friday September 1, 2000
