The Film Preservation Blogathon 2012

As I’m sure all of you know, This Island Rod has become a byword for both the celebration of genius and the exercise of it, in the course of a general dedication to the most exalted realms of the art that is cinema.

You weren’t?...Okay then.

Anyway, it’s my great pleasure to announce that this year TIR will be joining mondo blogos Ferdy On Films and The Self-Styled Siren, captained by esteemed colleagues Marilyn Ferdinand and Farran Smith Nehme, as a host site for the annual Film Preservation Blogathon. In the past two years, the Film Preservation Blogathons have raised thousands of dollars towards the restoration of the silent short films The Sergeant and The Better Man by the National Film Preservation Foundation, and Cy Endfield’s The Sound of Fury, under the aegis of the Film Noir Foundation. This year, we’re working again with the NFPF, and the lucky movie chosen as the target of our efforts is the 1923 British film The White Shadow, another work from the tremendous stash of lost silent films found in the New Zealand Film Archive. Directed by Graham Cutts, whom I’m sure did a good job – let’s all hear it for Graham, people! - The White Shadow is chiefly notable for the participation of a young filmmaker whose jack-of-all-trades contribution to this production, including screenwriting, assistant directing, and editing, made the case for his debut as a film director only a few months later. And before I start to sound too much like Paul Harvey, I can tell you that young man’s name was Alfred Hitchcock. And now you know the rest of the story.

So from May 13 to 18 this year, TIR will become for a time the scene for unimaginable orgies of cinephilia, unparalleled in the awesome, filthy, and awesomely filthy annals of the internet!

We aim to raise $15,000 in order to give you – yes, you! – the chance to watch The White Shadow. Restoration work has already been done for this film, but we hope to pay not only for the recording of the marvellous new score written for it by Michael Mortilla, but for future online hosting for the film, so The White Shadow will be available in a well-restored, free and accessible state for everyone fascinated by early cinema and the career genesis of one of cinema’s most heralded figures. Or, you can choose not to help, and maybe one day you can watch it cut up into ten minute chunks with public domain music slapped over it on You Tube. Yeah. You really think you can live with yourself then, pal? Can you?!

So, if you want to participate this year, whether by contributing posts to the Blogathon or simply helping to spread the word, you can find this year’s array of banners, posters, and donation buttons at the For The Love of Film 2012 site. Yes, I must take full responsibility for these posters and all bad jokes therein, and I am properly ashamed. If you do want to contribute, all you have to do is let us know, either here, or at Ferdy on Films or The Self-Styled Siren, via our comment sections. As usual, there’s more to this than the vaguely pinko pleasures of communal action and celebration, however: there will be raffle prizes to donors, and this year, businesses who wish to contribute to the NFPF will have the option of two levels of support, and therefore two levels of exposure and profile with our readers. For further information, contact Marilyn at ferdyonfilms (at) comcast (dot) net. David Wells of the NFPF will be contributing photos and film clips to our Facebook page, where you can find out more about this big wonderful thing called a blogathon if you’ve never participated before, more specific details about it if you have, or if you just don’t need me patronising you, thank you very much. And remember: by liking our Facebook fan page, you actually help us raise money. So yes, this time by liking something on Facebook, you’ll actually be helping with something, not simply agreeing with how cute those kittens are.

As for me, I can only quote Dr. Peter Venkman to properly explain my feelings: I love this plan, and I’m excited to be a part of it.

See you in May!


P.S., if you just can't wait to donate until May, just click this button below, or on the sidebar. 

The link address for those of you who to post donate buttons yourself is:

https://npo1.networkforgood.org/Donate/Donate.aspx?npoSubscriptionId=1001883&code=Blogathon%202012