Preservation – Page 2 – Archivist's Alley:

S4.4: Claire Fox: Best Case Scenarios, Metadata Milieus & Graduating in a COVID-19 Landscape

Claire & I recorded this podcast in May before she officially graduated and before the COVID landscape went to The Really Extra Bad Place that it seems to be at now.
I delayed the ep due to the critical nature of the discussion of the Black Lives Matter issues that needed to be handled but I feel that what Claire and I spoke about is still incredibly relevant and her points on the internships she had and the possibilities of rehabilitation of our field post-COVID are solid and worth considering.
Claire is an amazing and valuable member of the archival world & I am so pleased to be able to have had her on the show twice now!

QUICK NOTE FROM THE PODCASTRESS:

Season 4 is clearly going to be a unique season. What I thought would be a series of conversations centered on mental health, physical health, archiving and preservation in terms of a pandemic will now be returning to some of the major themes that I have looked at and highlighted throughout my show: racism, systemic oppression, horrific violence in all kinds of ways.

But here is what is crucial: discussing COVID-19 and the way that BIPOC experience “America” and “Justice” are parallel and as such they should be talked about within the same context. What I would like to set out to do in the episodes that I record from this point forward, is attempt to connect these things and also work with how that effects the archives community.

That said, I want to state that I have some already recorded episodes that do not follow what I have stated in the above paragraph but are still incredibly valuable (much like Claire’s) and I believe that they truly deserve a good listen. These individuals from our community continue to provide us with the inspiration and hope we need to continue to do The Work however we are doing it in whatever way we choose to participate.

Keep on keepin’ on!

-Ariel

See below podcast as usual for Claire’s kickass bio, and thank you for your patience and continuing to listen.

Claire Fox (she/her/hers) is a recent graduate from the Moving Image Archiving and Preservation (MIAP) program at New York University. Her graduate research focused on topics in time-based media art conservation and community archiving, and she completed internships at the New Museum, IndieCollect, Yale University Library, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art

S4.2: Sydney Perkins: Of Kaiju, “Right People” and How Little COVID-19 Has Changed Life as an Archivist

******** UPDATE TO BLOG *********
Since this was recorded, my guest made some wonderful positive discoveries about herself and moved forward on them. Unfortunately, that made some of the information in this recording no longer valid and rather painful.
A statement from my guest:

“I do not go by the name used in this episode or later ones anymore, and even at the time I was privately aware of the distress that name was causing me. It is completely unacceptable to ever refer to me by that name or record it in any context anymore. Also my pronouns are she/they now.”

I have thusly changed all blog information (including photo) to match her truth, and you will only find the aforementioned references within the recordings. We both felt (as archivists) that it would be a shame to completely delete the podcast but it is my responsibility to support and platform my guests and not do them harm.

I believe that changing information based on these critical life issues need to be attended to, now and always. I hope others do the same.

*******************

I’m thrilled to pieces to welcome my beloved friend and colleague Sydney Perkins to Archivist’s Alley. More importantly, she is my first REAL GUEST from my new home base here in Paju, South Korea!
I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I liked having it.
She is a really special person to me in all kinds of ways and beyond talented. She is funny, charming and delightful. I wish you could all meet her in person. When I say on the podcast that I respect her and wish that I was as talented as she is, I am not even lying. She’s impressive. We should all be so lucky to be as engaged, passionate and gifted in our chosen line of work as my darling pal Sydney is.
As usual, profile and bio below, plus a few frames of the super cool font presentation we talk about on the ‘cast!!!

QUICK NOTE:
As I’ve been here and as things have been getting weirder and more worrisome all over the world, I decided that, as an archivist, archival activist and advocate for change (especially in terms of platforming invisible voices via my podcast) I wanted to cover how COVID-19 is hitting (or not hitting) the people in our community. So if you are reading this and you are a media specialist, historian, information professional of any kind and identify as POC, LGBTQI, differently abled, woman-identifying, or any other marginalized group that my privileged white ass may have not covered (and for which I deeply apologize), please hit me up here archivistsalley@gmail.com

Sydney Perkins is an enthusiastic film arqueervist who loves handling and researching film and thinking of creative approaches to restoration. Currently she is unemployed and probably working on a shitpost for Archivist Memes.

One of the brilliant intertitles that Sydney created

Another *one of the brilliant intertitles that Sydney created*

Mo Henry: Negative Cutting, Orson Welles Restorations & Women’s Power in the Film Industry

Mo Henry!!! Mo Henry!!! She is so cool!

I wish you all could meet her and hang out with her! I hope that you get a good sense of how cool she is from this episode because she really is one of the most fun-to-hang-out-with women I have ever met.

If you had told me that we would end up being friends when I first saw her talk about her work on The Other Side of the Wind, I would’ve doubted you. She’s genuinely amazing, inspirational and….well, we could have gone on for a few hours more with other stories…

So I hope you enjoy this conversation and I hope that you read all the articles that I’m including here because they are AWESOME. Much like the magnificent Mo!

Bio:

Mo Henry is a film negative cutter acclaimed by many as one of the greatest in her field. Her works include franchise film series such as Spiderman, Batman, The Matrix, and Harry Potter, cult classics such as Mulholland Drive, The Big Lebowski, El Mariachi (uncredited) and Apocalypse Now Redux. Mo worked exclusively for many years on Clint Eastwood’s films and on all of Frances Ford Coppola’s restoration projects. More recently, she cut several of Christopher Nolan’s films such as The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, and Inception. According to The Internet Movie Database, she has been a negative cutter on over 300 films, although Mo claims IMDB has many inaccuracies, missing many films that she has cut and including her on films on which she was not involved, and her ultimate total far exceeds 300. In addition, she cut a fair number of adult films under the alias Ruby Diamond. Despite her low profile she has amassed a fan base over the years, and many fans are knownto stay during the final credits to see if Mo’s name appears.

She is a fourth generation Henry negative cutter, starting at Universal at 19. Her first cut feature film (uncredited) was Jaws, a film she was told (by her boss/father) was likely to be a flop, so he allowed her to train on it as a novice. She took a break from negative cutting to be a real estate agent in Beverly Hills in the eighties (with, as she describes it, “Big Hair and Big Shoulder pads”), and as a production coordinator on television commercials and rock videos.

She is left-handed, which initially made it harder for her to learn to cut negative, however, she says her obsessive-compulsive disorder works to her advantage, as it allows her to remember numbers and because she checks everything repeatedly, she has rarely made a mistake.

Mo is a Los Angeles native and a first generation American on her father’s side of the family, the Henrys having immigrated from Ireland.

LINKS:

Orson Welles’ ‘The Other Side of the Wind’ gains Oscar-winning editor, top talent

https://www.aintitcool.com/node/80117

Mo Henry: The Last of the Negative Cutters?

Negative Cutter Mo Henry’s Analog Skills Are Yet in Demand in a Digital Age

Heather Buckley: Punk Rock Production & the Preservation of Genre Materials

So very excited to welcome my excellent colleague and friend Heather Buckley to Archivist’s Alley. Not only is she a successful horror film producer but she is a writer, historian and dedicated preservationist who works with a variety of film distribution companies to create additional features on the home releases of various genre films.

I am so thrilled to know her and to be able to have her on the show to discuss issues of genre, collecting and archival work as well as what access means within the world of these valuable materials. Our discussion runs the gamut from her own film productions to exploring our feelings about westerns and masculinity to why genre and “b-films” are just as worthy of preservation and archival treatment as any arthouse or classic silent work.

Dive on in! As usual, the bio and links are below the episode and I HIGHLY SUGGEST checking them out!! There is a LOT of great stuff to read there!!!!

Heather Buckley – Producer | NYC/NJ/LA- is a graduate of University of the Arts with a graphic design degree and an academic focus on film history and criticism. She worked for thirteen years in the New York advertising world before bringing her creative and story skills into the film world.
The first feature she produced, Jenn Wexler’s THE RANGER, for Glass Eye Pix and Hood River Entertainment, premiered at SXSW and played numerous festivals on an international run before its limited theatrical release in NYC and LA. THE RANGER was acquired by SHUDDER and is currently available on its streaming platform as well as Amazon Prime. Heather’s work as a film analyst and journalist spans over a decade, with bylines in VULTURE, DREAD CENTRAL and FANGORIA. Her background in SFX work includes: CIRCUS OF THE DEAD, DEAD STILL (SyFy/Sony) and WE ARE STILL HERE (MPI).
She is currently a Blu-Ray Special Features Producer having created documentaries for Kino Lorber, Liongate/Vestron, Arrow Films and Shout Factory releases including JOHN CARPENTER’S THE THING, BARTON FINK, THE LONG RIDERS, SAW 10th Anniversary reissue, and ARMY OF DARKNESS.
Heather’s background buoyed the marketing on THE RANGER, where Heather took the creative lead on grass roots engagement and social media campaigns.
Heather’s current feature slate includes projects from auteurs that span the spectrum of genre film, exemplary of her attraction to unique stories with strong, detailed visual aesthetics and a clear position in the marketplace.

Follow Heather!!! at:https://facebook.com/joe.spinell.lives https://www.instagram.com/_heatherbuckley/https://twitter.com/_HeatherBuckley
INSIDE at the Cannes Film Market:https://variety.com/2019/film/global/cannes-film-market-readies-third-frontieres-genre-platform-1203209691/
THE RANGER is on SHUDDER:https://variety.com/2018/film/global/amc-shudder-sxsw-the-ranger-1202978378/
THE RANGER Vinyl:http://creep-records-store.shoplightspeed.com/the-ranger-original-soundtrack.html
THE RANGER Novelization:http://www.haverhillhouse.com/product/the-ranger-by-ed-kurtz/
THE RANGER T-Shirt:https://atomiccotton.com/product/the-ranger-unisex-t-shirt/

Adam Piron: Media Curation, Format Fetishes & Indigenous Film Language

I could have talked to Adam for HOURS. This was a great conversation! Chatting about the film experience is always my jam but this particular podcast ROCKED. His work at LACMA is inspiring and wonderful and I strongly look to him as a programmer and film professional who balances indigenous work and activism with a real joy and passion for cinema. And that is 100% my kind of person!!

In this episode, Adam and I explore working in the field of film programming/curation (esp in Los Angeles). We focus on ideas of media archiving/preservation, temporality and examining and applying it to media and preservation in a non-hysterical manner. Public perceptions of media formats and the lack of knowledge/education is also a topic before Adam and I explore ideas in and around indigenous film identity, culture and language. DO NOT MISS THIS ONE!!

All the info on Adam is below the link and trust me- you wanna check it out! He’s cool as hell!!

Adam Piron (Kiowa/Mohawk) is the Assistant Curator for Film at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and a member of the Sundance Film Festival’s Short Film Programming Team. He is also an Associate Film Programmer for short films at AFI Fest. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees and Programming Committee of the Robert Flaherty Film Seminar, an organization devoted to building community around the moving image and the longest continuously running annual film event in North America devoted to creative non-fiction.

From 2014 to 2017, he served as a Manager for Sundance Institute’s Indigenous Program. He has programmed both features and short films for Film Independent’s LA Film Festival. He has also served on competition juries and panels for film festivals such as the Palm Springs International ShortFest, Hot Springs Film Festival, Art House Convergence, imagineNATIVE Film Festival, Big Sky Documentary Film festival and Maoriland Film Festival. He has served as a mentor for the Whistler Film Festival’s Aboriginal Filmmaker Fellowship and as a NATIVe Partner Representative at the Berlin International Film Festival. He has also guest programmed Indigenous Cinema showcases at the Borscht Film Festival and the Eastern Oregon Film Festival and has also been a reader for Creative Capital.

Follow him on Twitter:@adam_piron