Episode 4: Echo Park Film Center- Community, Culture & Creativity!

I have no qualms about saying that I am 100% in favor of the Echo Park Film Center in every which way possible.

Paolo and Lisa are two of the most amazing people I know.

It’s hard to really put into words how much I love them and the Echo Park Film Center because I would probably end up going on forever and then you would never listen to the episode and I think I want the episode (and them) to speak for themselves.

In 2018 Los Angeles, it is exceptionally difficult to create a space where community and joy in learning is the primary goal. But Paolo and Lisa have done this thing. Their staff is beyond amazing. The entirety of the Echo Park Film Center is magical.

It is a place that, in this day and age, somehow continues to exist and that gives me so much hope. Lisa and Paolo give me hope. They teach children, teenagers, old folx. Their client base is so varied it would (and should) make your head spin.

If you are not local to LA but you get here every so often….make a bee line to EPFC.

If you live here and have never been, OMFG, GO!!!

Thanks again, Lisa & Paolo, for doing this episode. You always make me feel like a million bucks when I am in your presence!

Lisa Marr and Paolo Davanzo are filmmakers, media arts educators, and community cinema activists whose work is a catalyst for creative collaboration and positive social change. Originally from Canada and Italy respectively, they currently work and live in Los Angeles, where they help run the Echo Park Film Center, a non-profit community media space that has been providing equal, affordable access to film/video education and resources since 2001. In 2008, they launched the EPFC Filmmobile, an old school bus transformed into an eco-friendly cinema and film school on wheels. As The Here & Now, Marr and Davanzo travel the world, making and sharing handmade films and music with everybody.

Episode 1: Siobhan Hagan and MARMIA

Welcome to the first episode of Archivist’s Alley!

Please enjoy this conversation with one of my dearest companions in moving image archiving and preservation. Siobhan Hagan is a SUPERSTAR in the field and a women that I continue to be inspired by.

Her continued work on MARMIA is truly astounding and I hope that you all love listening to her talk about it as much as I enjoyed talking to her about it!

 Fall in love with MARMIA & donate some funds to support this important women-led institution!

Here is MARMIA’s website: https://marmia.org/

Here is MARMIA’s channel on the Internet Archive:  https://archive.org/details/marmia

And click here to donate some monies to this badass place!

 

Here is a little background on Siobhan:

Siobhan was born and raised in Maryland and holds her M.A. in Moving Image Archiving and Preservation (MIAP) from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. She has worked in a variety of collecting organizations throughout her career, including the UCLA Library and the National Aquarium. She is currently contracting at the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art and is also active in the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA): she is a co-chair of the Regional Audio-Visual Archives Committee and a co-chair of the Local TV Task Force, and was an AMIA Director of the Board from 2015-2017.

Here are a few of the clips that we talked about in the podcast:

Investigative report on blockbusting:

https://archive.org/details/WJZ-QUAD-01

 

One of Oprah’s first acting gigs: https://archive.org/details/WJZ-PAT-001-006