FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 12, 2007
Kelly Graml
kgraml@ucla.edu
310.206.8588
UCLA and Outfest Receive Rare Collection of Moving Images From
the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives
for the Outfest Legacy Project for LGBT Film Preservation
Outfest Legacy Project Screening Series launches on March 25 with
“A Tribute to the ONE Archives”
(Note to Editors: Digital Images Available Upon Request.)
LOS ANGELES, CA – The UCLA Film & Television Archive and Outfest—a leading showcase for diverse and international lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) film and video—partnered in 2005 to create the Outfest Legacy Project for LGBT Film Preservation. The only program of its kind in the world, the Outfest Legacy Project announces its largest moving image contribution to date: the collection of the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives.
ONE is the oldest ongoing LGBT organization in the Western Hemisphere and it has deposited its vast assemblage of moving image material—more than 1,500 films and 3,000 videos—with the Legacy Project. ONE’s deposit includes 10 years of lectures by seminal figures in LGBT history, such as Malcolm Boyd, Harry Hay, Evelyn Hooker, Morris Kight and Steve Schulte. In addition, the deposit doubles the Legacy Project’s holdings, which had already comprised the world’s largest publicly accessible collection of LGBT films.
“The thousands of hours of one-of-a-kind material deposited by the ONE Archives represent a collective memory of our community,” said Outfest Executive Director Stephen Gutwillig. “Together, UCLA, Outfest and ONE have formed a collaboration that will ensure the survival of LGBT moving images for generations to come.”
“The ONE Archives is a treasure trove of tremendous historic, cultural and social significance,” said Robert Rosen, Dean of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. “It’s an honor to have this material as part of the Outfest Legacy Collection at UCLA.”
To celebrate the ONE deposit, the Legacy Project will present “A Tribute to the ONE Archives” on Saturday, March 25 at 7 p.m. at the Billy Wilder Theater in Westwood. The tribute will showcase highlights from the varied ONE collection, including clips from famed female impersonator Charles Pierce’s The Charles Pierce Review, rarities from the 1970s and exclusive video footage of historic events at the ONE Archives itself.
Also included in “A Tribute to the ONE Archives” will be the Legacy Project’s first video preservation project: footage of a 1977 poetry reading benefit for Gay Sunshine Press, featuring Allen Ginsberg. This material was on half-inch open reel tapes and was not viewable until preservation was completed on the tapes. Because of its deteriorated condition, the Legacy Project baked the tapes—a process that temporarily renders the image salvageable—and transferred and preserved this noteworthy material to a digital medium.
“Preservation of our material is a great priority and something ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives would and could not have done without the help of the Legacy Project,” said ONE Archives President Joseph Hawkins. “The poetry reading is a extraordinary moment in time preserved for all to see—a capsule of some brave men who spoke up at a time when there were serious consequences for such behavior.”
“A Tribute to the ONE Archives” on March 25 will be the inaugural screening in the Outfest Legacy Project Screening Series, a bi-monthly event at the Billy Wilder Theater in Westwood.
Outfest Legacy Project for LGBT Film Preservation
A landmark partnership between Outfest and the UCLA Film & Television Archive, the Outfest Legacy Project for LGBT Film Preservation was launched in 2005 and is the only program in the world devoted to addressing the crisis in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) film preservation. The Legacy Project has already established the largest publicly accessible collection of LGBT films in the world and created tools to educate filmmakers and the public on film preservation and storage. Project goals also include striking new prints for widespread public exhibition; restoring damaged material to its initial release form; and expanding access of LGBT films and videos to researchers and the public. Outfest recently announced the first two feature films slated to be restored in 2007: Parting Glances (1986), starring Steve Buscemi and the groundbreaking Word is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives (1978). www.outfest.org/legacy.html
Outfest Legacy Project Screening Series
The bi-monthly Outfest Legacy Project Screening Series showcases material from the Outfest Legacy Collection at the new Billy Wilder Theater, 10899 Wilshire Blvd. in Westwood (courtyard level of the Hammer Museum). Info and tickets: www.cinema.ucla.edu / 310.206.FILM.
Outfest
Outfest is a leading showcase for diverse, international lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) film and video. Since it’s founding in 1982, Outfest has presented more than 4,000 films to audiences of over half a million people. Its programs include Outfest: The Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival—the oldest continuous film festival in Los Angeles (Outfest 2007: The 25th Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival: July 12-23), Outfest Screenwriting Lab, Outfest Wednesdays—the oldest LGBT screening series in the country—and Fusion: The Los Angeles LGBT People of Color Film Festival.
UCLA Film & Television Archive
The UCLA Film & Television Archive is internationally renowned for its pioneering efforts to rescue, preserve and showcase moving image media, and is dedicated to insuring that the collective visual memory of our time is explored and enjoyed for generations to come. A unique resource for media study, the Archive holds one of the largest collections of media materials in the United States—second only to the Library of the Congress in Washington, D.C.—and the largest of any university in the world.
ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives
The ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives honors the past, celebrates the present and enriches the future of all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. ONE fosters acceptance of sexual and gender diversity by supporting education and research about LGBT heritage and experience worldwide. ONE is dedicated to collecting, preserving, documenting, studying, and communicating our history, our challenges, and our aspirations.
