ATTENTION: ANYONE AND EVERYONE WHO CARES ABOUT CINEMA, HERE IS A RARE OPPORTUNITY TO BECOME INVOLVED IN THE RESTORATION OF THE ONLY FILM MADE BY PLAYWRIGHT SAMUEL BECKETT AND USING FOOTAGE RECENTLY DISCOVERED AND A DETAILED DOCUMENTARY FILM ABOUT THE MAKING OF BECKETT'S FILM (DRAWING FROM A WEALTH OF SOUND - YES, SOUND!!! - RECORDINGS FEATURING BECKETT HIMSELF, A MAJOR FIND SINCE VERY FEW RECORDINGS OF BECKETT ACTUALLY EXIST) ALL OF WHICH WAS FOUND - NO KIDDING - IN A CUPBOARD UNDER A SINK IN A FOURTH STORY WALKUP APARTMENT IN NEW YORK CITY. FILMMAKERS, FILM LOVERS, FILM PROGRAMMERS, FILMMAKING CO-OPERATIVES, MEMBERS OF SAID CO-OPERATIVES, DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKERS, DOCUMENTARY PRODUCTION COMPANIES, BROADCAST EXECUTIVES, CULTURAL FUNDING OFFICIALS - ANYONE AND EVERYONE WHO CARES ABOUT FILM - READ THIS AND THE ATTACHED LINKS AND MAKE THIS PROJECT A REALITY. IT'S FOR YOU AND FUTURE GENERATIONS!
NOTFILM, is the title of what will prove to be one of the most anticipated documentary films over the next year or so. The movie will explore the making of the classic 1965 film entitled, FILM. NOTFILM will focus upon the historic collaborative process between the greatest playwright of the 20th Century, Samuel Beckett, silent film actor Buster Keaton, Grove Press publishing magnate Barney Rossett, theatre director Alan Schneider (director of over 100 theatrical productions including the American premieres of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and Waiting For Godot), legendary film, TV and theatre actor James Karen (movie fans will never forget his performances in Return of the Living Dead and Wall Street), editor and director Sidney Meyers (responsible for such groundbreaking films as The Quiet One, Edge of the City and The Savage Eye) and last, but not least, Academy-Award-Winning cinematographer (and brother of Dziga Vertov) Boris Kaufman (who fought with the French army against the Nazis, escaped to Canada where he worked with John Grierson at the National Film Board and shot many of the most important films of all time including Zéro de conduit, L'Atalante, Zou-Zou, On The Waterfront, 12 Angry Men, The Fugitive Kind, Long Day's Journey Into Night, The World of Henry Orient and The Pawnbroker).
My own life and love for movies and even that of my family has been so enriched by the great work we've been able to experience from Milestone. The list of phenomenal work that graces our library and continues to give joy on repeated viewings includes Lionel Rogosin’s On the Bowery, Mikhail Kalatozov’s I Am Cuba, Marcel Ophuls’s The Sorrow and the Pity, Charles Burnett’s Killer of Sheep, all the phenomenal collections of Nell Shipman, Mary Pickford, Charley Chase. the phenomenal early silent and sound documentaries set in far flung exotic locales - the list goes on and on. This is a library of lovingly curated and restored work that speaks volumes to how passion and commitment to cinema CAN be a viable business proposition for those who truly have the right stuff in the movie business - a business that has become so lazy and ephemeral in its desire to provide mere content for the lowest possible cost and the least amount of effort.
Of course, this wouldn't be possible for Milestone without great collaborators like Ross Lipman, the legendary UCLA Film & Television Archive restorationist who has painstakingly and exquisitely brought so many lost, damaged and/or worn classic movies back to life which, in turn have been disseminated to the world via Milestone.
The importance of this project has seldom been paralleled in the recent history of film restoration. That footage thought to be long-ago lost will now be lovingly restored to a version of Beckett's FILM which was discarded by the Master in considerable haste and under major pressure.
PLEASE consider a crowd-funded donation of any amount to this important project. The goodies available at various levels of support are extremely generous and valuable, but most importantly, you will be integral to preserving a vital piece of film history.
A great site on both FILM and NOTFILM can be found HERE. The Milestone Film and Video website, to give you a full account of the phenomenal work this company has done (and maybe, to even consider buying some of their great titles is HERE.
Some of THE FILM CORNER reviews of previous Milestone releases can be found at the following:
MARY PICKFORD: RAGS & RICHES COLLECTION - THE POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL, THE HOODLUM, SPARROWS review is HERE
CUT TO THE CHASE: THE CHARLEY CHASE COLLECTION (One of Greg Klymkiw's Ten Best DVD/Blu-Ray Releases of 2012) review is HERE
ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S "BON VOYAGE" and "AVENTURE MALGACHE" is HERE
ON THE BOWERY - "The Films of Lionel Rogosin Volume 1" review HERE
Sessue Hayakawa's THE DRAGON PAINTER review HERE
Article about the Milestone Restoration of Shirley Clarke's "PORTRAIT OF JASON" - The CLASSIC 1967 DOC on BEING GAY and OF COLOUR in AMERICA made Greg Klymkiw's List of Great 2012 CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEAS at THE FILM CORNER can be found HERE
