Rick Prelinger

Lost Forever: The Art of Film Preservation

Kurt Norton, Paul Mariano

George Willeman, Liz Stanley

This documentary short takes you inside the fascinating world of film preservation and restoration.

No More Road Trips?

Rick Prelinger

A journey from the Atlantic to California made from a collection of 9,000 home movies, "No More Road Trips?" reveals hidden histories embedded in the landscape and seeks to blend the pleasures of travel with premonitions of its end.

These Amazing Shadows

Kurt Norton, Paul Mariano

Jeff Adachi, James H. Billington

Tells the history and importance of The National Film Registry, a roll call of American cinema treasures that reflects the diversity of film, and indeed the American experience itself.

Overgames

Lutz Dammbeck

Lutz Dammbeck, Julischka Eichel

On a talkshow, actor and German TV ikon Joachim Fuchsberger recalls how the games for his show "Nur nicht nervös werden" (Don't Get Nervous), first broadcast on West German TV in 1960, were developed along the lines of American psychiatry. Asked "So how many crazy people watched you?", he responded: "A whole crazy, psychologically disturbed nation". Why were the Germans or to be more precise, the West Germans, a psychologically disturbed nation at that time? This is a film about cheerful and serious games, therapies for re-education and self-imposed re-education, as well as the history of the idea of permanent revolution. Those appearing include directors and producers of gameshows, psychiatrists, anthropologists, and the diversely paranoid.

Hell's Highway: The True Story of Highway Safety Films

Bret Wood

John P. Butler, Earle Deems

This film covers the early history of post World War II educational films, especially those involving traffic safety by the Highway Safety Foundation under direction of Richard Wayman. In the name of promoting safe driving in teenagers, these films became notorious for their gory depiction of accidents to shock their audiences to make their point. The film also covers the role of safety films of this era, their effect on North American teenage culture, the struggle between idealism and lurid exploitation and how they reflected the larger society concerns of the time that adults projected onto their youth.

Panorama Ephemera

Rick Prelinger

Collage of sequences drawn from a wide variety of ephemeral (industrial, advertising, educational) films, touring the conflicted landscapes of twentieth-century America.

Lost Landscapes of Oakland

Rick Prelinger

Rick Prelinger’s Lost Landscapes projects are evolving compendiums of footage from amateurs, industrials, and newsreels that present city-specific histories. This piece, created by Prelinger and alex cruse, brings us rare and rediscovered images of Oakland and the East Bay.

Yesterday And Tomorrow In Detroit

Rick Prelinger

Compilation of archival film images of Detroit's people and places 1925-1976. Made to be shown to participatory audiences who identify locations, ask questions, and discuss the future of this great city.