Face

SERIES
Avant-Garde Masters

January 15–February 19, 2011

Avant-garde filmmakers make films that revel in, examine, and subvert the very medium that they are working in, and their work often focuses on the physical nature of celluloid. Yet because they are made independently, without commercial support, avant-garde films are in danger of deteriorating and disappearing over time. Thankfully, there are two major initiatives under way to preserve and restore significant avant-garde films. The National Film Preservation Foundation, with support from the Film Foundation, has an Avant-Garde Masters grant program to fund archives restoring experimental films. And the Academy of Motion Picture Archives, which is best known for awarding mainstream Hollywood filmmaking, devotes considerable resources to restoring well-known and neglected avant-garde films.