Gone Orphansing…

CFA’s offices will be closed this Thursday and Friday. Our whole staff is headed south and little east to catch Orphans Midwest: Materiality and the Moving Image– a gathering of scholars, archivists, film enthusiasts and artists who all share an interest in “orphaned” or neglected films (home movies, outtakes, unreleased films, industrial and educational movies, independent documentaries, newsreels, student works, etc etc). Presented by Indiana University Libraries Film Archive, Indiana University Cinema and NYU Cinema Studies/Tisch School of the Arts, the symposium features enlightening panels and screenings of orphaned rarities, rediscoveries and new productions. In year’s past, we’ve attended and presented at the Orphans Symposium in NYC, but conveniently for us Midwesterners, they moved it a bit closer this time.

CFA films and colleagues will also make an appearance this year! On Saturday, September 28, CFA colleague, Andy Uhrich (Indiana University), will present at the Curatorial Challenges: Contextualizing and Recontextualizing Bits and Pieces session. In his presentation, Andy will share and discuss films from CFA’s Film Group and Chuck Olin collections and examine the contested and productive connections between their political documentaries and TV commercials in the late 1960s (you can read more about Andy’s presentation here). AND! later that day, one of our favorite CFA films, CLOSE TO YOU BY THE CARPENTERS (1971) will take part in “An Evening of Music in Orphan Films” – a screening of musical wonders curated by archivist and musician Kelli Hix (Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum).

Looking forward to the symposium and catching up with dear colleagues and friends!

(and in case we convinced you to attend, tickets to evening events are available to the public at the Indiana University Cinema and IU Auditorium Box office.)