LOLA Clips Buys SoMotion’s 4K Drone Library

LOLA Clips have acquired the 4K aerial archive of SoMotion – the archive of pioneering aerial photographer Ben Kelly whose 4K catalogue includes extensive aerials across Iceland, UK and Europe.

SoMotion’s founder, Ben Kelly, started his career in aerial filming working in helicopters filming factual programming content and live TV events for multinational broadcasters, from the BBC and Channel Four to ABC and TF1. 

Since the emergence of drone technology SoMotion has been at the forefront of shooting high quality aerial videos. Their wide-ranging portfolio is the result of technical expertise and features superb 4K material.

This impressive library, all exclusively shot on 4K, extensively covers areas like Iceland and Spain - from stunning night shots of Rejkiavik to the explosive force of erupting volcanic geysers, this collection is ready for feature film clients.

LOLA is continually aggregating new high quality aerial content.  Most recently filming 6K drone content of London at night in an extensive shoot over 2 days on the river Thames, with its long term partner Aerial Focus.

Earlier this year LOLA undertook a shoot for the new Netflix release “Don’t Look Up” starring Leonardo DiCaprio and was commissioned to shoot Wembley Stadium at night for the movie. Partnering with Batcam and Flow Films, LOLA delivered 2 shots to the movie and continues to build a name for itself in providing Hollywood Studios with bespoke stock footage internationally.

LOLA now represents of 35 footage partners and offers bespoke content-on-demand. Through their dedicated consultancy service, LOLA helps clients find the archival content that speaks to their needs.

Contact  Sandra Coelho or Dominic Dare - info@lolaclips.com

Now Streaming: Street Gang - How We Got to Sesame Street

Street Gang, streaming now on HBOMax, is a love letter to Sesame Street and the core group of visionary producers, creatives and academics who conceived and launched the show in 1969, including producer Joan Clooney, writer/director John Stone and Lloyd Morrisett, an experimental psychologist at the Carnegie Foundation. Morrisett, who Clooney credits as “the father of Sesame Street,” was “heavily influenced by the national dialogue on the gap that was being created in schools,” and “wondered whether there was a possibility that television could be used to help children with school.” Morrisett reached out to his friend Joan Clooney, a documentary producer at WNET, about whether television could be used to educate children. “I knew the answer right away,” Clooney recalls. “Every kid in America was singing beer commercials. Now where had the learned beer commercials?”

As a starting point, Morrisett hired Clooney to do a feasibility study on whether television could be an effective medium for educating children. Her conclusion was that it absolutely could.

“Joan had a brilliantly simple notion,” says John Stone, who directed the show throughout much of its formative years. “Children were watching a tremendous amount of television. If they’re gonna watch that much television, why not, one, find out what it is they like to watch, and two, find out what would be good for them to watch, and then you put the two together, and that’s the show.”

Street Gang takes us the show’s development from this brilliantly simple notion into the multidimensional, multimedia program it is today. Along the way we meet other key members of the Sesame Street family, including Jim Henson, who brought the Muppets to Sesame Street, arguably its signature element.

Aside from some initial pushback in some southern states, based on the show’s vision of racial integration, Sesame Street appears to have lived a charmed existence since its earliest days, with little to no internecine squabbling or bad blood. The founding production team and cast had a deep sense of mission, and all the surviving members of the original team look back on their days at Sesame Street with great love and respect for each other and what they accomplished together. Maybe that’s what it takes to create something as magical as Sesame Street, a show that has been as integral part of American childhood for over half a century.

Now Streaming: The Beatles - Get Back

Peter Jackson’s The Beatles – Get Back, is a tour de force of archival filmmaking. Over the course of nearly eight hours of screen time, Jackson teases out multiple story arcs from 60 hours of source material, originally shot in 1969 by a film crew under the direction of Michael Lindsay-Hogg for use in the documentary Let it Be. Despite a 50-year interval, there’s a rawness and immediacy to the scenes of the band playing together, and with less than a month to produce an album of brand-new songs, the prodigious songwriting talents of each band member are on full display. Creative tensions between Paul McCartney and George Harrison mount throughout episode one, culminating in Harrison’s brief departure from the band. Paul noodles out the first few notes of Get Back one morning, seemingly out of nowhere, and we watch as the song develops over the course of the film into the first single released from the album.

McCartney is the dominant personality in the group, and while he clearly wants to hold the band together, it’s partly his drive and personality that’s pushing it apart. But despite the tensions, hurt feelings and disagreements, their work ethic, focus and creative process remain front and center throughout the film. When called upon to deliver, for whatever reason, an album of new songs in three weeks, they buckle down and do it. And watching it happen is nothing short of magical.

UNT Announces Holiday Schedule

The University of North Texas archives team wants to wish everyone a happy holiday! They’re thankful for all the wonderful footage researchers and archive producers they’ve worked with throughout the year. Please note that UNT staff will be unable to assist patrons during the university winter break, December 23-Jan 3. So please get your footage requests in by December 17 to ensure they have time to fill your order before the break.

In the meantime, enjoy some unique holiday themed footage from the UNT archive:

Santa Clause picketing Pangburns Candy Company to protest low wages, 1951

Alamo Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony, 1953

Tallest Christmas Tree in Texas, 1964

Computerized Gift Giving, 1981

Fake Cabbage Patch Kids for Christmas, 1984

Santa’s Dinner, 1997

Global ImageWorks Highlights NYC Footage

This month Global ImageWorks is spotlighting New York City in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s.

Selections from highly-acclaimed documentarian Robert Elfstrom shot in 1964 depict daily life in Harlem, including scenes inside a pool hall, bodega and restaurant, as well as great shots of Cassius Clay in front of the Hotel Theresa shortly before he changed his name to Muhammad Ali. This footage, which has been transferred from the original 16mm and is available now in 4K, also includes fascinating coverage of protestors with signs marching from City Hall to downtown Brooklyn during a large civil rights demonstration against school segregation.

Click here to see selections from the Elfstrom collection.

Two lightning strikes turned the streets of New York City into chaos in July of 1977. Heatwaves, a financial downturn, and a serial killer on the loose created an atmosphere of paranoia and fear, which erupted onto the streets when the lights went out that summer. What followed in the darkness was looting, violence and fires across most of New York City. This gritty footage was shot by stringers during the two-day blackout and is part of a wider collection of New York City crime footage of the 1970s and 1980s.

Click here to see the blackout footage.

Catch the F train for a fun-filled day of splashing in the waves, fishing, and riding the Cyclone on a warm summer's day at Coney Island in the 1970s.

Arcades, graffiti-covered subways, and neon signs all feature prominently in a collection of experimental films shot in New York City in the 1980s. These films highlight urban New York City life as the city grappled with a range of socio-economic issues.

Stunning Scenics Available at Screenocean

Screenocean holds a stunning archive of scenic footage from around the world available to licence. Highlights include: Wildlife Direct, Iker San Martin collection and The Travel Film Archive.

Wildlife Direct contains a vast archive of 4k footage and photographs from different parts of Kenya. Wildlife, nature, science and research, conservation, and communities are all featured in a variety of different types of landscapes and ecosystems.

The Iker San Martin collection consists of stock footage and nature shots from around the world. From South East Asia to South America and the pacific, Iker has documented his travels in stunning HD.

The Travel Film Archive hosts a spectacular archive of travelogues, educational and industrial films from all corners of the earth - many of them in colour - between 1900 and 1970. Predominantly shot on 35mm, it includes the work of renowned travel filmmakers such as Burton Holmes, Andre de la Varre, and James A. FitzPatrick, as well as footage shot by many other itinerant cameramen. 

Global ImageWorks Now Representing New Collection of Afghanistan War Footage

Global ImageWorks is now representing several hours of new footage from Afghanistan. This visceral footage captures combat, patrols, and training over the span of several embeds during the conflict's most brutal era, and is accompanied by equally powerful photos taken during this same period.

GIW also represents dramatic footage of the Soviet-Afghan war. This footage was captured in the late 1980s by filmmakers documenting the Afghan mujahideen as well as the Soviet forces during the final stages of the conflict. The footage features combat, training, and life of soldiers on both sides of the war.

September Sees Speedier Service from IWM Film

IWM (Imperial War Museums) now offers an enhanced workflow for archive producers and researchers ordering master copies for their productions. Registered users on the IWM Film website can select HD and SD clips and request direct downloads for commercial projects - click here to IWM’s demo video.

With more than 900 hours of digitised content available, the IWM film collection is now more accessible – offering self-selection and authorised download of HD and SD clips in a choice of file formats and frame rates to meet production needs.

Register free of charge to download time-coded screeners, save and share clips/films in workspaces and request the supply and licensing of HD and SD clips.

Matthew White, Archival Industry Leader, Dies at 64

It is with great sadness that we report the news that Matt White passed away earlier this month after battling cancer for two years. Whether working as an archivist, filmmaker, entrepreneur or business leader, Matt was a tireless advocate for the archival industry throughout a career that spanned 35 years.

Matt’s first major foray into the world of archives began in 1986, when he founded White Production Archives (WPA). Initially a production company specializing in archive-based documentary programming, Matt transformed WPA over the years into  a leading stock footage sales and distribution company. He joined National Geographic in 2000, where he served as both VP, Film Library and later, VP, Digital Markets until 2006.

Matt was instrumental in launching ACSIL, the US stock footage trade association, and held both the roles of President and later Executive Director. He also served as the Executive Director of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)’s American Archive Project from 2010 to 2012. But it was his work as the creator and a producer of the Beatles: Eight Days a Week documentary that he seemed to bring all his passions together into one project, and which served as a capstone to his long service to our industry. Matt was a big force in our community for many years and will be missed both as a friend and a colleague.

Joe Lauro Weighs in on 'Lost' Harlem Festival Footage

The following article was written by Joe Lauro, President of Historic Films, in response to Salamishah Tillet’s recent “Summer Of Soul” article and interview with Questlove, which was published in the New York Times on June 30, 2021.

In a recent New York Times article entitled “With ‘Summer of Soul,’ Questlove Wants to Fill a Cultural Void,” it’s stated that “for nearly 50 years, this ( the Harlem Festival tapes) just sat in a basement and no one cared.” Additionally, one of the key premises of the film itself, as stated in the opening montage, is that the Harlem Festival footage was lost for 50 years.

This statement at best is hyperbole. The reality is that in 2004 I tracked down director/producer Hal Tulchin after screening a 16mm syndication print of an episode of his first, Harlem Festival series.

Mr. Tulchin and I went to lunch to discuss the Harlem Festival footage and shortly thereafter he signed a representational agreement with my company, Historic Films. The idea was to license clips to third parties from the 40+ hours of Harlem Festival footage, as well as develop a feature length documentary on the event. I pulled the video tape masters from his Westchester County basement, digitized the reels, logged their contents, archived the 1” submasters at the Historic Films office and insisted that Mr. Tulchin copyright all of the reels. In fact I filled out the forms for him and filed the copyright registration on his behalf (and on my dime) with the Library Of Congress . The Library Of Congress was also sent a complete set of videos of the 40+ hours of Harlem Festival footage as is their requirement for copyright filing. Through the years of our representation, we licensed excerpts of the footage to several productions including Sony Records, who used a sizable portion of the “lost” Nina Simone set in one of their home video releases.

Morgan Neville ( Academy Award Winning director of Twenty Feet from Stardom), Robert Gordon ( Emmy winning co-director of Best of Enemies and author of It Came from Memphis) and I developed a feature length documentary film on the festival, framing the event within the politics and civil right unrest that existed at the time, created a trailer and shopped the production around to several possible distributors. A deal with a major distributor was in negotiation in 2007 and we were in contract negotiations. To our surprise, the negotiations broke down and the rep from that company jumped ship and teamed with Mr. Tulchin, dumping Neville, Gordon and myself and taking the Harlem Festival project on as his own. Some 15 years later we have Summer of Soul.

As an archivist and filmmaker who has spent his 35-year career creating music documentaries, and unearthing and preserving rare musical content, I am delighted that this film has finally been produced. I only ask that credit for the re-discovery of the Harlem Festival footage be properly given. Producers of a doc such as this that is touting it’s righteousness and quest for truth should at least give credit where it is due. I assure you, if it were not for my efforts the Harlem Festival master tapes would likely still be molding in Mr. Tulchin’s Westchester County basement and Questlove would still be in total ignorance of their existence.

Joe Lauro

Click the following links for additional coverage in Book & Film Globe and Los Angeles Times.

Now Steaming: How to Become a Tyrant

How to Become a Tyrant, a six-part documentary series streaming now on Netflix, takes an irreverent approach to some very dark subject matter. Narrated by Peter Dinklage, the series is structured around a fictional “playbook” that lays out “a series of tactics that history’s most infamous tyrants used to achieve unimaginable power,” with each episode built around a specific tactic and a particular tyrant.

The first episode, Seize Power, focuses on the megalomania that fueled Adolf Hitler’s rise to power.

Episode 2, Crush Your Rivals, explores Saddam Hussein’s ruthless elimination of potential rivals.

Episode 3, Reign Through Terror, examines Idi Amin’s use of brutality, torture and mass murder to terrorize and subdue his countrymen.

Episode 4, Control the Truth, centers on Joseph Stalin, who excelled at the use of “propaganda, disinformation and other clever tricks to maintain total control over the Soviet Union.”

Episode 5, Create a New Society, focuses on Mummar Gaddafi, “who made the complete transformation of Libyan society his life’s work.”

Episode 6, Rule Forever, considers Kim Il Sung, who, along with his son, Kim Jong Il, “built a system of absolute rule that is still going strong today, while turning their nation into a shrine to their family’s greatness.”

Each episode is comprised primarily of archival footage, animation and expert commentary, and held together by Dinklage’s dry, playful narration. While the footage is of uneven quality, the overall production values are solid, and the approach, which some may find too clever by half, breathes a bit of new life into some familiar subjects.

Nimia Offers Worldwide News Coverage

Myanmar Protests. 2021 AFP®

The Nimia Stock Footage Marketplace is home to the best news and editorial producers from around the world. Find footage from breaking news stories and historical news events from providers in the USA, Europe, and Australia. News collections currently available through the Nimia Stock Footage Marketplace include the TEGNA archive, AFP, the Nine Network and Framepool.

• The TEGNA archive boasts thousands of hours of exclusive premium footage covering politics, crime, and local communities from around the United States.

• A global news leader, AFP provides breaking news footage with wide coverage of politics, business, science, health, sports, and culture from around the world.

• The Nine Network is Australia’s top rated television network, providing hit programs such as Channel 9 News, 60 Minutes, the Today Show, and A Current Affair.

• Framepool boasts over 30,000 digitally remastered historical films covering some of the world's most iconic moments in history.

Contact the team at Nimia for more information on these and other world-class footage collections.

Global ImageWorks Now Representing Les Blank Footage

Global ImageWorks is thrilled to represent and license footage from the outstanding catalog of over 40 films by Les Blank and his talented collaborators who worked with him over the years.

Les Blank (1935-2013) is an internationally renowned, independent filmmaker whose poetic work offers intimate, indiosyncratic glimpses into the lives, culture, and music of the passionate people at the periphery of American society.

Blank’s film topics have included Cajun, Mexican, Polish, Hawaiian and Serbian-American music and food traditions, Afro-Cuban drummers, Texas blues-men, Appalachian fiddlers, 1967 love-in “flower children”, gap-toothed women and the garlic plant.

Blank is probably best known for his feature-length “Burden of Dreams” (1982) documenting the chaotic production of Werner Herzog’s “Fitzcarraldo” in the jungles of South America.

His music films capture not just the music itself but frame the music's cultural context, portraying the surroundings from which these American roots music come and offer an amazing opportunity for stock footage.

Click here to see clips from the Les Blank collection.

LOLA Clips Now Representing High Level Photography

LOLA Clips now represents High Level Photography - the pioneering aerial video and stills company whose awe-inspiring archive spans over 30 years of footage from above. High Level Photography is one of the UK’s leading creators of stunning aerial video and images.

Since 1985, they have been producing unrivalled content from elevated viewpoints. Their wide-ranging portfolio is the result of technical expertise and features superb 4K material. Having mastered the use of all kinds of elevated platforms, from helicopters to masts, High Level now also use cutting-edge drone equipment to capture the perfect shot.

High Level’s impressive library holds over 8 million nationwide aerial images and footage - from atmospheric dawn shots over the English capital to the striking sunsets of St Andrews on the east coast of Scotland.

About LOLA

Founded in 2015, the name LOLA Clips has become synonymous with a friendly and forward-thinking archive service. With over 25 global media partners, LOLA’s collections reveal a diverse array of genres. From wildlife to news to music, LOLA truly embodies the international archive agency. LOLA also specialize in drone footage and aggregates bespoke content-on-demand. Through their dedicated consultancy service, LOLA helps clients find the archival content that speaks to their needs.

contact lo@lolaclips.com

Bee Gees Doc Nominated for Six Emmys

The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart, which premiered on HBO in December 2020, has been nominated for six Emmys. Directed by Frank Marshall and produced by Nigel Sinclair of White Horse Productions, the film is the first project to include David Peck, president of Reelin’ in the Years, as executive producer. Reelin’ in the Years and White Horse signed a deal in 2019 to develop and produce new feature documentaries from the RITY archive, and more projects are set to be announced soon.

“Being one of the executive producers on The Bee Gees doc, How Can You Mend A Broken Heart, was such an honor and I want to give big congratulations to the amazing production team at White Horse Pictures (Nigel Sinclair, Aly Parker, Nick Ferrall, Jeanne Elfant Festa and Cassidy Hartmann) who have allowed me to be part of their world,” said Peck. “When, not if, they win these awards, I will be home beaming from ear to ear. I’m excited to be working with them as executive producer on some other projects that are equally exciting and once they have been announced I can share that info.”

The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart, is up for honors in the following Emmy categories: writing, sound mixing, sound editing, editing, directing and Outstanding Doc/Non-Fiction Special.

When asked why Nigel Sinclair wanted to create projects with RITY he responded, “Of course, David runs this amazing library, but he also brings to the table the passion and commitment of a true archivist who cares deeply about the historical importance of footage and the need to preserve it. His invaluable advice to us on projects has gone way beyond just curating the footage he represents, and this new partnership is a chance for us to utilize his extraordinary knowledge to create some very high-level, archive-driven projects on subjects we all love. The main benefits are that David Peck’s skill, which is normally available to his customers through his ability to supply high quality material and advice is now actually harnessed with us to develop high quality archive-heavy projects.  David not only knows his own enormous archive like the back of his hand but he also has a producer and a storyteller’s point of view on how to use archive.  When you look at the way Reelin’ in the Years is organized, the scope of its library, and its sense that these are treasures, that vision is David’s.”

Bridgeman Images Seeks Content Partner Manager, Footage & Film Stills

Bridgeman Images is the prestigious international fine art, photography and footage archive specializing in licensing fine art, cultural and historical content. Founded in 1972, the company’s headquarters is in London’s Notting Hill Gate with offices in New York, Paris, Berlin and Bologna. The company represents over 2500 museums, galleries, artists, estates, photographers and archives worldwide. It has a global customer base among a wide variety of sectors: including Newspapers & Magazines, Trade and Educational publishers, TV and Film Studios, Product Companies (Print on Demand, Stationery product, etc.), Corporate and Agencies active in Design and Advertising.

The company is embarking on an ambitious program to enhance the content it represents while remaining loyal to its core of Art, Culture and History.

Job Description: Content Partner Manager, Footage & Film Stills

The primary responsibility of this role is to actively grow the number of Content Partners specializing in footage content and film stills that Bridgeman Images represents globally.

The second responsibility is to nurture and maintain excellent relationships with existing Footage & Film Stills Content Partners, with the objective to generate additional revenue, enhance loyalty, and increase content in support of delivering the global content strategy.

The role reports into the Global Head of Content Strategy & Partnerships.

Tasks & Responsibilities:

• Identify, reach out to, and sign-up Content Partners specializing in footage or film stills content, in line with the priorities outlined in the Content Strategy.

• Maintain and nurture relationships with existing Footage and Film Stills Content Partners with the objective to secure new and relevant content, renew contracts and improve their loyalty.

• Work closely with the sales teams globally and provide them with Content to reach their annual sales targets.

• Conduct annual and semi-annual Partner reviews with assigned Content Partners to define and implement actions to improve Partner Loyalty.

• Re/negotiate contractual terms with assigned Content Partners.

• Provide input into the definition of the Global Content Strategy with emphasis on footage and film stills.

• Conduct initial and subsequent audits of our footage and film stills archive to ensure that the content complies with any third party licensing requirements, is catalogued in accordance with industry conventions whilst educating and advising our Sales teams on how to navigate the complexities of licensing these types of content.   

• Work closely with Marketing, Product, Sales, IT, Finance and Bridgeman’s sister company, the Artists’ Collecting Society in ensuring that Bridgeman’s Content Partners extract maximum value from their representation by Bridgeman.

Tasks may change and evolve depending on changing content requirements.

Main Performance Indicators (Subject to change):

• Number of new Footage Content Partners signed up in line with the content strategy.

• Number of new Film Stills Content Partners signed up in line with the content strategy.

• Number of Footage and Film Stills Content Partner contracts timely renewed in accordance with the Content Partnership Team’s annual set of objectives.

• Amount of new footage clips and film stills brought into the archive from new and existing Content Partners.

• Number of annual and semi-annual reviews conducted each year, specifically improving existing content partner loyalty and content.

Candidate Requirements:

• A good understanding of Art, Culture and History, with 5-10 years’ experience working within an archival, licensing or cultural environment focussing on footage and film stills.

• Fluent in English is a must and ideally French and one additional language in either German or Italian.

• Graduate qualification in Archival Footage, Cultural Studies or Arts Management.

• Strong technical knowledge of archival and contemporary footage.

• Experience and knowledge of the complexities in licensing film stills from both archival and modern films.

• General knowledge of copyright and content licensing.

• A confident, enthusiastic, and innovative team player, experienced in working independently and handling a demanding, varied workload.

• Comfortable working in a team environment with accountability to achieve group and individual targets and timelines.

• Commercial mindset and a good feel for numbers and how these can support decision making.

• Appropriate software and hardware skills with proficiency in excel, and ideally a working understanding of a CRM tool

• Willingness to travel.

Personal Attributes:

• Resourceful, highly organized and detail oriented who displays a flexible and positive attitude to sign up new Content Partners.

• A relationship builder both internally and externally

• Enthusiastic to be part of a small, passionate, and dedicated team.

• A motivated team player with excellent time management, who understands that effective growth can only be realised if the Content Partnership Team work effectively and harmoniously together and in consultation with the Sales, Product, and Marketing teams.

• Proactive, takes responsibility and works with initiative, energy, and a good sense of humour.

Anyone interested in applying for the position should contact Edward Whitley, Global Head of Content Strategy and Partnerships, at edward.whitley@bridgemanimages.com.

Harry Birrell Presents: A Stunning New Collection of WW2 Clips Now Available at Screenocean

A hidden treasure trove of archive footage that was unexpectedly discovered when digging up family history is now available to license from Screenocean. The extraordinary story of amateur filmmaker, Harry Birrell, the man who captured his life on camera, has been brought to life by his granddaughter, Carina Birrell, who turned the collection into a stunning feature documentary.

He shot a large amount of footage throughout his life spanning from 1918 to the 1980s, 16mm and 32mm, and over 400 reels were discovered. There is wonderful 1930s colour footage as well as WW2 footage whilst he served in the Indian Army and throughout the Burma war, during which he kept entailed diaries, and some fantastic international films within his collection as well as some great Scottish material.

Following one man’s cinematic quest to document his experiences, in 1972 Birrell entered an amateur film-making competition, and his prize-winning film was a 4-hour chronicle of his adventures from 1918. Carina explained the motivation to rescue these forgotten memories:

“It's been a long time ambition of mine as a filmmaker myself to do something with Harry's work, as before this it had just lay gathering dust and only seen by the family and some friends, as well as screened by Harry himself in his homemade little cinema in Glasgow during the 50s and 60s.  One of my main incentives in making the film was to celebrate his archive and also make it more widely available as we do get regular requests for footage, photos and diary extracts.”

The recent feature film comprised of Harry's archive, ‘Harry Birrell Presents Films Of Love And War’, was a great success in the cinema and on BBC Scotland and BBC Four, and Screenocean is delighted to add this stunning collection of clips to our represented collections.

Producers Library Medelin Collection

When Pablo Escobar and the Medellin drug cartel established a foothold in Medellin, Colombia, earning it the moniker of the most dangerous city in the world, it was a rapidly growing city full of traders and laborers in the midst of it’s economy's industrial evolution. Producers Library presents newly scanned footage shot in 1960 that depicts bustling street life, architecture and automobiles of the era. Moving POVs through busy streets give a sense of what it was like to live in Medellin in 1960. In addition, high angle shots overlooking the sprawling metropolitan area showcase the city’s high-rises and the seven hills that surround it.

The vibrant color of these historic events was captured on 16mm Kodachrome which has now been scanned at 2K resolution. Over 50 clips of the newly available footage join Producers Library’s considerable collection of footage documenting the history of the war on drugs.

For information on licensing, pricing and to view the clips, visit www.producerslibrary.com or contact them at research@producerslibrary.com, 818 752 9097

UNT Call for Proposals: Folklore in the Archives

The University of North Texas Special Collections is seeking participants for a virtual event focused on highlighting archival and rare materials related to local, regional, or state folklore or legends. The final format of the program will depend on responses received but is expected to consist of participating individuals and institutions taking turns highlighting a fonds, collection, or item related to local or regional lore in presentations each around 10-15 minutes in length.

To view a potential direction for the program, please see the October 2020 presentation “Gettin' Spooky with Special Collections,” on the UNT Special Collections Facebook page. Proposals can involve either manuscript or audiovisual materials, but presentations should utilize the visual possibilities of the webinar format. We have tentatively scheduled the event to take place the week of August 16, 2021, but this date is subject to change depending on participants’ availability.

For this event, we welcome proposals from storytellers, scholars, filmmakers and anyone who holds unique personal collections and lore they would like to share. Presentations are welcome to include either or both discussions of lore and readings of excerpts from stories and tales. Potential topics and areas of interest for this event include local legends, cryptozoology, ghost stories and hauntings, tall tales, fables, children’s literature based on folklore, and more!  

To submit a proposal, please click here to submit a 500-word abstract, along with your contact information. Proposals are due Friday, May 28, 2021. 

FOCAL Awards Set for June 24th, Production Nominees Shorlist Announced

The 17th annual FOCAL Awards are set to take place online on June 24, 2021. FOCAL will be streaming the program at 19:00 (BST) on FOCAL’s Vimeo, Facebook and YouTube channels. The links will be available shortly.

This will be the second year that the FOCAL Awards will be presented virtually in response to the global pandemic. And while FOCAL is eager to return to its live awards ceremony, the virtual event has allowed a significantly larger global audience to take part. In total, 1325 people viewed the 2020 Awards ceremony, roughly four times the normal attendance at FOCAL’s live awards ceremonies, and similar numbers are expected this year.

FOCAL’s recently announced production nominees shortlist includes some of the past year’s most acclaimed documentary films, such as Crip Camp, MLK/FBI and Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President. The shortlist was derived from a wide range of entries from across the global production community, with 49% coming from the UK, 27% from North America and 24% from across Europe, South Africa and South America.

“This year we have received a wide variety of submissions making it an undeniably rich and diverse contest,” said Mary Egan, Director of Operations, FOCAL. “This would not be possible without the incredible work of archive professionals, restorations and researchers. The quality of the 2021 submissions has been exceptional. A special thanks to our international Jury for sharing their time and expertise. We hope you can join us on the 24th June to honor all the nominees and celebrate with the winners.”

A final jury vote on the shortlist will take place on May 28, and nominees for awards in Restoration and Preservation, The Jane Mercer Researcher of the Year and The Student Award will be announced at the end of the month. FOCAL has decided not to present the Footage Person and Footage Company of the Year awards, and will instead honor all FOCAL members in the virtual program.

The 2021 FOCAL Awards will be hosted by Jo Caulfield, a stand-up comedian, host and comedy writer who has worked on some of the biggest shows, and with some of the biggest names, in British comedy. Not only has she been the regular warm-up performer for Have I Got News for You for many years, she has appeared as a guest on the show, as well as on Mock The Week and Never Mind The Buzzcocks. Jo has also appeared on Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow. On Radio 4, Jo has her own acclaimed shows, It’s That Jo Caulfield Again, Jo Caulfield's Speakeasy and Jo Caulfield Won’t Shut Up, as well as regularly appearing on shows including The News Quiz, Just A Minute, The Now Show, and The Unbelievable Truth. She has also written for Ruby Wax, Joan Rivers, Ant and Dec, and Graham Norton.