From: Stephanie Sapienza (email suppressed)
Date: Thu Dec 04 2008 - 14:24:41 PST
Job Posting(s): Archival Researchers, Los Angeles Filmforum
Overview:
Los Angeles Filmforum seeks five (5) researchers to conduct archival research on the history of experimental filmmaking and programming in Los Angeles from 1945 – 1980. The five positions will vary in length from 40 hours of work to 120, depending on the scope of the particular assignment. The rate of pay is $20 per hour, and the time period of completion is from January to March 2009, with work days and hours being at the discretion of the researcher.
About Los Angeles Filmforum:
Los Angeles Filmforum is the city’s longest-running series devoted to weekly screenings of experimental film, documentaries, animation and video art. Our normal programs run on Sunday nights at the Egyptian Theater, although we also collaborate with many other alternative film venues in the city throughout the year. For more information, visit our website at www.lafilmforum.org. A longer description and history is included in the “About” section of the site.
About the research project:
Filmforum has recently been awarded a grant from the Getty Foundation as part of its postwar art initiative Pacific Standard Time: Art in LA 1945 – 1980. Fifteen organizations were awarded funds to plan for a series of citywide exhibitions on postwar LA art, to take place beginning in September 2011 and continuing through 2012. The end goal of Filmforum’s research project is to prepare for a screening series and catalog to launch during this time period.
The goal of Filmforum’s research project is to expand understanding of how experimental filmmaking evolved in Los Angeles and to contextualize its place in post-war art history. This project will focus on the community of filmmakers, artists, curators and programmers who contributed to the creation and presentation of experimental cinema in Southern California from 1945-1980. This project will demonstrate how the Los Angeles programming and distribution infrastructure was an integral part of the avant-garde film movement during this period, how artists and curators collaborated, and how the movement was able to foster new creative voices by exposing emerging filmmakers to alternative voices and images.
The first phase of our research will be examining the institutional archives of our five core film organizations that were involved with fostering, distributing and exhibiting the art in question. These organizations are the Creative Film Society, Los Angeles Independent Film Oasis, Los Angeles Filmforum, Asco Collective, and Visual Communications.
Job Description:
The researchers will gather information on filmmakers active in Los Angeles during 1945-1980 and the films that were publicly screened in Los Angeles during that period, by examining the organizations’ paper archives (and in some cases, the films themselves) and entering information into a collaborative online database of names, films, and organizations.
The Project Director will use all of the information compiled by researchers during this process to create a list of at least forty proposed oral history subjects for the second stage of the project. The information will also provide the research foundation for scholars who wish to submit a paper or panel proposal for a research symposium in 2010. Researchers are highly encouraged to continue their research and remain involved in the project by submitting symposium proposals.
Asco Collective Researcher: (Los Angeles or San Francisco Bay Area) Asco was a multimedia arts organization and a collective of Chicano artists who made, among other media, Super8 films in the 1970s. There are 40 hours of research work for this position, which can be performed either in the Bay Area or LA, as the archives for Asco are split between the two locations. This person will consult with Rita Gonzalez and Chon Noriega from the Chicano Studies Film Center at UCLA, on direction and archival checklists for Asco, specifically where the film elements (and information pertaining to them) are located. There are also travel funds for the researcher to travel to the other location.
Visual Communications Researcher: (Los Angeles) Visual Communications is an Asian-Pacific focused filmmaking and festival organization. There are 40 hours of research work for this position, which will be based out of the Visual Communications offices in downtown Los Angeles.
Creative Film Society Researcher: (Los Angeles) CFS was an experimental film distributor formed in 1957. There are 120 hours of research work for this position, which will be based in Los Angeles. This person will consult with Angie Pike, the former director of Creative Film Society, in identifying films and artists from the massive distribution catalog that are particularly relevant to the project. This person may also need to view films at either the UCLA Film and Television Archive or at the Academy Film Archive.
Los Angeles Independent Film Oasis: (Washington DC) Film Oasis was an exhibition organization in the 1970s. There are 40 hours of research work for this position, which will be based in DC as the archives for Oasis are located at the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art. This person will consult with Amy Halpern, a founding member of Oasis, in identifying films and artists that are particularly relevant to the project.
Miscellaneous Organizations Researcher: (Los Angeles) This covers other organizations, primarily Los Angeles exhibitors of experimental films such as Cinema Theatre and Theatre Vanguard, that aren’t considered one of the five “core” entities. There are 80 hours of research work for this position. The archives for these may be spread out, but will be conducted mostly at the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library.
Desired Qualifications:
• Background or experience conducting scholarly archival research
• Some knowledge of the experimental film genre and its history
• Ability to work independently and efficiently
• Ability to navigate the project’s content management system, an online database where information gleaned from research will be entered and collated
Please submit a resume or CV and a cover letter to Project Director Stephanie Sapienza at email suppressed, along with your availability through the months of January – March. Also indicate the position(s) you are interested in.
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For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.