Good Cause!
Ready for an entertaining read and a chance to help preserve film noirs? The NOIR CITY ANNUAL #3 is now available at Amazon. This edition includes some of the best features from the 2010 NOIR CITY SENTINEL, as well as new never-before-seen material. 272 pages of essays, interviews, profiles, tributes, and reviews of classic and modern film noirs, illustrated with exceptional photographs. All for the low price of $20. Proceeds go directly to the FNF's reclamation and restoration efforts.
The Film Noir Foundation is a non-profit public benefit corporation created as an educational resource regarding the cultural, historical, and artistic significance of film noir as an original American cinematic movement. It is our mission to find and preserve films in danger of being lost or irreparably damaged, and to ensure that high quality prints of these classic films remain in circulation for theatrical exhibition to future generations.
That's the high-toned legalese. Here are the facts: Even as the high-tech revolution lets us own vast film libraries on DVD, the risk grows greater all the time that 35mm prints of some films will fall into disuse and eventually disintegrate—especially lesser-known titles that have slipped through the cultural cracks, but are worthy of rediscovery.
As a focal point of the classic film noir revival, the Foundation serves as a conduit between film companies and repertory cinemas still eager to screen these films in 35mm. Revenues generated by ticket sales encourage studios film archives to strike new prints of films that are at risk of disappearing from public view, either through neglect or scarcity. Once these films are unearthed and returned to circulation, the chances exponentially increase that they will be reissued on DVD, available in pristine, affordable form for future generations of film-lovers.
FROM A NEW DONOR
Just wanted to start by telling you that I am extremely happy to have found your Foundation. I am 38 years of age, and for the last few years I have become a fan of 40s and 50s movies. My parents are Greek. They moved to Australia before I was born, and the fact that I am a Greek Australian who loves old movies is rare.... I have my parents to thank—especially my father, because he always had great enthusiasm whenever Bogart or Cagney was on the television. I have your Noir City Sentinels, and they are nothing short of amazing...
Thank you for your time and thank you for saving the greatest years of film.
— Daniel Sarantidis
FNF MAIL
I just sent you $100 via Paypal. But I missed the "send message" link. I have contributed before, and I wish I could do so more often. The content of your site continually amazes me!
— Patrick Shields
The Film Noir Foundation can be found on Facebook,Myspace, and Twitter. If you haven't signed up, maybe you should. Maybe you'll meet someone who will betray you and leave you for dead on the internet. At the least, you'll have access to a vast repository of noir posters and photos.
The Film Noir Foundation's quarterly electronic magazine, NOIR CITY (formerly the NOIR CITY SENTINEL) contains the finest and most fun writing on film noir in the world. Start by adding your name to our mailing list and then making a donation of $20 or more to the FNF. Below are PDFs of three articles from the current issue.
Life, art and film noir made Mickey Rooney's road a crooked one in the 1950s. Jake Hinkson hitches a ride in the Mick's wayward getaway car. READ.
French critics coined the term "film noir," but Jean-Pierre Melville redefined it with a series of icy thrillers. Marc Svetov explores Melville's odd love-hate relationship with the gangster figure. READ.
Anchoring NOIR CITY's expansive coverage of "King of Noir" Robert Ryan, J.R. Jones examines the real-life roots of Ryan's incomparable series of tortured souls. READ.
VIDEO ARCHIVE
For an expanding catalog of noir-related video, ranging from exclusive interviews, to NOIR CITY guest appearances, to short films inspired by film noir, go here.
LATEST ADD Interview with Lynne Carter.