THE FILM FOUNDATION
Mission Statement

Since its formation in 1990, The Film Foundation, a non-profit 501 (c) 3 organization, has been dedicated to fostering greater awareness of the urgent need to protect and preserve motion picture history.

Through educational programs, national campaigns, and public events, the Foundation is able to provide substantial support for preservation and restoration projects at its member archives – the Academy Film Archive, George Eastman House, Library of Congress, MoMA, UCLA Film and Television Archive – and affiliated organizations – the National Center for Film and Video Preservation at the AFI and the National Film Preservation Foundation. These cultural institutions have mounted ambitious programs of preservation and restoration and serve as a vital link for public access to our nation's film treasures.

Over the past 13 years, the Foundation has been involved in the preservation and restoration of over 200 motion pictures including such legendary films as All About Eve (1950, dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz), How Green Was My Valley (1941, dir. John Ford), It Happened One Night (1932, dir. Frank Capra), The Last of the Mohicans (1920, dir. Clarence Brown and Maurice Tourneur), The Night Of The Hunter (1955, dir. Charles Laughton), On the Waterfront (1954, dir. Elia Kazan), Seven Men From Now (1956, dir. Budd Boetticher), Shadow of a Doubt (1943, dir. Alfred Hitchcock), Shadows (1960, dir. John Cassavetes), The Story of G.I. Joe (1945, dir. William Wellman), and many others. In addition, the Foundation has worked to preserve a broad range of filmmaking, including silent films, newsreel footage, documentaries, and experimental and avant-garde works whose titles may not be widely known but whose survival is vital to our collective memories and culture.

In the Foundation's efforts to promote greater awareness of film protection and preservation, it created "The Story of Movies." This national educational initiative, which will launch pilot sites in the fall of 2003, explores the role of film in culture and teaches film appreciation and history to middle school students through an integrated curriculum designed to complement existing standards for Language Arts, Social Studies and Fine Arts.

The Foundation was created by Martin Scorsese and seven other eminent directors –Woody Allen, Francis Ford Coppola, Stanley Kubrick, George Lucas, Sydney Pollack, Robert Redford, and Steven Spielberg – who were joined shortly thereafter by directors Robert Altman and Clint Eastwood.

In 2002, the Foundation consolidated with the Artists Rights Foundation of the Directors Guild of America. With this consolidation, the President and Secretary-Treasurer of the DGA became members of the Board of Directors.

The Artists Rights Education and Legal Defense Fund council was established to advocate for the protection and expansion of artists' rights. Governors of this council include: Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford, Miloš Forman, Taylor Hackford, Dustin Hoffman, Anjelica Huston, Bruce Ramer, Elliot Silverstein, and Ken Ziffren.

For more information, please contact 323-436-5060 (Los Angeles) and 212-258-0860 (New York) or visit www.film-foundation.org.