IT CAME FROM THE BOTTOM SHELF!

Every year a collection of film historians, archivists, and fans gather at the Library of Congress campus at Culpepper, VA for a three day workshop to try to identify unknown silent and early sound films.  Ten of these newly identified rare films will be released on DVD on October 30th as Found At “Mostly Lost”: Volume 2 from Undercrank Productions.  An earlier volume of eleven shorts was released back in 2016 (and is still available through the link at the bottom of this post).

Here is the press release regarding the upcoming volume:

 

TEN “MOSTLY LOST” SILENT FILMS FROM LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, UNSEEN FOR DECADES, CONFIRMED FOR DVD RELEASE OCTOBER 30

Undercrank Productions Collaborates with Library of Congress to Release Second Volume of Rare Films Newly Identified by Historians and Fans at the LoC’s Annual Film Identification Workshops 2015-2017

NEW YORK, N.Y. (WEDNESDAY October 10, 2018) – Undercrank Productions (www.undercrankproductions.com) announced today that FOUND AT “MOSTLY LOST”: VOLUME 2, a collection of uncirculated films preserved by The Library of Congress, will be released on DVD on October 30, 2018. The DVD contains ten rare silent films that until recently had been unidentified, under-identified or misidentified. Those films’ identities are now known thanks to the annual “Mostly Lost” workshop, hosted by the Library of Congress. This second DVD volume includes films identified during the workshops held 2015-2017.

Thousands of films have been preserved by film archives, but because their main titles are missing no one knows what they are. Thanks to the annual “Mostly Lost” film identification workshop, this is changing. This second DVD volume contains ten extremely rare films preserved by the Library of Congress that were ID’ed recently — silent film shorts starring comedians like Snub Pollard, Monty Banks and Billy Bletcher, as well as westerns, a cartoon, and Nickelodeon-era amusements.In 2012 the Library of Congress began hosting the annual “Mostly Lost” film identification workshop, held at its National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, VA. Attendees range from writers, scholars, archivists, and filmmakers to just plain film buffs and students interested in film or preservation. During the three-day workshop, silent and early sound films are screened that have been unidentified, under-identified or misidentified. All genres of films are shown, including comedies, dramas, newsreels and actuality films. Attendees shout out things during screenings as they recognize them or find them online – anything from car models, city landmarks, actors, production companies or even the title of the film.

The ten films on the FOUND AT “MOSTLY LOST”: VOLUME 2 DVD have been sourced from and preserved by the Library of Congress, although films screened at the workshops come from archives all over the world and around the USA. The films on the DVD feature new piano scores by Philip Carli, Andrew E. Simpson and Ben Model, all of whom perform live accompaniment for the Mostly Lost workshop screening sessions.