An orphan film is a motion picture work that has been abandoned by its owner or copyright holder; also, any film that has suffered neglect.

History

The exact origin of the term orphan film is unclear. By the 1990s, however, film archivists were commonly using this colloquialism to refer to motion pictures abandoned by their owners. Before the end of the decade, the phrase emerged as the governing metaphor for film preservation, first in the United States, then internationally.

Definition

Historians and archivists define the term in both a narrow and a broad sense. A report from the Librarian of Congress, ''Film Preservation 1993,'' offered a first definition. As a category of so-called orphan works, orphan films are those “that lack either clear copyright holders or commercial potential” to pay for their preservation. However, a much wider group of works fall under the orphan rubric when the term is expanded to refer to all manner of films that have been neglected. The neglect might be physical (a deteriorated film print), commercial (an unreleased movie), cultural (censored footage) or historical (a forgotten World War I-era production).

This broader conception is typically illustrated by a list of orphaned genres. In ''Redefining Film Preservation: A National Plan'' (1994), the Librarian of Congress enumerated newsreels, actuality footage, silent films, experimental works, home movies, independent fiction and documentary films, political commercials, amateur footage, along with advertising, educational and industrial films as culturally significant orphans. To this the National Film Preservation Foundation adds animation, ethnic films, anthropological footage, and fragments. (See "What Are Orphan Films".)

Within a decade the epithet was adopted by scholars and educators. In ''The Film Experience: An Introduction'' (2004), for example, Timothy Corrigan and Patricia White include a section on orphan films, defining them simply as "Any sort of films that have survived but have no commercial interests to pay the costs of their preservation."

Defined in this way, more films are orphans than not. Many are more accurately described as “footage,” recordings shot on celluloid but not intended to be completed works or theatrical releases. The millions of feet of home movies and newsreel outtakes alone outnumber the quantity of film stock used to make all of the feature films ever released by Hollywood studios.

Movement

The resurgent interest in these films is due to their rich value as cultural and historical artifacts. Documentarians, filmmakers, historians, curators, collectors and scholars have joined forces with archivists because they deem orphans not only historical documents, but also evidence of alternative, suppressed, minority or forgotten histories.

Since 1999, hundreds of these devotees have gathered for the biennial Orphan Film Symposium. In their introduction to the anthology ''Mining the Home Movie'' (2008) Karen Ishizuka and Patricia Zimmermann assess the impact of these symposiums.

After the fifth Orphan Film Symposium, "Science, Industry & Education," took place at the University of South Carolina (March 2006), New York University took up the project, incorporating it into the Cinema Studies department's Moving Image Archiving and Preservation master's program. Orphans 6 took place in New York City in March 2008, focusing on neglected films and videos by, about, against, and under "the state." The most recent NYU edition was held at the SVA Theatre in New York City. This seventh symposium, "Moving Pictures Around the World" (April 2010), included 80 speakers from 17 nations, 80 films, and more than 300 participants.

In 2001, members of these professions began referring to an “orphan film movement.” As archivist-scholar Caroline Frick has written, some of the most active participants identify themselves as “orphanistas,” passionate advocates for saving, studying, and screening neglected cinema. In 2004, visual anthropologist Emily Cohen wrote that the movement's creative and intellectual ferment constituted an “Orphanista Manifesto.”

More pragmatically, in the United States the group's rising influence affected discourse and policies about copyright reform, joining the broader media reform movement. Examples of this include the 2003 Supreme Court case Eldred v. Ashcroft and the 2006 Copyright Office ''Report on Orphan Works''. In September 2008, the U.S. Senate passed a bill (S.2913) "to provide a limitation on judicial remedies in copyright infringement cases involving orphan works," but the House of Representatives adjourned before addressing the measure.

Although U.S. copyright stakeholders confine their discussion to the narrower definition of an orphan (a work with no identifiable rightsholder or whose rightsholder cannot be located), the broader conception—an orphan film as a neglected object—continues to be used internationally. Film archivists working quite separately in different nations have used the orphan metaphor for a decade. At the Cinemateca de Cuba, for example, the term "huérfanos" has been used to conceptualize the lost and abandoned works of Cuban film history, its "huerfanidad." The Nederlands Filmmuseum preserves and programs its "Bits & Pieces" series of unidentified film fragments, its "foundlings." The China Film Archive in Beijing uses a translatable orphan film metaphor as well.

Another indication of the international interest in orphan films was filmmaker Martin Scorsese's announcement of a World Cinema Foundation (WCF) at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. Press reports stated that the WCF would preserve "orphan" films. By 2008, however, the WCF's mission statement referred only to "neglected" films rather than orphans, as the foundation helps fund preservation of lesser known theatrical motion pictures, which remain under the legal ownership of some party. World Cinema Foundation

In April 2008, members of the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) unanimously endorsed a "Declaration on Fair Use and Access". The ninth of its ten points simply states: "FIAF supports efforts to clarify the legal status of 'orphan' motion pictures and related promotional and historical materials for the purpose of preservation and public access." Shortly thereafter, on June 4, 2008, the European Union announced the signing of a new "Memorandum of Understanding" on orphan works. The EU's Digital Libraries Initiative produced the statement. Signatories included key institutions in moving image archiving and representatives of rightsholders: Association Des Cinematheques Europeennes, the British Library, European Film Companies Alliance, Federation Europeenne Des Realisateurs De L'audiovisuel, Federation Internationale Des Associations De Producteurs De Films, and the International Federation Of Film Distributors. See EU Press Release on Orphan Works.

See also

Orphan work

Film preservation

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

Asch, Mark. "Three Questions for Cullen Gallagher About the Orphan Film Symposium," ''The L Magazine,'' January 22, 2010.

Boyle, James, et al. ''Access to Orphan Films'', submission to the Copyright Office, from the Center for the Study of the Public Domain, Duke University Law School, March 2005.

Cave, Dylan. “Born Digital -- Raised an Orphan?: Acquiring Digital Media through an Analog Paradigm,” ''The Moving Image'' 8.1 (Spring 2008): 1-13.

Cherchi Usai, Paolo. "What Is an Orphan Film? Definition, Rationale, Controversy." Paper delivered at the symposium "Orphans of the Storm: Saving Orphan Films in the Digital Age", University of South Carolina, September 23, 1999. Transcript at http://www.sc.edu/filmsymposium/archive/orphans2001/usai.html

Cherchi Usai, Paolo. "Are All (Analog) Films 'Orphans'? A Pre-digital Appraisal," ''The Moving Image'' 9.1 (2009): 1-18.

Coffey, Liz. “Orphans of the Storm III: Listening to Orphan Films,” ''The Moving Image'' 3.2 (Fall 2003): 128–32.

Cohen, Emily. “The Orphanista Manifesto: Orphan Films and the Politics of Reproduction,” ''American Anthropologist'' 106.4 (2004): 719-31.

Cullum, Paul. “Orphanistas! Academics and Amateurs Unite to Save the Orphan Film,” ''L.A. Weekly'', Apr. 26, 2001.

Eagan, Daniel. “Orphan Films: Recapturing Lost Snippets of History,” ''Smithsonian Magazine'', July 2010, www.smithsonianmag.com.

Fishman, Stephen. ''The Public Domain: How to Find & Use Copyright-free Writing, Music, Art, & More'', 3rd ed. Berkeley, CA: Nolo, 2006.

Frick, Caroline. “Beyond Hollywood: Enhancing Heritage with the 'Orphan' Film," ''International Journal of Heritage Studie'' 14.4 (2008): 319-31.

Frick, Caroline. 'Saving Cinema: The Politics of Preservation' (Oxford University Press, 2010).

Goldsmith, Leo. "Adventures in Preservation: A Report from the 7th Orphan Film Symposium," ''Moving Image Source,'' June 10, 2010.

Horak, Jan-Christopher. “Editor's Introduction,” ''The Moving Image'' 6.2 (2006): vi-viii.

Horak, Jan-Christopher. “The Strange Case of ''The Fall of Jerusalem'': Orphans and Film Identification,” ''The Moving Image'' 5.2 (2005): 26-49.

Libby, Jenn. "Foundling Films: Orphans 5: Science, Industry and Education", ''Afterimage'' (May/June 2006): 11.

Longo, Regina. “Fifth Orphan Film Symposium: Science, Industry, and Education,” ''The Moving Image'' 7.1 (Spring 2007): 92–94.

Musser, Charles. “Documentary Before Verité,” ''Film History'' 18.4 (2006): 355-60.

Musser, Charles. Foreword to ''Fight Pictures: A History of Boxing and Early Cinema'' by Dan Streible (University of California Press, 2008), x-xvi.

“Orphans No More: Ephemeral Films and American Culture,” issue of the ''Journal of Popular Film and Television'' 37 (Fall 2009), ed. Elizabeth Heffelfinger and Heide Solbrig.

Orgeron, Devin. “Orphans Take Manhattan: The 6th Biannual Orphan Film Symposium,” ''Cinema Journal'' 48.2 (Winter 2009): 114–18.

“‘Orphan Films’ Course to Screen Eight Neglected Works at Guild,”'' Los Angeles Times,'' Nov. 23, 1979.

Prelinger, Rick. ''The Field Guide to Sponsored Films''. San Francisco: National Film Preservation Foundation, 2006.

Prelinger, Rick, with Raegan Kelly. “Panorama Ephemera,” ''Vectors: Journal of Culture and Technology in a Dynamic Vernacular'', vol. 2.

Schwartz, Eric J. and Matt Williams. “Access to Orphan Works: Copyright Law, Preservation, and Politics,” ''Cinema Journal'' 46.2 (Winter 2007): 139-45.

Streible, Dan. “The Role of Orphan Films in the 21st Century Archive,” ''Cinema Journal'' 46.3 (Spring 2007): 124–28.

Streible, Dan. "The State of Orphan Films: Editor's Introduction," ''The Moving Image'' 9.1 (2009): vi-xix.

Wilson, Rachel. "Moving Pictures Around the World: The 7th Orphan Film Symposium," ''Senses of Cinema,'' 55 (2010).

Ziebell Mann, Sarah. “A Meditation on the Orphan, via the University of South Carolina Symposium,” ''AMIA Newsletter'' 47 (Winter 2000), 30, 33.

External links

Orphan Film Symposium websites at New York University (Cinema Studies Dept., Tisch School of the Arts), and at the University of South Carolina (Film and Media Studies Program, College of Arts & Sciences), , including "What is an orphan film?" http://www.sc.edu/filmsymposium/orphanfilm.html. These sites include audio recordings of talks given at the symposia.

National Film Preservation Foundation

Category:Film Category:Film preservation Category:Orphan works

name	Isabelle Fuhrman
birth date	February 25, 1997
birth place	Washington, D.C., U.S.
occupation	Actress, singer
yearsactive	2006–present
homepage	}}

Isabelle Fuhrman (born February 25, 1997) is an American teen actress. Fuhrman is best known for playing Esther in ''Orphan''.

Life and career

Fuhrman was born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Atlanta. Her Soviet-born mother, Elina Fuhrman, is a journalist, and her father, Nick Fuhrman, is a former political candidate and business consultant. She has an older sister, Madeline Fuhrman who is a singer and songwriter.

Fuhrman's acting career began at the age of seven, when a casting director from Cartoon Network spotted her waiting for her sister and cast her for one of the shows, ''Cartoon Fridays''. Fuhrman made her big screen debut just a few years later in the 2007 drama ''Hounddog''. The same year, Fuhrman was chosen to star in the movie ''Orphan'' alongside Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard. Fuhrman was cast through an exhaustive nationwide search of young actresses to portray the lead in the Warner Bros. collaboration between Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way and Joel Silver’s Dark Castle Entertainment. It was DiCaprio who discovered Fuhrman through an audition tape and decided he would not make ''Orphan'' without her.

Fuhrman's other credits include the role of Gretchen Dennis (aka Girl Ghost) opposite Jennifer Love Hewitt on the hit TV show ''Ghost Whisperer'', Grace O'Neil in the pilot episode of the 2006 television series ''Justice,'' and a number of national commercials like Pizza Hut and K-Mart. Her performance as Gretchen Dennis in Ghost Whisperer earned her a Young Artist Award nomination. Fuhrman also appeared in comedy skits on the ''Tonight Show with Jay Leno'', and she is known to have provided character voices for Cartoon Network's "Cartoon Fridays".

In 2010, Fuhrman was cast in the lead role of Angie Vanderveer in the dark comedy ''Salvation Boulevard'' (based on the novel by Larry Beinhart), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2011. Fuhrman is part of an ensemble cast that includes Pierce Brosnan, Marisa Tomei, Greg Kinnear, Jennifer Connelly and Ed Harris.

Her next project is the starring role of Sara Crewe in the modern remake of the classic novel, ''A Little Princess''. On May 11, 2011, Lionsgate confirmed that Fuhrman had been cast in the role of Clove in the film ''The Hunger Games'', expected to be released in 2012.

Fuhrman is currently attending a private school in Southern California.

Charitable work

Fuhrman was approached by Save the Children in 2010 to be a celebrity advocate for their "Caps for Good" project. She and several volunteers with Save the Children have helped knit hundreds of baby caps in an effort to reduce the death rate of newborns in developing countries.

Filmography

+ Film and Television
! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
2006		Grace O'Neil	Episode: "Pilot"
2007		Grasshopper
2008	''Ghost Whisperer''	Gretchen Dennis	Episode: "Pieces of You"
2009		Leena Klammer/Esther Coleman	Lead Character
2009		Additional Voices	TV movie
2009	''''	Girl (voice)	Episode: "The One About Friends"
2010	''Pleading Guilty''	Carrie	TV movie
2010	''Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage''	Hatchling Shelly (voice)
2011	''''	Lyric Byrne	Episode: "Perfect Witness"
2011	''Salvation Boulevard''	Angie
2012	''''	Clove	''Filming''

References

External links

Isabelle Fuhrman at FEARnet

Official Twitter

Official Facebook

Isabelle Fuhrman on Craft Ideas Weekly

Category:1997 births Category:Actors from Washington, D.C. Category:American people of Russian descent Category:American film actors Category:American child actors Category:American television actors Category:Living people Category:People from Washington, D.C.

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