Silent film enthusiasts (like me) should be very pleased over the release of Accidentally Preserved: Rare & Lost Silent Films from Vintage 16mm Prints, a somewhat cumbersome title for this DVD collection of nine silent film shorts. The set comes out June 11 and will be available only at Amazon.com via their “CreateSpace” DVD on demand service.

Some of these have been lost for decades and guess why they are back? Crowdfunding.  The crowdfunding project was put together by silent film musical accompanist, Ben Model.  Model coined the phrase “accidentally preserved” to refer films that exist because they were copied onto 16mm safety film for home rental (yes, they had home rental). Model is, as mentioned, a silent film accompanist and has worked as such at the Museum of Modern Art since 1984.

The films include pieces by Wallace Lupino, Billy Franey, Clyde Cook, Cliff Bowes and Paul Parrott (Charley Chase’s sibling). There is also a Max Fleischer cartoon and an industrial film (very few of these from the era survived—even less than entertainment films)

Find out more at www.accidentallypreserved.com. There will be more releases in the series. Probably in part, because of this “on demand” service by Amazon. It is tough to get distribution of such films and costly to duplicate in numbers.

For more on Model head to www.silentfilmmusic.com.

Dave Grohl isn’t just a musician. These days he is a budding documentary producer and director. Grohl started making Sound City--a music documentary  after he purchased an old recording console, a console of the type used at the old Van Nuys studio, Sound City. The focus is on that studio and its remarkable history. The list of bands that recorded at Sound City crosses genre lines and includes some of the biggest (or just BEST) acts in music history.

Check out clips below of Germs, Nirvana (etc) guitarist Pat Smear and Fear’s Lee Ving. Don't let these fool you. It isn't all about punk or post-punk rock n roll.

All the Kings Men is a drag cabaret theater troupe based in Boston. They are not all about dressing up like Carol Channing either. They dress men as old ladies and women as men and men dressed as women dressing as men..etcetera!

It sounds like a must see show.

Now you can get insight into the troupe  in the privacy of your own home. Play in the Gray is a film about the work, art, lives and more of the members of the troupe. It is not a tape of a show by the group (please note that) but an examination of the group, the ideas behind the group and much more.

You can find out more HERE. 

You can buy it HERE.

The International Children’s Media Center (ICMC), based in the Chicago area, is helping to produce a family feature film to be shot in the Peruvian Andes. The film, Eduin and the Golden Scepter of the Incas, is a family feature set in Nor Yauyos-Cochas. The area is one of the most beautiful and fascinating ecosystems on the planet.

The film will be filled with Andean myths and folk stories and, as you might expect given the location, the film has a strong environmental message.

The Peruvian government provided a grant for the film and Animal FX (special effects house)  are also a production partner. YOU can also help fund the project as there is a kickstarter campaign for the film. Find out details HERE.