UCLA Film & Television Archive

We’re thrilled to have collaborated once again with the @farhangfoundation  to present another UCLA Celebration of Iranian Cinema, continuing a decades-long tradition of bringing rarely shown films from Iran and the Iranian diaspora to Los Angeles. Thank you to the filmmakers who enriched this series by speaking about their work, and to the audiences who make this a meaningful and successful series year after year! Photos courtesy of Farhang Foundation. Photographer: @vafa.khatami .

Born on this day: French film pioneer Alice Guy Blaché (1873-1968), who is considered the world’s first woman director. Working in France and the U.S., Guy Blaché directed and produced or supervised almost 600 silent films and 150 synchronized sound films. In 1910, she established her own film company, Solax, and two years later built a studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Learn more about Alice Guy Blaché through the Women Film Pioneers Project at: wfpp.columbia.edu Some of her films, and the documentary “Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché” (dir. @pamelabgreen , 2018), are streaming on @kanopy , free through @uclalibrary (with UCLA logon ID) and other participating libraries: kanopy.com #AliceGuy #AliceGuyBlache

Legendary actor, singer and civil rights activist Lena Horne (1917–2010) was born on this day. In this silent newsreel from 1943, Horne sponsors a WWII Liberty ship named after African American scientist George Washington Carver. The star is joined by Beatrice Turner, the first African American woman welder in the Richmond, California-based shipyard. Part of the Hearst Metrotone News Collection. Explore thousands of newsreels online courtesy of the Archive and The Packard Humanities Institute at: newsreels.net #LenaHorne

The galvanizing Stonewall uprising for LGBTQ+ rights began on this day in 1969. “In the Life,” the groundbreaking public TV series, covered the 25th anniversary of this pivotal event and the growing visibility of LGBTQ+ people in 1994. The episode includes appearances by Stonewall veterans as well as @rupaulofficial , @ianmckellen , @theharveyfierstein , @officiallizaminnelli , Chita Rivera, Pete Seeger, Nathan Lane, Audre Lorde, Joan Rivers, Urvashi Vaid and more. Link to full episode in bio! “In the Life” (1992-2012) is considered the first and longest-running LGBTQ+ newsmagazine series that was broadcast nationally. Its entire 20-year run is held at the Archive and available for viewing on our website: cinema.ucla.edu/InTheLife

Created, hosted and independently produced by former DJ, @lasentinelnews columnist and L.A. jazz and blues historian Tom Reed, “For Members Only” was an African American news and magazine TV program that aired in Los Angeles from 1980 to the 2000s. The local series offered viewers Black perspectives on topics ranging from social issues to African American history to popular music. Luminaries on the show included boxer and humanitarian Muhammad Ali, author Alex Haley, Congresswoman Diane Watson, community activist Michael Zinzun, Emmy-winning actress Alfre Woodard, Grammy Hall of Fame Award inductee Nina Simone and many more. The UCLA Film & Television Archive and @UCLALibrary Digital Collections are pleased to announce that over 175 episodes of “For Members Only” are now available for free viewing online, as part of a preservation and access initiative. Learn more + watch online at digital.library.ucla.edu/tomreed (link in bio!) ------ Guest pictured: singer-songwriter and activist Nina Simone; "Superfly" actor Ron O'Neal; comedian and activist Dick Gregory; dancer, actor and artist Geoffrey Holder in a commercial for 7 Up.

🎬 Queer Rhapsody Film Series brings independent queer cinema to Los Angeles this July 19-28! Join us for a celebration of contemporary LGBTQIA+ cinema, featuring nearly 50 short films and eight features. Organized by the UCLA Film & Television Archive with support from the Andrew J. Kuehn Jr. Foundation and the Robert Gore Rifkind Foundation, Queer Rhapsody is anchored by five iconic LA venues, offering a sanctuary for queer culture. Curated by Martine McDonald (@martinejoelle ), Moi Santos (@moi_cis ), Natalie Jasmine Harris (@nataliejasmineharris ) and Daniel Crooke (@danielcroooke ) to honor the expansive spirit of the LGBTQIA+ community, Queer Rhapsody shines a light on the vibrant, multifaceted landscape of queer film. With liberatory narratives at the core, this series amplifies feature films poised to achieve cult status, short-form experimental storytelling as an alchemical guide, vanguard documentaries blazing a path for narrative change, and international films primed to accompany viewers on a journey of self-discovery. Cultural partners: 📍 American Cinematheque (@am_cinematheque ) at the Egyptian Theatre 📍 American Cinematheque at the Los Feliz 3 Theatre 📍 The Broad (@thebroadmuseum ) 📍 UCLA Film & Television Archive (@uclaftvarchive ) at the Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer Museum 📍 Vidiots (@vidiots ) Learn more at QueerRhapsodyFilmSeries.com / link in bio! 🎟️✨ #QueerRhapsodyLA

Happy Father’s Day! 💙 Buster Keaton hanging with his sons, 1928. #BusterKeaton #SilentFilm

The 2024 UCLA Celebration of Iranian Cinema kicks off next weekend with filmmakers in person! All RSVPs for this series are “sold out,” any seats remaining 15 minutes before showtime will be released to standby patrons. Opening weekend: Friday, June 14, 7:30 p.m. “Joonam” (U.S., 2023): Director Sierra Urich weaves a beautiful portrait of three generations of Iranian women living in the diaspora. Urich documents conversations with her mother and grandmother and reflects on their stories to make sense of her own identity. In person: filmmaker Sierra Urich, filmmaker Liam LoPinto, filmmaker-actor Arian Moayed, film subject Mitra Samimi-Urich. Saturday, June 15, 7:30 p.m. “The Sealed Soil” (Iran, 1977): New UCLA restoration! A young woman refuses all suitors and cultivates a private inner world that her family interprets as demonic possession. Writer-director Marva Nabili’s film, one of the first directed by an Iranian woman, is a subtle but powerful exploration of female subjugation and resistance. In person: filmmaker Marva Nabili. Full schedule in bio. Program generously funded by @farhangfoundation .

Happy birthday to Rosalind Russell! 🎂 Just added to our YouTube channel: Rosalind Russell and husband Frederick Brisson’s home movies from 1942-43, filmed in Laguna Beach, Lake Tahoe, Del Monte, Lake Arrowhead, at home in Beverly Hills and more ☀️ Link in bio. #RosalindRusselll

New on our YouTube channel! “Hold It” (1938) 🐈‍⬛ 🐾 In this restored, Technicolor Fleischer cartoon, a feline crooner performs the title song for an audience of neighborhood cats. The ensuing action is full of Fleischer-style surrealism and anarchy: hyper-fluid kitty choreography gives way to a dog chase, while the song’s refrain (“Hold it!”) generates a series of gravity-defying gags. Restoration funded by @asifahollywood . Restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive from the 35mm nitrate successive exposure negative and a 35mm variable density track negative. Laboratory services by Roundabout Entertainment, Inc., Audio Mechanics, Simon Daniel Sound. Link to our YouTube channel in bio.

“The Sea Hawk” (1924) new digital restoration! Silent with live musical accompaniment by @cliffretallick 🎹 Sunday, June 2, 7 p.m. “The Sea Hawk” was an instant critical and financial success upon its release in 1924. The film follows the thrilling story of a valiant nobleman who is framed for murder by his own half-brother. Held captive on a Spanish ship, he is freed by a Moorish galley, becomes the pirate Sakr-el-Bahr (Hawk of the Sea) and strives to recover his lost love. Introduction by Associate Motion Picture Curator Steven K. Hill, UCLA Film & Television Archive. Free admission! Details in bio. #silentfilm #UCLArestorations

Our next “Small Screen/Big Screen” presentation pairs director Robert Redford’s “Quiz Show” with an infamous episode of “Twenty-One.” Join us on Saturday, June 1, 7:30 p.m. — which happens to be National Game Show Day! 🎞 “Quiz Show” (1994) on 35mm Redford’s impeccable period piece examines the quiz show scandals of the 1950s. A congressional lawyer (Rob Morrow) investigates the possibility that TV’s enormously popular quiz shows may be rigged. At the center of the scrutiny are two contestants on “Twenty-One” (John Turturro, Ralph Fiennes), whose lives are altered by the high-stakes game show. 📺 “Twenty-One” (1956) with original commercials In this NBC broadcast that figured centrally in the scandals, everyman Herb Stempel, the reigning champion of “Twenty-One,” is paired against Ivy League scholar Charles Van Doren. Both contestants ratchet up the theatrics of the gameplay, despite being made pre-aware of the answers and outcome by show producers. Free admission! Details in bio. Special thanks to our community partner: @televisionacad