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MARTIN SCORSESE & THE FILM FOUNDATION

POSTED ON MAY 14, 20 12

Written by Ryan Hill

F A C E B TO WO I KT T E R / Y O U T V IB M E O U / E
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The cinema began with a passionate, physical relationship between celluloid and the artists and craftsmen and technicians who handled it No matter where the cinema goes, we cannot afford to lose sight of its beginnings.

FASHIO N / FILM / NEWS

Since the beginning o f his film career, directo r Martin Sco rsese has endeavo ured to educate his audience o n the o rigins o f the art fo rm he ado res so much. Perhaps his greatest gift to us then, is no t the mo vies themselves, but rather the way in which he uses his craft to instruct us. Teach a man the histo ry o f film and yo u feed him fo r a lifetime, right? I was raised with them, the gangsters and the priests. And now, as an artist Im both gangster and priest. Bo rn to Italian-American parents in New Yo rk, and gro wing up in an Italian-American neighbo urho o d in the 19 40 s, Sco rsese was never a gangster but did almo st beco me a priest; initially training to beco me a cleric and o nly dro pping o ut when he was unable to learn the required Latin. These early experiences have pro ved to be hugely influential o n Sco rseses wo rk and the gangsters he was raised with have been reflected in a number o f his films. Yo u can imagine that the street scenes in Raging Bull (19 8 0 ) and GoodFellas (19 9 0 ) arent fictio nal experiences fo r entertainment purpo ses o nly, but are in fact Sco rsese clo sing his eyes, reliving his yo uth and jo tting do wn his memo ries o n cellulo id. As a child, Sco rsese suffered fro m severe asthma. Unable to play spo rts, the majo rity o f his time was spent at the lo cal mo vie theatre a place to dream and feel at home . It was after he dro pped o ut o f Cathedral Co llege, that Sco rsese began to see cinema as mo re than just a past time and decided to pursue his passio n, graduating fro m New Yo rk Universitys film scho o l in 19 6 6 . The co ncept o f earning a degree in film first came to pro minence in the mid-6 0 s, with many peo ple in the industry lo o king unfavo urably upo n this alternative ro ute, believing it to disregard the hierarchical traditio n o f rising thro ugh the ranks in a film studio . Others were less kind insisting that film co uld no t be taught in a classro o m with graduates such as, Spielberg, Lucas, Co ppo la and Sco rsese being dubbed as movie brats . Ho wever, it canno t be co incidence that these students o f film have go ne o n to beco me so me o f Americas mo st influential directo rs. Wo uld Sco rsese be such a visio nary if he saw filmmaking as a trade instead o f a lo ve? Perhaps it is thro ugh learning and appreciating the histo ry o f cinema and studying the techniques o f his repo rted influences (Kuro sawa, Welles and Fellini) that has led him to be so successful in his o wn career. After all, every great teacher has to first be a student.

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It was while he was still at scho o l, that Sco rsese wro te and directed Whos That Knocking at My Door ( 19 6 7), a film which was meant to be a student sho rt but ended up being Sco rseses first feature-length. The film stars Harvey Keitel as J.R, a typical Italian-American who falls in lo ve with a girl but struggles to accept her after finding o ut she was o nce raped. In 19 73 Sco rsese fo llo wed it up with Mean Streets, a semico ntinuatio n o f Whos That Knocking, again casting Keitel, but this time as Charlie, a man who is to rn between Catho licism and pro gressing in the Mafia. Bo th o f these early films received critical acclaim but it was his, no w ico nic, psycho lo gical thriller Taxi Driver (19 76 ), staring Ro bert De Niro as Travis Bickle, an anti-hero who takes it upo n himself to cleanse the New Yo rk streets o f pimps and drug-dealers, that cemented his reputatio n as a majo r directo r. Redemptio n, vio lence and religio n are again pro minent themes, with Bickle describing himself as Gods lonely man .

Taxi Driver (1976) Sco rseses films leave such an impressio n o n their audience because o f ho w true to his identity and to life they are; the vio lence in his films may be exaggerated, but yo u always believe his characters co uld be real. His latest release, Hugo (20 11), a childrens 3D adventure film, is a far-cry fro m his previo us wo rks, yet it is just as true to his identity as anything he has pro duced.

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Hugo (2011) Official Trailer Adapted fro m the Bryan Selznick no vel The Invention of Hugo Cabaret , the film tells the tale o f a yo ung o rphan, Hugo (Asa Butterfield), living in a Paris railway statio n in the 19 30 s as he tries to fix an auto mato n his (no w deceased) father was wo rking o n. A task which takes him o n an extrao rdinary and surprising adventure; the sto ry marrying fact and fictio n and allo wing Sco rcese to educate his audience o n the first thrilling years o f cinema. Geo rges Mlis, o ne o f the earliest filmmakers, reno wned fo r his pio neering use o f special effects during the advent o f film, features as a main character and is po rtrayed by Ben Kingsley. Sco rsese also pays ho mage to ano ther o f the earliest filmmakers, the Lumire bro thers, referencing their do cumentary, The Arrival of a Train at Ciotat Station (18 9 5). So new was this techno lo gy that when audiences first witnessed the film, it is repo rted that they believed a train was heading straight fo r them, fleeing in panic fro m the screening.

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The Arrival of a Train at Ciotat Station (1895) Scorseses work with The Film Foundation In Hugo, Sco rsese also to uches upo n an issue that he ho lds clo se to his heart - film preservatio n. In o ne o f the films mo st mo ving scenes, we see facto ry wo rkers burning film sto ck and po uring the melted remains into mo ulds. The scene is acco mpanied with Mlis vo ice-o ver explaining, I was forced to sell my movies to a company that melted them down into chemicals to make shoe heels. This is no fabricatio n as when silent-films gave way to talking pictures in the 19 30 s, many early films were lo st due to wholesale junking by studios , as film preservatio nist, Ro bert Harris described it. Imagine if Edvard Munchs, The Scream had been intentio nally destro yed because art dealers felt Mo dern Art was o utdated and Po p Art was the future o f painting. It was during the 19 8 0 s that Sco rsese reco gnised that co ntempo rary co lo r film sto ck wo uld fade o ver time (o ne o f the reaso ns he cho se to sho o t Raging Bull in black-and-white) so in 19 9 0 he set up The Film Fo undatio n: a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to protecting and preserving motion picture history by providing annual support for preservation and restoration projects at the leading film archives Figures fro m The Film Fo undatio n sho w that 9 0 % o f all American silent-films and 50 % o f so und films made befo re 19 50 appear to be go ne fo rever. Many mo tio n pictures in the first half o f the 20 th century were filmed o n sto ck made fro m a nitrate base, which is highly flammable and unstable, meaning they either perished in fires o r disintegrated o ver time. Others may have simply been lo st. During the 19 70 s, the influential French silent-film, The Passion of Joan of Arc
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(19 28 ), famo usly turned up in a janito rs clo set in a No rwegian mental institute thankfully in perfect co nditio n. The Film Fo undatio ns main aim is to ensure that film preservatio n is carried o ut carefully and effectively and abo ve all else taken serio usly. A task made easier by the caliber o f its suppo rters. On its Bo ard o f Directo rs alo ne, there sits so me o f the mo st influential directo rs past and present: Sco rsese, Allen, Spielberg, Kubrick, Lucas and Co ppo la. Since its inceptio n in 19 9 0 , The Film Fo undatio n has helped to preserve and resto re o ver 50 0 mo tio n pictures including, Alfred Hitchco cks Blackmail (19 29 ), o ne o f Britains first talking pictures; Sergio Leo nes Once Upon a Time in the West (19 6 6 ); Po well and Pressburgers The Red Shoes (19 48 ), a no table influence o n Raging Bull and famo us fo r its line, Why do you want to dance? Why do you want to live? ; and Akira Kuro sawas magnum opus, Rashomon (19 50 ).

Red Shoes (1948) Twenty years o n and The Film Fo undatio n is still wo rking hard. It was recently anno unced that they will lo o k to resto re Leo nes, Once Upon a Time in America (19 8 4), with a majo r co ntributio n co ming fro m fashio n label, Gucci who have do nated o ver USD $2 millio n to date, including further funding fo r the resto ratio n o f Federico Fellinis La Dolce Vita (19 6 0 ). The Film Fo undatio n is vital to cinema and it is imperative that such a bo dy co ntinues to exist; dedicated to preserving the histo rical, artistic and cultural significance o f mo tio n pictures and filmmaking, so that future generatio ns can enjo y these great wo rks.
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This wo rthy venture is so mething we, as the audience, can also get invo lved in. A pro gramme has been set up, called 1 Frame, 1 Dollar , which allo ws the co ntributo r to specifically cho o se a film, and do nate $1 fo r each frame they wo uld like resto red - with a gift fo r tho se who do nate $10 0 . An o ptio n to pledge a general do natio n, which starts fro m $25, is also available. The Film Fo undatio n also runs a free educatio n pro gramme, The Story of Movies an entire curriculum that aims to raise awareness o f the past, present and future o f cinema so that to days to mo rro w understand the significance o f this art fo rm.

Martin Scorsese and Clint Eastwood talking about The Story of Movies Fo r mo re info rmatio n o n the invaluable wo rk The Film Fo undatio n is do ing please visit www.filmfo undatio n.o rg. Write to us at info@summarymagazine.com
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