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Finding aid created by: Anna Smallwood
Date: 2015
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June 2022 | Style updates (MAM) |
Summary |
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Creator: | Syracuse University. -- Film Forum. |
Title: | Film Forum Collection |
Dates: | 1966-1989 |
Size: | 1.25 linear feet |
Abstract: | Photographs, schedules, correspondence, clippings and other material relating to the Film Forum at Syracuse University |
Language: | English |
Repository: |
University Archives, Special Collections Research Center Syracuse University Libraries 222 Waverly Ave., Suite 600 Syracuse, NY 13244-2010 |
The Film Forum at Syracuse University was a program that was dedicated to the viewing and studying of films, which operated from 1962-1984.
The Film Forum began in 1962 when Norman Keim started showing 16mm films on Syracuse University's campus. It wasn't until 1967 that the program received its name "Film Forum" and when used theater equipment was installed in Gifford Auditorium, where film viewings were held until the program ended. The Film Forum had series dedicated to ethnic film and retrospectives or film series focusing on an actor, director or producer. Often times, retrospectives would include a visit from the named actor, director or producer.
In 1971, the Film Forum was incorporated as an independent organization for non-profit status. Syracuse Film Forum Foundation, Inc., of which Keim was the executive director, worked with local high schools and hospitals to broaden the community's horizons in film. It also gave out grants to student filmmakers.
The Film Forum also resulted in the creation of the Film Forum Library, which was funded by movie admission fees. The library was created from the purchase of books and other materials, including films. The collection in the Film Forum Library was available to local high school and university students for use. The collection grew and eventually was placed in the Syracuse Film Study Center, which Keim ran in addition to his other duties. Since film was taught in different departments, the Film Forum and the Film Study Center helped to bring people in the different programs together and served as a center for film on campus.
By 1980 however, with a lack of student interest, the Film Forum no longer ran films each week. The subsequent year, the Syracuse Film Forum Foundation, Inc.'s status changed to inactive. Three years after that, Syracuse University pulled its half of the funding from the Film Forum and it was officially over when the Film Study Center was shut down in 1984. After student protests, the Film Study Center was kept open for a while longer, but with limited student staffing. Many of the materials from the Film Forum Library and Center were eventually moved into Syracuse University Libraries' collections.
The Film Forum was really the work of Norman Keim, who was originally hired to be a part of the United Campus Christian Fellowship and a staff member at Hendricks Chapel. He taught some film classes at Syracuse University and served as director of its pre-college summer study programs. In 2008, Keim published Our Movie Houses: A History of Film and Cinematic Innovation in Central New York.
The Film Forum Collection contains materials such as photographs, attendance records, tickets and schedules for the films it showed while active at Syracuse University from the 1960s through the 1980s. There are also materials such as correspondence and other supporting documentation from retrospectives.
Many of the actors, directors and producers named in the retrospectives would visit and speak at Syracuse University and included film industry leaders like actors Henry Fonda and Rod Steiger, producer Joseph Levine and director Peter Watkins. Materials from these events are also included in this collection along with photographs of the visitors, mostly during their visit.
Access Restrictions:
Please note that the collection is housed off-site, and advance notice is required to allow time to have the materials brought to the Reading Room on campus.
Use Restrictions:
Written permission must be obtained from the Syracuse University Archives and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.
Also in the University Archives are clippings files on Norman Keim and the Film Forum as well as on the various visitors for the Film Forum. The Portrait Collection contains photographs from the Rod Steiger Retrospective, as well as photographs of Norman Keim.
Names
Keim, Norman O.
Syracuse University -- History.
Syracuse University.
Syracuse University. -- Film
Forum.
Subjects
Film and culture.
Film festivals.
Student activities.
Higher education.
Types of Material
Photographs.
Posters.
Preferred Citation
Preferred citation for this material is as follows:
Film Forum Collection,
University Archives,
Special Collections Research Center
Syracuse University Libraries
Acquisition Information
Gift of Norman Keim in 2015.
Processing Information
Materials were placed in archival folders and boxes.
Folders are arranged in alphabetical order.
Files
Files | |||||||||||
Box 1 | 35mm film 1967-1973 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Attendance records 1967-1972 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Attendance records 1973 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Attendance records 1974-1975, undated | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Clippings- film forum 1967-1968, 1988, undated | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Clippings- magazine portraits of movie stars undated | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Correspondence 1966-1983 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Event pamphlets 1969-1983, undated | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Event programs 1968-1973 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Event tickets 1969-1980, undated | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Film forum library and study center pamphlets undated | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Film forum minutes 1970-1974 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Film Forum minutes 1975-1979 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Film forum posters 1981-1983, undated | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Film forum reports 1967-1982 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Film forum schedules 1969-1981 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Film forum study center collection List 1980 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Fonda, Henry retrospective 1968 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | In the king of Prussia 1983 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Irish film Spring 1982 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Koch, Howard visit 1973 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Levine, Joseph visit 1969 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Makavejeu, Dusan visit April 1969 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Mankiewicz, Joseph retrospective (canceled) 1972-1978 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | New Hungarian cinema 1973 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | New York film festival (film society of Lincoln Center) undated | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Ophuls, Marcel visit 1973 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Pakula, Alan J. retrospective Fall 1969 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Pal, George visit 1980 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Peck, Gregory retrospective 1968 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Peet, Stephen visit 1981 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Penn, Arthur retrospective 1979 | ||||||||||
Photographs | |||||||||||
Box 1 | Film grant 1969 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Film grant 1972 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Fonda, Henry 1968 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Keim, Norman 1969-1972, undated | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Koch, Howard 1976 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Levine, Joseph 1969 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | New Hungarian cinema 1973 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Pakula, Alan J. retrospective Fall 1969 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Penn, Arthur January 1979 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Steiger, Rod 1969 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Quebecinema - French-Canadian filmmakers Fall 1978 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Unidentified undated | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Watkins, Peter retrospective October 20-21, 1970 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Polish film festival 1981-1989 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Press releases 1966-1983 | ||||||||||
Box 1 | Quebecinema - French-Canadian filmmakers 1978 (2 folders) | ||||||||||
Box 2 | Ritt, Martin retrospective 1970 | ||||||||||
Box 2 | Steiger, Rod retrospective 1968-1969 | ||||||||||
Box 2 | Syracuse Film Forum Foundation, Inc. certificate of incorporation 1970 | ||||||||||
Box 2 | Watkins, Peter retrospective 1970 |