The Film Noir Foundation is a non-profit public benefit corporation created as an educational resource regarding the cultural, historical, and artistic significance of film noir as an original American cinematic movement. It is our mission to find and preserve films in danger of being lost or irreparably damaged, and to ensure that high quality prints of these classic films remain in circulation for theatrical exhibition to future generations.
That's the high-toned legalese. Here are the facts: Even as the high-tech revolution lets us own vast film libraries on DVD, the risk grows greater all the time that 35mm prints of some films will fall into disuse and eventually disintegrate—especially lesser-known titles that have slipped through the cultural cracks, but are worthy of rediscovery.
As a focal point of the classic film noir revival, the Foundation serves as a conduit between film companies and repertory cinemas still eager to screen these films in 35mm. Revenues generated by ticket sales encourage studios film archives to strike new prints of films that are at risk of disappearing from public view, either through neglect or scarcity.
Once these films are unearthed and returned to circulation, the chances exponentially increase that they will be reissued on DVD, available in pristine, affordable form for future generations of film-lovers.
Subscribe to the Film Noir Foundation's bimonthly electronic magazine, the NOIR CITY SENTINEL and get the finest and most fun writing on film noir in the world. Start by adding your name to our mailing list and then making a donation to the FNF in any amount. Below are twosamples from the latest issue.
The Philip Yordan Story
Alan Rode delves into the mystery of Philip Yordan. Was he the renowned Oscar-winning screenwriter of noir classics, Dillinger, The Chase, The Big Combo, and more than a hundred feature films—or was his career the most elaborate and prolonged "front" in Hollywood history?
He Ran all the Way and the
Hollywood Blacklist
Jake Hinkson examines the dark times of the Hollywood Blacklist and its damaging repercussions on the tragic life of actor John Garfield and the collaborators of John Berry's He Ran All the Way.
Is classic noir available in Germany? Noir film fan since her teenage years, Margarete Brietmeier of Munich, talks about film noir in Germany and her discovery of the Film Noir Foundation. Read more.