Ithaca College

The National Film Registry of the Library of Congress has featured Patricia R. Zimmermann’s essay on the amateur film “A Study in Reds," on their newly developed extended film essay site.  Zimmermann is professor of Screen Studies and codirector of the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival.

The essay, derived from her book Mining the Home Movie:  Excavations in Histories and Memories, analyzes the amateur films of Miriam Bennet, daughter of a well-known Wisconsin photographer. Bennet's films are housed in the Wisconsin State Historical Society. They exemplify amateur filmmaking that moved away from the nuclear family into the realm of narrative.

Bennet’s A Study in Reds (1927) creates an imaginary narrative where Wisconsin middle-class women are suddenly catapulted into Soviet society, a culture without men, without leisure, without capitalism. Produced before the stock market crash of 1929 and ten years after the Bolshevik revolution, the film is suspended between a series of global re-orderings. It also evokes the long tradition of social activity in the Midwest.

The essay can be accessed here:  http://www.loc.gov/programs/static/national-film-preservation-board/documents/study_reds.pdf

The National Film Registry was “established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, the National Film Preservation Board works to ensure the survival, conservation and increased public availability of America's film heritage, including: advising the Librarian on its recommendations for annual selections to the National Film Registry, apprising the Librarian of changing trends and policies in the field of film preservation, and counseling the Librarian on ongoing implementation of the National Film Preservation Plan.”

The National Film Registry selects 25 films each year showcasing the range and diversity of American film heritage to increase awareness for its preservation.  http://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/about-this-program/

Zimmermann’s essay is included in a new initiative for the National Film Registry to feature expanded essays on the films on the registry by film historians and theorists.  Read more of the essays here: http://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/index-of-essays