James Mockoski -
James is the Film Archivist for Francis Ford Coppola’s company American Zoetrope. He holds a MA in Film Studies and Archiving from the University of East Anglia. During his undergrad studies he received the UCSC Chancellor Award in 1998 for his research on local Santa Cruz film history. James has worked with the Czech National Film Archive , and Czech Ministry of Culture to restore some of the works of Czech filmmaker Karel Zeman. Previous restorations include: The Fabulous World of Jules Verne (1959), Apocalypse Now (1979), Hearts of Darkness (1991), One From The Heart (1981), and The Outsiders (1983). Currently, James is spearheading the restoration of Mothers of Men(1917) in partnership with the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, BFI, and Library of Congress and has enlisted the help of preservationist Rob Bryne.
Robert Byrne
Rob is an independent film preservationist and President of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. He holds a MA in Preservation and Presentation of the Moving Image from the University of Amsterdam and was the 2011 recipient of the Haghefilm Foundation Fellowship. Specializing in silent era film restoration, Rob has worked in conjunction with EYE Film Institute Netherlands, Cinematheque française, Photoplay Productions, British Film Institute, Museum of Modern Art, and Essanay Silent Film Museum. Previous restorations include: Shoes (1916), The Spanish Dancer (1923), The Last Edition (1925), Phantom of the Opera (1925), The Half-Breed (1916), The Good Bad Man (1916) and and Twin Peaks Tunnel (1917). Rob has published articles in the Journal of Film Preservation , The Moving Image, and Nisimazine as well as program notes for the San Francisco Silent Film Festival and Le Giornate del Cinema Muto; he has also presented film programs at EYE Film Institute Netherlands, Cinematheque française, and Library of Congress.
San Francisco Silent Film Festival
The San Francisco Silent Film Festival’s mission is to demonstrate the artistry, diversity, and enduring cultural value of silent movies and to ensure that they are accessible to current and future audiences. SFSFF partners with international archives to fund and restore silent films as well and supports film preservation efforts through the exhibition of major restorations and archival prints. Throughout the year, SFSFF curates high-quality presentations of silent films with live musical accompaniment and produces educational programs that give audiences a more complete picture and a deeper understanding of the art form, its history, and current efforts to study, preserve, and exhibit these rare and vulnerable films.
BFI
BFI is the lead body for film in the UK. Its ambition is to create a flourishing film environment in which innovation, opportunity and creativity can thrive. It connects audiences to the widest choice of British and World cinema, while preserving and restoring the most significant film collection in the world for present and future generations. It champions emerging and world-class filmmakers in the UK, investing in creative, distinctive, and entertaining work. BFI promotes British film and talent to the world with an eye toward growing the next generation of filmmakers and audiences.
Ross Eric Gibson - Project Historian
Ross is an historian, former columnist in the San Jose Mercury News and Santa Cruz Sentinel, author, playwright of plays and musicals with local themes (such as the Big Band “Honeymoon Coast,” and the Spanish saga “The Bloody Rose,” etc.), composer (“The Velocitor Suite,” “Waters of the Coast Sierras,” “Roaring Rails”), actor, artist, historic architectural consultant, lecturer, tour-guide, preservationist, and conservationist. He received an award 2003 from the California Preservation Foundation for helping save and restore the Del Mar Theater movie palace; etc. He designed the 1989 Earthquake Memorial in downtown Santa Cruz, and all the bronze history plaques on Santa Cruz’s Pacific Ave. Ross began documenting the large film-making heritage of Santa Cruz County, and writing about it in his Mercury column. In his Feb. 15, 1994 column, Ross wrote that, of all early movies made in Santa Cruz, finding a copy of “Mothers of Men” (also called “Every Woman’s Problem”) would be the most important for its Santa Cruz settings and local extras. Several years later, James Mockoski contacted him to say he had located the only known copy. James wanted to obtain a copy, and track down additional local films. Gibson & Mockoski’s mutual interests resulted in co-founding the Central California Film Archives in 1997, to further the research, and collect copies of local films for study. Some of these films were exhibited at the Santa Cruz Nickelodeon Theater.
Shelley Stamp -
A leading expert on women and early movie culture, Shelley Stamp is the author of Lois Weber in Early Hollywood and Movie-Struck Girls: Women and Motion Picture Culture after the Nickelodeon, as well as articles and book chapters on film censorship, feminist film historiography, and histories of movie-going. Her expert commentary is featured on DVD releases of rare silent films and she has served as a consultant for organizations including the National Film Preservation Foundation, EYE Film Institute Netherlands, Turner Classic Movies, and American Movie Classics. She is currently at work on a comprehensive history of Women and the Silent Screen in America, co-written with Anne Morey. Stamp is Professor of Film & Digital Media and Pavel Machotka Chair in Creative Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz.