We are a small group of 16MM fanatics bent on appreciating and sharing and re-purposing ephemeral, public domain, and "orphan" films from our unique archive. In this campaign we race the clock, in a mad pursuit of the funds necessary to digitize 20,000 feet (800,000 frames) of 16MM.
Once transferred to digital video, the material will be shared with the public via various online outlets such as Vimeo and Network Awesome. We aim to air works that have never before been posted on the internet! Much will also be grist for our GIF mill, to be shown in our brand new GIF gallery, 16GIF.INFO. The remainder of the footage will be reserved for special public exhibitions and for the projects of individual donors (like YOU?).
This is your chance to help us discover, update, and enjoy forgotten A/V obscurities from the Cold War era! As a contributor, aside from receiving fabulous PERKS** (while they last), you'll be giving new life to forgotten and marginalized cinema. Science, propaganda, cartoons, concert footage, TV news, abandoned student films--there's all of this and more in our stacks. It is waiting to be re-discovered, re-purposed, re-assessed, learned from, cut up, laughed at, or WHATEVER!
*** OUR BUDGET: In addition to the more than $4,000 we'll be paying to DIJIFI (in Brooklyn) for digitization, we're seeking additional funds to cover: Indiegogo and Paypal fees, postage for perks, transportation (of films and archivists), 3TON infrastructure (i.e. rent for continued storage of films on reels), and possibly additional labor and unforeseen expenses. (This campaign alone is a lot of work, to say nothing of the larger task of keeping 3TONcinema alive and well in the future.)
***OUR PURPOSE: To be clear, we're not white-gloved preservationists. Nothing against them, but we are a DIY no-budget operation founded by a former poet and a renowned concert pianist. We love small gauge film, ephemeral artifacts, and remix culture. We are an ongoing exhibition experiment; we are itinerant projectionists. And we love GIFs. Want to learn more about the particulars of our inventory? Check out this collection we put together for Network Awesome, which features titles that are in our collection. You can also scroll down past the perk pics to see some titles on our priority list. (Or contact us.)
*** YOUR PERKS: We're mainly offering to give all internet-connected humans expanded access to some forgotten films! If that's not enough to float your boat, by all means grab hold of one the nifty items below in exchange for your contribution. If you don't see anything you like or you can't afford what you want, contact us.