This week on 51%, we explore the world of film with archivist Audrey Kupferberg.
Film archivist Audrey Kupferberg has lived a lot of her life just off-screen, observing the stars and cataloging their work. She says archivists collect and preserve old footage, and help institutions like museums and libraries to display it.
Kupferberg says whatever format they may take, movies are here to stay. She says we need them to fill in the gaps in our lives of the far off adventures we will never experience.
“The importance for our future with movies is the same as it’s been since 1896,” Kupferberg said. “We look at movies to see ourselves or we look at movies to see other people who we never will get the opportunity to meet. We meet people in dramas and comedies that we’ll never have in our circle of friends. But maybe we’ll learn something from watching the movie, or maybe we’ll just get a lot of laughs out of and that’s important too — movies can do anything, you know, there’s nothing that a movie can’t do. It can make you feel a certain way. It can educate you. It can make you disagree in a very strong way and bring up fighting emotions. Or it can be purely visual, no story involved. And what does that do? Well, that does what a fine painting will do — brings feelings to you.”
Thanks to our story editor Ian Pickus. Thanks to Tina Renick for production assistance. Our executive producer is Dr. Alan Chartock. Our theme music is “Lolita” by Albany-based artist Girl Blue. 51% is a national production of Northeast Public Radio. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @51PercentRadio
I’m your host Jackie Orchard. Until next week — Remember, the future is fearless.