CELEBRATING 60 YEARS OF THE LA 3-D CLUB and 100 YEARS OF 3-D CINEMA! 3-D Rarities Screening on July 19th!
The first meeting of the LA 3-D Club was held on July 21st, 1955. The first documented public exhibition of a 3-D motion picture took place on June 10, 1915 at New York’s Astor Theatre.
The LA 3-D Club, LA Filmforum, and 3-D SPACE are proud to commemorate these important events with a very special presentation of 3-D RARITIES, an amazing collection of stereoscopic treasures dating back to the dawn of 3-D cinematography, followed by a Q&A with Bob Furmanek, founder and president of the 3-D Film Archive, and producer of these restorations. The event will take place at 2pm on Sunday, July 19th, at the Downtown Independent theater, 251 S. Main Street, in downtown Los Angeles.
They include: Kelley’s Plasticon Pictures: THRU’ THE TREES, WASHINGTON D.C., the earliest extant 3-D demonstration film from 1922 with incredible footage of Washington and New York City; NEW DIMENSIONS (aka MOTOR RHYTHM) the first domestic full color 3-D film originally shown at the New York World’s Fair in May 1940; THRILLS FOR YOU, a fascinating promotional film for the Pennsylvania Railroad, first shown in 1940 at the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco; BOO MOON, an excellent example of color stereoscopic animation from 1953; DOOM TOWN, a controversial anti-atomic testing film which was mysteriously pulled from theatrical release after a few play-dates in July 1953; I’LL SELL MY SHIRT, a burlesque comedy unseen in 3-D for over 60 years; THE MAZE coming attraction trailer with fantastic 3-D production design by the legendary William Cameron Menzies, and much more.
Presented in high quality digital 3-D, all films in 3-D RARITIES have been restored and mastered in 2K from original 35mm elements for optimum quality. Meticulously re-aligned shot by shot for precise registration of the original left/right elements, these historic 3-D films have never before looked this good!
In 1990, Bob Furmanek realized a majority of the world’s 3-D film heritage was on the verge of being lost forever. In response, he founded the 3-D Film Archive, an organization dedicated to rescuing, preserving and restoring our stereoscopic heritage. Over the next two decades, Mr. Furmanek preserved over fifty 3D films, and at one point, the Archive held the largest collection of vintage stereoscopic elements in the world. Over the past two -and-a-half decades, he has worked with NBCUniversal, Paramount Pictures, MGM/Park Circus, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros, George Eastman House, the British Film Institute, the Stanford Theater Foundation, UCLA Film & Television Archive, the Museum of Modern Art and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Most recently, Mr. Furmanek helped ensure the preservation of the 1954 feature GOG, and has spearheaded the home video release of the 1966 film THE BUBBLE through Kino and his own compilation of historically-important 3D shorts entitled 3D RARITIES through Flicker Alley. This compilation has since toured the country, selling out shows at such venues as the Museum of Modern Art.
