The National Film Preservation Foundation (NFPF) has announced the films slated for preservation through its annual federally funded grant program. The grants will allow 36 institutions across 16 states to preserve 57 films from their collections. The selections date from as early as 1917 to 1995 and includes, of specific interest to this blog, the 1977 documentary “The Flashettes” – Bonnie Friedman’s empowering documentary about an African American female track team from Brooklyn. Focusing on their hopes and aspirations, the upbeat film movingly shows how the rigorous training helps to produce more than just muscle, but a positive self-identity and pride. The film follows a young man who returns to his community after college and decides to do something about the alcoholism, drugs and teen pregnancies he sees everywhere. He starts a girls track club for ages 6-16, and instilling the spirit of “I CAN”, The Flashettes becomes more than a team, but a second family, building self-confidence and self-respect for its members.

Also included of note is the 1969 documentary “American Revolution 2,” directed by Howard Alk. A documentation of cross-racial political alliances, the film chronicles the 1968 Democratic National Convention and its aftermath, focusing especially on the creation of an alliance between the Black Panthers and the Young Patriots Organization. It was followed up by “The Murder of Fred Hampton” (1971) which Alk also directed.

A full list of the 2017 grant winners follows below.

The grants are made available thanks to the Library of Congress and provide support to create a film preservation master and two access copies of each work. Since its creation by Congress in 1996, the NFPF has provided preservation support to 292 institutions and saved more than 2,350 films through grants and collaborative projects.

— 16 Millimeter Earrings (1979), filmed recreation of Meredith Monk’s multimedia solo performance (Yale University).
— About Us (1972), collaboratively-made anthology of self-portraits by Robert Frank and his students (Visual Studies Workshop).
— Adirondack Holiday (1960), sponsored film from the Essex County Chamber of Commerce to promote tourism in Adirondack Park (Adirondack Council).
— Alan Lomax Choreometrics Films (late 1960s), seven training films for a dance analysis method developed by Alan Lomax (Association for Cultural Equity).
— ALSOS Mission Films (1943–45), footage documenting the secret task force that investigated Nazi Germany’s atomic bomb program and secured the surrender of Thanheim (Hoover Institution, Stanford University).
— American Revolution II (1969), Film Group documentary on the alliance between the Black Panthers and Chicagoans from a white working class neighborhood (Chicago Film Archives).
— Arrow Game (1974), documentation of Yanomamo children’s games by filmmaker Timothy Asch and anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon (Documentary Educational Resources).
— Bathers (1960), Beryl Sokoloff’s lyrical portrait of visitors to Coney Island (Silver Bow Art).
— The Birds of Grenfelland (ca.1931), documentation of ornithologist Alfred Otto Gross’s research in Newfoundland and Labrador, featuring medical missionary Sir Wilfred Grenfell (Bowdoin College).
— The Brink (1960), lyrical love story by Beat poet ruth weiss (Pacific Film Archive).
— Broken Barriers (1919), silent feature adaptation of the Sholem Aleichem story that became Fiddler on the Roof (National Center for Jewish Film).
— Canyon de Chelly (1924), filmed exploration of the National Monument’s rock formations and Navajo culture by archeologist Neil Judd (National Geographic Society).
— Children’s Magical Death (1974), footage of Yanomamo children imitating their shaman fathers by filmmaker Timothy Asch and anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon (Documentary Educational Resources).
— Clarence Erwin Rusch Collection (1934–42), home movies of a Bureau of Indian Affairs teacher among the Koyukon people of rural Alaska (Alaska Moving Image Preservation Association).
— Climbing the Peach Palm (1974), filmmaker Timothy Asch and anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon’s observational study of Yanomamo tool use (Documentary Educational Resources).
— Closed Chest Defibrillation (1961), promotional film for the first external defibrillator designed and used at Johns Hopkins (Johns Hopkins University).
— Code Blue (1972), recruitment film to bring minorities into the medical profession by Blackside Inc., producer of Eyes on the Prize (Washington University in St. Louis).
— Cornelia Chapin Collection (1932–39), home movies by the artist known for her direct-carved animal sculptures (Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution).
— Decision for Happiness (1958), sponsored film about a young woman’s decision to join the Sisters of St. Agnes convent in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin (Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes).
— Diaries (1971–76), Ed Pincus’s self-reflexive portrait of five years of marriage and family life (Harvard Film Archive).
— The Don Perry Collection (1968–69), nine films documenting the 1968 and 1969 New Orleans International Jazz Festivals (Louisiana Museum Foundation).
— Earthly Possessions (1992), experimental gothic tale by Pelle Lowe (Bard College).
— The Editor’s Notebook (1950), promotional film about the Chicago Daily News in its Pulitzer Prize–winning heyday (Chicago Film Society).
— A Father Washes His Children (1974), observational study of a Yanomamo headman by filmmaker Timothy Asch and anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon (Documentary Educational Resources).
— The Flashettes (1977), Bonnie Friedman’s empowering documentary about a Brooklyn track team of underprivileged African American girls (New York Public Library).
— George Sealy, Jr. Collection (1931), Galveston civic leader’s Kodacolor footage of the 1931 Pageant of Pulchritude, a Miss Universe precursor (Texas Archive of the Moving Image).
— The Heath Hen (ca.1932), rare footage of the last surviving Heath Hen, nicknamed Booming Ben (Bowdoin College).
— Immigrant (1960), Beryl Sokoloff’s vision of New York as seen through the eyes of a stranger (Silver Bow Art).
— The Inner World of Aphasia (1968), innovative medical training film on treating language impairment that was named to the National Film Registry (Indiana University).
— Laserimage (1971–72), Ivan Dryer’s celluloid forerunner to the Laserium light show (New York University).
— Life in Your Hands (1961), instructional film for training rescue teams in CPR (Johns Hopkins University).
— Love or Justice (1917), silent melodrama produced by Thomas Ince, involving a drug-addicted lawyer’s redemption by a woman from the underworld (George Eastman Museum).
— Magical Death (1973), documentation of Yanomamo shamanism by anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon and filmmaker Timothy Asch (Documentary Educational Resources).
— A Man and His Wife Weave a Hammock (1975), observational study of Yanomamo daily life and crafts by filmmaker Timothy Asch and anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon (Documentary Educational Resources).
— A Man Called “Bee” (1974), Timothy Asch’s documentation of Napoleon Chagnon’s fieldwork among the Yanomamo (Documentary Educational Resources).
— Miracle in a Month (1946), home movies showing a young boy before and after a “blue baby” operation to cure a heart defect (Johns Hopkins University).
— Modern Taxidermy: Mounting an Indian Elephant (1926–27), footage of taxidermist Louis Jonas at work in the Museum studio (American Museum of Natural History).
— Montana’s On the Go (1956), promotional film showing Governor J. Hugo Aronson on the Montana campaign trail for reelection (Montana Historical Society).
— Moonblood: A Yanomano Creation Myth (1976), exploration of Yanomamo mythology by anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon and filmmaker Timothy Asch (Documentary Educational Resources).
— My Girlfriend’s Wedding (1969), Jim McBride’s experimental and autobiographical documentary (Anthology Film Archives).
— Poland Postwar 1949 (1949), documentation of the Jewish Distribution Committee’s humanitarian activities before it was forced out by the postwar communist government (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee).
— Preparing a Museum Group (1950), step-by-step documentation of a diorama being assembled for the Hall of North American Mammals (American Museum of Natural History).
— Pueblo Bonito (1922), footage of the New Mexico expedition led by archaeologist Neil Judd to explore the pre-Columbian great house (National Geographic Society).
— Robert and Anne Heighe Collection (late 1920s), home movies from a Maryland Thoroughbred farm depicting champion racehorses Man O’ War and Durbar II (Historical Society of Harford County).
— The Savages (1967), ironically titled cinema verité documentary about the impoverished African American community of West Venice, California (UCLA Film & Television Archive).
— Scenes from the Tap City Circus (1960), mixed-media artist Paul Beattie’s experimental portrait of assemblage-sculptor George Herms at work (Pacific Film Archive).
— Smoke (1995), abstract exploration of individuality by Pelle Lowe (Bard College).
— Solo Olos (1978), Trisha Brown’s experimental solo dance, as filmed by Babette Mangolte (Trisha Brown Dance Company).
— South American Children’s Colony (1944) footage of a Buenos Aires children’s home for German-speaking Jewish refugees (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee).
— Surgical Treatment of Coarctation of the Aorta (1947), earliest known footage of the procedure for correcting the congenital heart defect (Johns Hopkins University).
— A Thimble of Goodbye (1960), Dadaist “film poem” by Paul Beattie (Pacific Film Archive).
— Tomb (1961), musical collage film by Beryl Sokoloff (Silver Bow Art).
— Troublemakers (1966), Norman Fruchter and Robert Machover’s documentary about community organizing in the Central Ward neighborhood of Newark, New Jersey (The Flaherty).
— Wayne Mitsch Collection (1969–70) home movies of the 75th Infantry Airborne Ranger Reconnaissance Team in central Vietnam (Nashville Public Library).
— Weeding the Garden (1974), documentation of everyday Yanomamo life by filmmaker Timothy Asch and anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon (Documentary Educational Resources).
— Wilson-Hibbs Oil Speech (1956), documentation of Governor J. Hugo Aronson’s stance on oil and gas leasing in Montana (Montana Historical Society).
— Yaqui Fieldwork Collection (1938–55), earliest known footage of Yaqui life in Sonora, filmed during expeditions led by Museum director W. Curry Holden (Museum of Texas Tech University).