TCM presents: 60 Years of the UCLA Film & Television Archive | Desert Hearts (intro)

[Music] May, thank you so much for being here this evening. It's been spectacular so far. The programming is just amazing. And now we're going to leave the older films behind in the animated films and the news reels and get into something a little newer. So tell us what's up next. Yeah. So, Desert Hearts, uh, first shown in 1985, so it's got its 40th anniversary now, made by Donna Deech, who was a UCLA student and filmmaker. And this is her first feature. She wanted to make something that depicted lesbian lives that weren't ending in a catastrophe, women dying at the end or ending up with somebody of the opposite sex. This is a beautiful film. some of the shots really hold with you and I really think that it's become something of a classic in queer cinema. When it first came out, it got not great reviews and now it's really seen as a landmark independent film and also a queer film. I say if it takes a village to make a film, it takes a village to restore it. So, we've worked with on this film uh some queer film organizations, Outfest, um we worked with Sundance. It really does take a village and that's how we were able to restore Desert Hearts. >> Fascinating. I want to talk about the significance of independent film because there's less protection for independent films than studio films. Obviously, they are orphan films by and large because independent film is nothing new. I mean, they've been making them from the beginning of cinema, right? And I know that UCLA gets a lot of films that they need help preserving them and and that's what happened with this film, right? It was hard enough to get the money to make the film given the subject matter and the time and everything. And so to actually preserve it, it's a challenge, right? >> And and preservation restoration is not just scanning it and digitizing it. It's sitting with the filmmaker if they're alive or the cinematographer. It's timing it. It's making sure you have the best source elements to get it to um be evergreen beyond that. And so a film like Desert Hearts, we don't know what people will think of it in 20 or 40 years, but we know that we are making it available for the next generation. These are heirlooms and we need to care for them. And that's what we do at UCLA. It's we don't put them away. We help shine them. We bring them back to their original form. And with independent cinema, there are so many folks who have materials stored away. Um filmmakers, um collectors, and those are sometimes the only or best elements. They need that care as well. >> Right. And I think sometimes people get the wrong idea that like there's there's an agenda to what gets maintained and preserved and restored. What I so appreciate about the archive is that you guys really try to save everything. If it wasn't for the work that you are doing there, a lot of this would just dissolve into history. It's such a balancing act of maintaining everything, not turning anything down, and then the work of people like the film noir foundation or the film foundation or Seth McFarland earlier tonight like yeah, we we want to get involved and then you can start picking and choosing what we're actually going to restore. Is that is that pretty much how it works? >> Absolutely. We have experts, technicians, preservationists who know what is deteriorating and what we need to step in and intervene with. Um, and then we also work with folks who are able to come and say, "Hey, we're we're wanting to work and support this work." And you can find out more, of course, on our website, cinnabon.ucla.edu to support us. and they'll come to us and say, you know, I really want to be part of this history. Um, and come to the archive and then trust us in our expertise to be able to find that. And you know, this this marathon is really a wonderful showcase too of the other types of works, independent works that we've found that were orphaned. Aussie Davis's film Black Girl for example. And I really think that we have so much history to see and to share and that's what our goal and job is to do that. >> Fantastic. Well, thank you. It is appreciated. And now we are going to see thanks to the UCLA film and television archive this landmark in queer cinema. Here is Desert Hearts May. Thank you for joining me and thank you for preserving that landmark in queer cinema. I I want to talk a little bit about how the collaborators that were involved in not just restoring this film, but helping get it back into circulation. >> As I mentioned, it takes a village and so working with Criterion and Sundance and Outfest um really made the restoration possible. And I'm delighted that this film among many other queer films are available. The LGBTQ collection at UCLA is the largest of its kind in the world. And growing up and not seeing these kinds of images made a profound impact on me and is why I'm here and why I preserve film is because I think it's important for us to see different stories. Stories that are us and other people to really be connected with humans. Um so that's that's really special to me is is that work. Yeah. I loved something you said earlier tonight and I'm going to steal it and use it from now on about that cinema is like a window and a mirror. Yep. >> I I think that's really smart. That that hits the nail right on the head. And this is not something that really was happening 2530 years ago and and now it is. And it's vital. It's vital to preserving all of our film history. >> It really is. And I'm mostly looking to the next generation of archavists, of movie watchers who want to know about archiving. We had an 11year-old student who was collecting 16 mm prints and asked us how to take care of them. Um, we have that connection to history that isn't just the past, it's the future, right? >> And, uh, that's what we're really here about, you know. >> Fantastic. It's very exciting. and I'm really eager to do more work with the archive going forward. But tonight, we just get to relax and watch movies. >> What are some of the other great things we have ahead of us tonight? >> Well, this marathon continues. There's two films that were restored uh with the film foundation, Black Girl coming up, which is an Aussie Davis film, and also the magnificent Matador, which is really fantastic. We have not shown these anywhere. So, not only is it a gem, but it is also a premiere for tonight. >> Fabulous. And of course, there are three films coming up that were restored by UCLA and the Film Noir Foundation that I'm very excited about showing as well. And I cannot thank you enough for being here tonight. Uh, this has been delightful. I'm so happy to celebrate the archives success over these 60 years and just kind of say let's keep going. Let's keep getting this work done. So May, thank you so much for being here tonight. >> Thank you so much. It's been an honor >> and we have more to come starting right now with some work that the archive did restoring a fabulous early Technicolor film. So stay tuned because coming right up is Mystery of the Wax Museum.