Texas Archive of the Moving Image

TAMI News Archive

November 2008: The Human Flower Project features TAMI in a blog article .

August, 2008: TAMI travels to Guatemala! While working with staff, faculty and students at Guatemala City's Universidad Francisco Marroquin, TAMI's Executive Director, Caroline Frick, speaks with a local newspaper and is interviewed for the University's ongoing lecture series.

May, 2008: TAMI and the Texas Film Commission join forces for the Office of the Governor's Moving Image Archive Program.

March, 2008: The Lubbock affiliate of National Public Radio, South Plains Public Radio Station KOHM 98.1 FM airs a story on TAMI filmmaker Melton Barker and TAMI’s quest for lost Texas movies.

March, 2008: TAMI Executive Director, Caroline Frick, presents “Hollywood at Home: Film History and Preservation, Texas Style” to members of the public at The University of Texas at Austin’s “Explore UT” – a weekend “open house” at the university.

February, 2008: The 1930s version of Melton Barker’s “The Kidnapper’s Foil” was screened to a sold out crowd at the IFC Center in New York City. The Childress, TX version was selected as the closing finale of the curated program entitled “Best of the Orphan Film Symposium: Stranger Than Fiction.”

January, 2008: Enrique Rangel, Austin Bureau chief for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal and the Amarillo Globe-News covers TAMI’s work and, of course, more Melton Barker!! The story was picked up in communities all over the state – from San Marcos and Fort Worth to Texarkana and Galveston!

October, 2007: TAMI joins over 23 countries around the globe in contributing moving image material towards the celebration of UNESCO's first annual World Day for Audiovisual Heritage. In addition to its web presence, the trailer also played on monitors at the UNESCO general conference in Paris.

September, 2007: TAMI participates in the annual Association of Moving Image Archivists conference in Rochester, New York. Senior Archivist, Megan Peck, provided an overview of TAMI programs and goals for the Regional Audiovisual Archivists’ panel: “Outreach, Preservation and Access Initiatives Within and Between Regions.”

July, 2007: TAMI goes south of the border, down Mexico way! Invited to showcase Texas’ rich contribution to American filmmaking, TAMI presents “From Méliès to Melton: A Century of Texas Filmmaking” at the Expresión en Corto International Film Festival, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

April, 2007: TAMI assists in the annual Texas Speaker of the House “reunion” by digitizing archival campaign footage and home movie material from former Speakers in the first stage of a larger “Speakers” film collection. See our Texas House Speakers Collection.

March, 2007: TAMI's film preservation efforts were featured on the March 11th episode of Austin Public Television's award-winning public affairs series, "Special Session." This program focused on current legislative initiatives that would provide film production incentives across Texas. PBS affiliates that aired the show included those from College Stateion, Corpus Christi, Dallas, El Paso, Harlingen, Houston, Killeen, Lubbock, Midland/Odessa, San Antonio, and Waco.

December, 2006: TAMI’s work on Melton Barker's The Kidnapper's Foil featuring Childress, Texas is covered by National Public Radio.

August, 2006: TAMI sponsors Austin's first Home Movie Day at the Hideout Theatre on Congress Avenue. In front of a packed house, the all-volunteer staff inspects and screens films ranging from footage of UT from 1946 and a number of family holidays caputured on film, to home movies of the 1957 Lampasas flood and a fantastic horror film shot in San Marcos in the 1960s. TAMI’s sponsorship of Austin’s first Home Movie Day event at the Hideout Theatre is covered by local radio and television outlets:

A reel brought by a participant contained a message regarding the JFK assassination. Click image to enlarge.

April, 2006: TAMI films head to Hong Kong!! Brilliant color movies of San Antonio's La Villita are screened as a part of UNESCO’s New Heritage Conference in Hong Kong, helping illustrate the value of the moving image in interpreting historical sites. Also shown are a number of newsreels featuring unique images of the state – helping communicate the importance of Texas film preservation as a component of the globe’s cultural heritage.

November, 2005: TAMI participates in the annual Association of Moving Image Archivists conference. Director Caroline Frick chairs a film preservation panel, “Texas Triage.”

October, 2005: TAMI and The Rio Grande Institute, with funding from Humanities Texas, launch the Rio Grande Border Filmography. See our Collections page for more information.

Summer, 2005: TAMI collaborates with the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum on their exhibit TEXAS MOVIES. TAMI staff assists the museum's summer camp, "TEXpeditions," by teaching the kid campers Texas film history and organizing new video versions of The Kidnapper’s Foil. See Collections for more information on this film series.

May, 2005: The Texas Archive of the Moving Image, in conjunction with the Childress Theatre Company of Childress, TX, received a National Film Preservation Foundation grant to preserve Texas filmmaker Melton Barker’s 1930s film, The Kidnapper’s Foil, shot in Childress and featuring local residents. See TAMI’s Collections for more background on Melton Barker and the Kidnapper’s Foil phenomenon.

Click to enlarge

In addition, the 2005 project is prominently featured in the NFPF report to Congress.

For information on the National Film Preservation Foundation and its programs, see http://www.filmpreservation.org.

December, 2005: The Austin American-Statesman writes two key stories about Texas filmmaker, Melton Barker and helps discover more about Barker’s past. As a result of the articles, TAMI receives over one hundred emails from individuals all over the state and country who appeared in Barker’s films.

Spring, 2004: TAMI Executive Director, Caroline Frick, served as archival researcher for Margaret Brown’s documentary on Texas musician Townes Van Zandt, Be Here To Love Me. Since premiering at the Toronto Film Festival in September, 2004, Be Here to Love Me has screened at South by Southwest, the Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente, and the Seattle Film Festival.