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All the United States Maine Bucksport Northeast Historic Film

Northeast Historic Film

A restored historic movie theater is the perfect place for a regional film archive.

Bucksport, Maine

Added By
Sarah Laskow
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The Alamo Theater holds extensive film archives.   Photos courtesy of Jeff Kirlin
NHF is located in the Alamo Theater, a 1916 cinema building.   Photos courtesy of Jeff Kirlin
And gear.   Photos courtesy of Jeff Kirlin
Still more film!   Photos courtesy of Jeff Kirlin
This is what the theater interior looked like in the 1930s.   Courtesy Northeast Historic Film
The lobby today.   Photos courtesy of Jeff Kirlin
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The genesis of this nonprofit moving image archive was film about logging.

In 1985, two television producers had come to Maine from Boston to try to start their own business. It didn’t quite go as they planned, and they decided to spend some time on a fun side project—preserving an old industrial film, From Stump to Ship: A 1930 Logging Film.

When they premiered their restored version, The Bangor Daily News reports, more than 1,100 people wanted to see it—more than they had room for in the theater.

They realized there was a need and an appetite for preserving the films of this region. Today, Northeast Historic Film has 10 million feet of film and 8,000 hours of video, much of it, according to the organization “unique and irreplaceable.”

The archive’s collection includes more industrial films of the Stump to Ship genre, footage from television stations in Maine and Massachusetts, silent films, indie films, student films, amateur work, and home movies. It also has a collection of old technology—projectors, cameras, and more—that’s been used to make films. The archive’s emphasis is on the region of Northeast New England, which it defines as Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts.

Over time, the archive’s collection expanded so much that it built a three-story conservation center to hold all the film. But its home base is in the Alamo Theater.

Built in 1916, by the 1990s, the theater was abandoned. In 1992, the organization acquired the building and spent many years renovating it to make it a functional home. Today, the theater shows movies and is the home of the archive’s study center, which has more than 3,000 reference videos from archives items, along with thousands of books and movie magazines.

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Film Archive Theaters

Know Before You Go

If you're interested in visiting the study center, it's best to contact NHF in advance so that they know you're coming and can plan for it! They are open Tuesday to Thursday from 9 to 4 and by appointment on Monday and Friday. Check the NHF website to see what films are playing at the Alamo theater.

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Sarah Laskow

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June 27, 2018

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  • https://bangordailynews.com/2014/09/16/living/northeast-historic-film-co-founder-reflects-on-30-years-of-archiving-preserving-celluloid-history/
Northeast Historic Film
85 Main Street
Bucksport, Maine
United States
44.572246, -68.795431
Visit Website
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