Ken G Hall Film Preservation Award
Ken G Hall on the set of Orphan of the
Wilderness (1936) NFSA 568602
The National Film and Sound Archive's Ken G Hall Film Preservation Award is presented to acknowledge and encourage individuals, groups of individuals or corporations for their outstanding contribution to the cause of moving image preservation.
Possible examples of this contribution include, but are not limited to technical innovation; scholarship in the field; involvement with the survival of film as an art form and as a cultural experience; advocacy; sponsorship and fundraising.
The award was established by the NFSA in 1995 in tribute to producer director Ken G Hall. Candidates are identified and selected by the NFSA with advice welcomed from its Advisory Committee and experts in the field. The award is usually but not necessarily presented annually.
The NFSA selects recipients for the Ken G Hall Film Preservation Award on the basis of their substantial contribution to moving image preservation and the survival of film as a cultural experience. NFSA Curators present researched nominations for final selection by the Director of the NFSA.
The NFSA welcomes additional suggestions from its Advisory Committee and experts in the field. If you would like to suggest a nomination, please email Graham Shirley,Senior Curator, Moving Image Branch with background to your suggestion - graham.shirley@nfsa.gov.au
Recipients of the Ken G Hall Film Preservation Award to date are:
| 2006 | Paul Cox in acknowledgement of both his unique creative career and his long-term support of the NFSA. |
| 2005 | Phillip Noyce for his outstanding contribution to the art of film and to the cause of film preservation, particularly through the authentic treatment of archival footage in his 1978 film Newsfront, his long-term commitment to the preservation of his works through the National Film and Sound Archive, and his championing of the NFSA's Kodak/Atlab Cinema Collection. |
| 2004 | Graham Shirley in recognition of Graham's contribution to Australian film preservation. Graham is one of Australia's most distinguished audiovisual archivists and historians. Graham is also a documentary maker of note and mentor to emerging practitioners in the audiovisual heritage field. In 1981 he restored the 1927 Australian film For the Term of his Natural Life. He has also been deeply involved in recording numerous oral histories with veterans of film, television, radio, recorded sound and theatre. |
| 2003 | Tom Edward Nurse (posthumously) for a life-time's work in film laboratories throughout the world, but particularly in Australia and South East Asia. He was responsible for establishing the design of, and the working arrangements for, the specialist film preservation copying laboratories at the National Film and Sound Archive. His technical film knowledge was extensive and his ability to solve the most difficult of technical problems in a practical way became legendary. In a career spanning 50 years, he was a teacher and friend to several generations of Australian film technicians. |
| 2002 | Judy Adamson, for her renowned research which has resulted in the preservation of much of our film heritage. Judy has been instrumental in conducting and collecting oral histories from the film industry and in documenting the history of Government filmmaking in Australia. She worked on films such as The Pictures That Moved, Now You're Talking and the Centenary of Cinema celebration Celluloid Heroes, which are among the most influential documentary histories of Australian film. |
| 2001 | Murray Forrest, for encouraging producers to offer negatives and print materials to the National Film and Sound Archive for safekeeping, resulting in the survival of many films over the years that may otherwise have been lost. His enthusiastic commitment to the Kodak Atlab Cinema Collection has enabled the Archive to preserve many of Australia's recent feature films. He has also provided significant support for training in film techniques and assistance for film restoration. These have included restoration and copying of the 1927 classic For The Term of his Natural Life, enabling the film to be seen by contemporary audiences, and the current restoration project for Raymond Longford's The Sentimental Bloke. Murray Forrest has worked in the Australian film industry for 37 years, including the past 23 as Managing Director of film processing laboratory Atlab. |
| 2000 | Anthony Buckley, for his vision and active support from the 1960s for the establishment of an autonomous National Film and Sound Archive, his consistent work in locating and facilitating the transfer of hundreds of important films into the Archive's care, for his service to the Archive as a member of its Council and his role as a producer and director of feature films and television series that highlight Australia's film history, such as Forgotten Cinema (1967) and Celluloid Heroes (1995). |
| 1999 | (posthumously) Joan Long AM, for creating a public awareness of Australian film history through productions such as The Passionate Industry (1973), The Pictures that Moved (1969) and The Picture Show Man (1977), for her dedication and commitment during the 1970s and 1980s to the development of a national archive for film and sound, and her role as Chair of the National Film and Sound Archive's first Advisory Committee. |
| 1998 | not awarded |
| 1997 |  Kodak Australasia Pty Ltd, for its substantial long term support for the Archive including support for the following projects:
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| 1996 | Peter Weir, for his significant personal and financial commitment to the preservation of Australia's film heritage including his support for the Last Film Search and the re-release of the classic 1955 film, Jedda. |
| 1995 | Alan Rydge, of Greater Union Group and Rupert Murdoch, of News Corporation for their joint corporate sponsorship of the National Film and Sound Archive's Operation Newsreel, a major collection and preservation program of Cinesound and Movietone newsreels. |
* In December 2005 the NFSA celebrated the completion of the first phase of a major film preservation project and announced the beginning of phase two. The Kodak/Atlab Cinema Collection has been a five-year partnership between the NFSA, Atlab Australia and Kodak (Australasia) which has seen the restoration of some of Australia's greatest films made before 1992.
Phase two of the project, The National Film and Sound Archive Atlab/Kodak Collection will see the restoration of titles such as Bliss, Stork and others.
