A very interesting article was posted at Wired News yesterday concerning the current unavailability of the landmark civil rights documentary EYES ON THE PRIZE, due primarily to the cost associated with re-clearing the expired rights to the huge amounts of archival footage used in the series.

The article highlights what has become an increasingly difficult issue in the frequently-intersecting worlds of documentary filmmakers and archives, and one that's unlikely to go away any time soon thanks to the ongoing contentious debate concerning copyright. I was absolutely staggered to see the prices being asked for VHS copies of the series by Amazon Marketplace sellers, despite knowing that it was difficult to find (I have the first of two laserdisc box sets, and have been searching futilely for quite some time for a copy of the second set at a reasonable price).

Hopefully, EYES will become readily available again in the future. The canonical example of a documentary series often cited as an insurmountable rights nightmare, Kevin Brownlow and David Gill's HOLLYWOOD, is reportedly making its way to DVD at an as-yet-unspecified date in the future, so if those rumors are true, anything's possible.

Dave

With the seemingly reckless abandon with which they release (and retitle) other people's films, I wouldn't be surprised if Brentwood weren't mastering a new box set from rented videotapes as we speak. I can picture it now: CIVIL RIGHTS 10 movies on 4 DVDs for $9.95!

I received an e-mail from the AMIA list serv that provides further information on the EYES... situation and I'm posting it here for those interested:

Dear List,



To my surprise and delight I have returned from vacation over this
holiday season and see an article and discussion on of the future of the
Eyes on the Prize series. I was contacted by the reporter from Wired News
to speak about Washington University’s role (as the home for the Eyes
material) and regret I was not available to speak with her. There is
some very valuable information and heartening news missing from her story
with regards to the future of the Eyes in the Prize material. I hope I
can shed more light on this discussion and answer some of the questions
posed on the list.



I have had the privilege to work with these materials for the last
three years. For those of you who do not know, Washington University was
selected in 2001 to house the Henry Hampton/Blackside collection. Several
people on this list were involved in the assessment of the Blackside
collection and decision making process that sent the collection here (and
I am eternally grateful). In addition to the Eyes on the Prize films,
the collection includes all outtakes, photos, music, stock footage,
scripts, producer’s notes, research materials, and all other materials
created during the production of Eyes. The archive also includes all of
Blackside’s additional long-form documentary films such as The Great
Depression, America’s War on Poverty, and I’ll Make Me a World: African
American Arts in the 20th Century. For more information please visit us at
http://library.wustl.edu/units/spec/filmandmedia/



The University is fully committed to the preservation of these
materials as well as making them available to the public. We are working with
Henry’s sisters in their efforts to re-broadcast and distribute the Eyes
series and have several initiative of our own to make these materials
accessible. As the article notes, Eyes on the Prize is out of
distribution and unavailable on DVD. As such, only old vhs copies are still
kicking around and they are quickly disappearing. The current generation of
students overwhelmingly use digital technologies and therefore they
(and teachers) are not using the Eyes series. This is tragic as the series
it is a truly powerful and transformative account of American history
and the ideals of the democratic process.



The process to re-clear rights is no small task. The series is
comprised of 14 one-hour episodes with hundreds of sources for music, photos,
film and video and thousand of clips used. Researchers are looking over
earlier agreements (there are many gaps) to determine the status of
each clip. Understanding exactly how much is needed and gauging the
openness of archives to re-license the materials is critical (they would like
to avoid having to re-edit as a result of not being able to get
licenses). There has been no new initiatives from Blackside after Henry
Hampton's death in 1998 and funders have been cautious to grant new money. As
such, this initiative is crucial to instilling confidence that
Blackside as it exists, can actually undertake this monumental task and get
this important series back in circulation.



This discussion is also very timely! Over the next several years the
country will be looking back to the civil rights movement as we
commemorate 40th and 50th anniversaries of key civil rights events beginning
next year with the 50th anniversary of the Montgomery bus boycott, 40th
anniversary of the Selma march, 40th anniversary of the Voting Rights
Act, and the 40th anniversary of the death of Malcolm X.



I am encouraged by the outpouring of concern and support to get this
series into distribution and broadcast again. I appreciate Rick
Prelinger’s challenge, and those supporting it, calling on all archives who own
copyrights to materials that appear in the series to help where they
can. Also, in the next few months many of you on AMIA-L can expect a call
or email from us here at Washington University. Increasingly, we are
finding that stock footage gathered for the Eyes on the Prize series is
becoming the only existing or best quality copy around. Therefore, we
are beginning a new project to identify what civil rights footage we
have in our archive still exists with the original copyright owners - and
what has been lost. This is an important initiative that will direct
much of our current preservation, cataloging, and access projects. Any
help in accomodating our queries is most appreciated.



Getting Eyes on the Prize back into circulation is a worthy an noble
task - it is truly a national treasure which should be made available to
all once again. Regards of the outcome to current efforts to
re-distribute the programs, you can be assured that the materials that went into
the program will be kept well and available for future generations.



If anyone wishes more information about the collection or our
activities and projects please feel free to contact me directly.



Happy New Year to All!!





David Rowntree

Special Media Collections Archivist

Washington University Film & Media Archive

The Henry Hampton/ Blackside Collection