Jane Fonda, Mario Van Peebles & More Join the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for Film Restoration Summit

Jane Fonda (seven-time Golden Globe Award winner), Serge Bromberg (Lobster Films, Founder), Eddie Muller (Film Noir Foundation, President), Sandra Schulberg (IndieCollect, President & Executive Director), Chaz Ebert, (Wife of the late Robert Ebert), and Mario Van Peebles (Director, New Jack City) joined the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) and American Cinematheque at the HFPA Film Restoration Summit held at the Egyptian Theater in Los Angeles.

The second annual summit kicked off on Saturday with a presentation by Serge Bromberg, famed film preservationist and founder of Lobster Films. Bromberg played piano while storytelling through some of the most iconic silent films of our time including pieces from the Lumière Brothers, Georges Méliès, Charlie Chaplin, and Buster Keaton. Bromberg took the audience on a cinematic journey, showcasing the immense work behind the process of restoring a film.

Later in the evening, Lorenzo Soria (HFPA, President) introduced Jane Fonda who later presented a screening of F.T.A., a film restored with support from the HFPA. Fonda also contributed to the funding of the restored classic, The Story of A Three-Day Pass and her work in restoration also includes the IndieCollect's Jane Fonda Fund for Women Directors, aimed to support the restoration of films helmed by women. F.T.A.'s documentary subjects including Jane Schulberg, Holly Near, Michael Alaino, and Rita Martinson joined Jane on stage where they took questions in front of a live audience.

Highlights from the night include:

● HFPA President Lorenzo Soria kicked off the evening: "The HFPA has been lucky to build a strong presence in the philanthropy world and specifically in film restoration... F.T.A. is sort of a time capsule back into the Anti-Vietnam War. A flashback to the days when Jane Fonda, fresh from her Oscar for Klute, became a symbol of the anti-establishment." Soria continued, "The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has preserved more than 125 films, in addition to many shorts, and it is our strong belief that these films should be preserved, seen and enjoyed as part of our cultural heritage."

● Jane Fonda addressed the crowd before introducing her film, F.T.A: "I want to thank the HFPA and IndieCollect. I'm a newbie to the whole issue of film restoration...I learned a bit about it and suddenly realized how important it is. And then I realized I've made a few documentaries, especially THE ONE you're going to see tonight, that just disappeared. This film documents parts of the Vietnam Anti-War movement that very few people know about."

● After the screening, Fonda was reunited with other F.T.A. cast members on stage for a Q&A.

o Cast member Holly Near spoke on the film being ahead of its own time: "I was amazed that in 1971 we had a multicultural cast, and that we had four men, four women, four white people, four people of color, and the amount of attention in the show that was given to confronting sexism and racism. I think that was just astounding."

o Fonda spoke on the lessons audiences can still take away from the film in today's world: "One of the things I think we have to come away with is speaking to middle America. Speaking to the sons and daughters of people who probably voted for Trump now. We have to include them, we can't just write off those people... people can be won over and we can't leave them out."

Gianluca Farinelli's Fellini presentation concluded the two-day showcase on Sunday underscoring how film preservation is a global effort, extending to movies from around the world. The choice of Fellini was particularly appropriate this year as it was the first West Coast celebration of the 100th anniversary of his birth. The presentation that preceded the film touched on many underlying aspects of Fellini's artistic vision and the style that continues to influence filmmakers today. A preeminent Fellini scholar who happens to hail from the same Italian region, Farinelli was uniquely positioned as TOUR GUIDE to the director's underlying influences.

The HFPA Film Restoration Summit was established following a donation of more than $200,000 made by the HFPA to Festival Lumière to support the second phase of the restoration of the Lumière brothers one-minute films. To date, the HFPA, in partnership with The Film Foundation, has helped fund the restoration of over 125 classic feature films.

Previous classics that were restored by HFPA grants include Elia Kazan's A Face in the Crowd; the Powell-Pressburger masterpiece, The Red Shoes; Robert Altman's Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean; the first film version of Death of a Salesman; and Indian director Satyajit Ray's acclaimed Apu Trilogy.

Since 2013, the HFPA has awarded $200,000 to the Film Noir Foundation for five 35mm restorations of classic noirs, and since 2005, another $375,000 to the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project for films preserving lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender moving images.

Each year, the HFPA holds the third most watched awards show on television, the Golden Globe® Awards, which has enabled the organization to donate more than $37.5 million to 70 entertainment-related charities, film restoration, scholarship programs and humanitarian efforts.

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