This digital magazine for supporters of the Film Noir Foundation (FNF) is a must for those who love noir films, actors, actresses, and directors. It comes out as a PDF file every four months for those supporting with a donation of $20 or more. A hard copy version is available for anyone on Amazon for $14.99 per issue. Back issues of the digital edition are available on the FNF website and are displayed with a full table of contents showing everything in the issue. Back issues are $5.99 each.
Foundation Mission Statement
“The Film Noir Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit public benefit corporation created as an educational resource regarding the cultural, historical, and artistic significance of film noir as an international cinematic movement.
“It is our mission to find and preserve films in danger of being lost or irreparably damaged and to ensure that high-quality prints of these classic films remain in circulation for theatrical exhibition to future generations.
“That’s the high-toned legalese. Here are the facts: Even as the high-tech revolution lets us own vast film libraries on DVD, the risk grows greater all the time that 35mm prints of some films will fall into disuse and eventually disintegrate—especially lesser-known titles that have slipped through the cultural cracks, but are worthy of rediscovery.”
In addition to the magazine and a hosted presentation of noir films on Saturdays on Turner Classic Movies (TCM), the foundation has presented the Noir City film festival in Sa Francisco since 2003. According to the Foundation, the festival “immediately grew into the largest film noir-specific annual event in the United States, the centerpiece of the Film Noir Foundation’s public awareness campaign. Viewers are drawn every January from all over the world, eager to submerge themselves in an extravaganza of rare films, special guests, music, and literary tie-ins — a communal celebration of all things noir.” Shown here is the poster for this year’s festival. It certainly captures the ambiance of noir.
Noir films are on my mind today since my wife and I just watched the 1946 “murder-in-a-locked-room film called “The Verdict” starring Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre in one of their nine film pairings. The film is dark and filled with shadows and a plot that leaves you guessing until the end. What’s not to like?
Readers will find a splash or noir in most of my books.
Malcolm's Round Table 