Every year the HFFF presents an example of the work of the Women's Film Preservation Fund. The Fund was established by "New York Women in Film and Television" and the "Museum of Modern Art", and preserves American films in which women have had significant creative input. It has preserved over 40 films produced between 1913 and 1990 and is the only fund of its kind in the world.
These films by Mary Ellen Bute, a pioneer in 1930s abstract animation and in 1950s experimentation with electronic imagery, have rarely been seen. Bute made them for diverse purposes. TARANTELLA (1940) imagines dance music composed on the piano. IMAGINATION (1958), produced by Steve Allen's NBC TV program, interprets a King Sisters' song. NEW SENSATIONS IN SOUND (1959) was produced for RCA Victor Distributor Sales meetings. (Catherine Wyler)

Animator: MARY ELLEN BUTE

Mary Ellen Bute (1906-1983) was the first American to make abstract films, starting in the early thirties. In the early fifties, she was one of the first persons in the world to use electronically generated images in film. She directed and produced one feature film, PASSAGES FROM FINNEGAN'S WAKE, based on James Joyce's monumental work.