Online Filmstrip Festival to Highlight Preservation Efforts for Forgotten Film Format
Filmstrips, a unique 35mm still image presentation format for education and industry, is being ignored by archivists and preservationists.
2025 Uncommon Ephemera Filmstrip Festival streams May 16-18 on YouTube & Twitch, showcasing restored filmstrips. Help Mark O’Brien save this forgotten medium!
Filmstrips, distinct from 16mm motion picture films, are 35mm still-image slideshows on a continuous strip of film typically synchronized with audio recordings on vinyl records or cassette tapes. Used in classrooms, industry, and businesses from the 1940s to the early 1990s, they covered academic subjects like science and sex education, as well as industrial topics such as sales training. These artifacts, produced equally by small companies or major names like Disney and Hanna-Barbera, are starting to decompose, and Uncommon Ephemera’s Mark O’Brien is working alone to digitize and restore them.
“Communities passionate about nostalgia, analog media, and lost formats thrive online, yet I was stunned to find no one saving filmstrips,” says O’Brien. “Grants are tied to physical archives requiring public access, and I barely have the financial support to do this from a home office, much less to buy a building and hire staff. There’s an old-guard, old-money bias in preservation, but those same academics in ivory towers with easy access to money have chosen to ignore this entire format, despite their cultural and historical value, campy charm, and quirky pop-art. If 'Mystery Science Theater 3000' proved anything, it’s that these relics not only deserve to be saved, but they would have a massive and passionate audience.”
The Uncommon Ephemera Filmstrip Festival will feature O’Brien’s restored filmstrips spanning six decades, information about his restoration process, insights into the films’ historical context, and opportunities for audience questions. The event will also address the financial constraints limiting preservation efforts. O’Brien’s saved filmstrips are freely available on The Internet Archive, ensuring access for educators, researchers, and the public.
The event is free to attend, with donations encouraged to help sustain the preservation efforts. Contributions can be made in advance at https://uncommonephemera.org/donate.
Mark O'Brien
Uncommon Ephemera
mark@uncommonephemera.org
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