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IN THIS ISSUE:
• Interview with Tom Hope - one of
CINE's founders
• About the CINE Competition
• CINE Juries
• CINE President's Letter
• The Spring 2007 Competition is
now open for entry!
Interview with Tom
Hope - one of CINE’s founders
As part of CINE’s 50th Anniversary, we will be talking to
some of our founders and long standing supporters. Our first
interview is with Tom Hope, one of the founders of CINE. Tom,
who now lives in Rochester, NY, talks to CINE about his career
and how CINE was started. The interview was conducted by CINE
board member Leslie Sewell.
CINE: How did you get your start in the film business?
TH: I made my first film in 1937 when I had just graduated from high
school. I went to Holland and shot film of the Boy Scout jamboree. Lord
Baden Powell, the founder of the Boy Scouts, was there and I got some
footage of him, and that film has now been appraised at $50,000. That
was real money 20 years ago when it was appraised. So National Boy Scouts
heard about it and Kodak heard about it. It was the first Kodachrome
film, so Kodak wanted to see it. And it was still good but they said
not to run it through a projector again. So I did a narrative and we
transferred it to tape. I donated it to the Boy Scouts.
In 1956 I was at Eastman Kodak as a film producer, an industrial film
producer after World War II at General Mills in Minneapolis in industrial
production. The only show you may have heard of that I did was the Lone
Ranger television show. I started that show in 1949; they called me an
executive producer. I was a Marshall Plan consultant to the French government
in 1952 in Paris. That got me a lot of visibility so when I came back
in ‘53 Kodak approached me to be a consultant for them and I came in
1954 to them. My title was Assistant Advisor of Non-Theatrical Films.
CINE: Tell me about how CINE began.
TH: I remember specifically the beginning of CINE. Sometime in 1956,
I’m guessing about May or June we got a phone call from Wilbur Pearson
at USIA, the United States Information Agency. He called and said, we’re
getting complaints from some of our embassies abroad, like the American
Embassy in London. London said films were pouring into Edinburgh, in
Scotland, where they had a film festival. The American embassy in Rome
was getting the same complaints at the Venice film festival and they
asked if something couldn’t be done in the United States to narrow this
down. At that time most film festivals were run by the governments of
those countries, but the United States didn’t run any. They asked if
Eastman Kodak could do something about this. Well, Eastman Kodak said
we couldn’t select the films; after all, these people were all their
customers.
In July I was in Chicago for a meeting of an association,
which is now called InfoCom. In those days it was the National
Audio Visual Association. They had a meeting at the Conrad
Hilton Hotel. Another man who was there was Dr. Robert DeKiefer
from Colorado State University. Bob and I shared a cab to the
convention and I told him about the call from the State Department.
We were so involved in our conversation that when we got to
the Hilton we didn’t go to the convention. We went to the coffee
shop to continue our discussion over a cup of coffee.
A day long meeting was set for October 1956 in a Washington hotel. Bill
Pearson lined up a key intelligence officer from the State Department
to be key speaker. The background was the cold war between Communist
nations and the free world. Her talk was frightening. She explained the
situation. Communist government film operations were producing outright
propaganda films to enter in film festivals. Most were very well produced.
The United States needed to be sure that the best U.S. productions that
portrayed the true picture of American life were entered in the growing
number of film festivals all around the world. The quality of film production
had to be tops to compete internationally. The MPAA and its president,
Jack Valenti, would take care of Hollywood feature film entries with
the cooperation of the USIA, but the non-theatrical film world did not
have similar organization.
CINE: So then what happened?
TH: So Bob said as the head of DAVI (Department of Audio Visual Instruction)
I can call a meeting of heads of different associations, the Education
and Film Library Association, Industrial Audio Video Association, the
Motion Picture Academy and others like that so we conceived that idea
and it started out in a taxi so CINE was conceived in a taxicab in Chicago
in 1956.
That fall Bob called a conference in Washington and invited the heads
of all these associations and the key speaker was a woman from the US
State Department. The State Department was very concerned because the
cold war was heating up and Russia was making propaganda films and sending
them to these festivals and other communist nations doing that too. So
there was quite a conspiracy you might say of communist nations trying
to dominate these festivals. She said that the U.S. has to counteract
that, we have to come up with the very best films that we can come up
with. So that led to the idea that we should have an organization to
choose the U.S. films to represent the United States at these festivals
around the world, especially Europe at that point. So a committee was
set up to proceed on that.
CINE: How did you actually organize?
TH: So I was making trips to Washington and I was working with a woman
from DAVI, Dr. Anna Hyer. She was head of DAVI. So we began to organize
and laid the plans out. Then we had to come up with a name. One day Bob
drove me to the airport and we were sitting around the coffee shop so
I remember on a napkin we came up with CINE, because that refers to film.
So we came up with the acronym CINE, Committee on International Nontheatrical
Events.
After that we sent to see Dr. William Carr at the National Education
Association to see if he could give us a room to use as an office to
use for this new embryo organization. We told him the name and he said
“Oh, that’s a great name”. And he gave us a room at NEA.
CINE: How did you get word out about CINE?
TH: One of the men working for Anna Hyer was Dr. Harold Wigren, whose
job was to work on the new technology, television, and figure out how
to use it for education. And he became the first director of CINE. So
that first year we sent the word out and the films started to come in.
We put out articles in magazines. At that time there were a half dozen
magazines devoted to film. And also through these various associations
they put the word out to their people. The first year we probably had
about a hundred films.
CINE: How did you decide to use the Golden Eagle as the symbol?
TH: One day Anna and I were waited to go in to see Dr. Carr and there
was an American flag with an eagle on top and I said Anna, CINE needs
something dramatic and wouldn’t that eagle make a good thing, so that
was how we came up with the Golden Eagle for the awards.
That fall we had a little banquet and we chose maybe 20 or 30 films and
it was held at NEA, a black tie affair, a private dining room off of
the NEA cafeteria, maybe about 20 or 30 people so a small posh affair.
CINE: Was there more organizational work to do?
TH: Yes. Then we decided to incorporate. So I was given the job of writing
up the articles of incorporation and Bill Pearson from the USIA got their
lawyer to help us incorporate in the District of Columbia.
Stanley McIntosh at the MPAA set up a department to encourage education
film in schools and they took some feature films that were appropriate
and made digests out of them for education and that was Stan’s job. So
we chose Stan as the first president or chairman of CINE. Bill Carr was
also a president. He was a giant in education. In one of the yearbooks
is a picture of me and Imelda Marcos. In 1970 we had a CINE tour to the
orient. The picture says CINE award winning films assembled by CINE tour
for international screening, Hawaii, Manila, Hong Kong, Taipei and Tokyo.
Editor’s note: Tom Hope still plays an active role in the film business
and CINE. In October 2006 Tom was presented with a Founder’s Plaque by
the Communications Media Management Association. This was in recognition
of his role as a founder of that organization 60 years ago. Tom is a
regular CINE Jury Chair, and contributes to CINE’s role in the University
Film and Video Association, of which he is also a member.
About the CINE Competition
For fifty years, CINE has celebrated excellence
in the world of non-theatrical visual media. At first, all
entries were on film. In the 90s the transition was made
to video tape, and now CINE accepts DVDs and other new media
formats, continuing to honor excellence by evaluating a
wide range of both American and international productions,
and bestowing the CINE Golden Eagle Award upon those most
worthy of recognition. The methods of honoring talent have
evolved, but our strict standards of excellence have remained
a constant.
To achieve a CINE Golden Eagle Award, a production must undergo a unique
and rigorous process designed to distinguish the good productions from
the excellent ones. Each production begins the evaluation process in
a Stage I jury, comprised of at least three members. Each jury member
must have extensive experience in the film, video or new media industry,
giving them proficiency in the fundamentals of the production process
and the ability to recognize quality productions. Jurors rate films against
a set of ten defined criteria; the technical merits of the film are assessed
based on writing, sound, editing and visuals, but a juror must also incorporate
the use of a production’s stated resources, its creativity, its insights
or point of view, its success in fulfilling its stated purpose, its ability
to communicate effectively to its stated audience, and its overall excellence.
Films achieving a winning score based on CINE’s comprehensive
set of standards are sent to a second stage of judging, where
they are evaluated — using the same criteria — by members of
CINE’s Board of Directors. Stage II Jurors can also request
further review, and each jury’s results are assessed — with
some films receiving additional screening — to ensure that
each production receives a fair and thorough evaluation. If
a production also attains a winning score after the second
stage of judging (or further review), it receives a CINE Golden
Eagle Award.
CINE’s distinctive judging system allows filmmakers in every stage of their
careers — from emerging students to renowned professionals — to be recognized
by established, respected peers in the film, video and new media industry.
In the Fall 2006 competition, 172 professional, student and independent
productions received a CINE Golden Eagle Award for excellence. We invite
you to take advantage of our prestigious competition process by entering
your production now into the Spring
2007 CINE Golden Eagle Film & Video Competition.
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CINE
Juries
 As most of you know, the heart of CINE’s process is our
jury system. The members of these juries are dedicated professionals
who contribute generously of their time and talent to help
select film productions worthy of the term excellent. But
some juries go above and beyond the call of duty.
The jury led by Elizabeth and Richard Coakley of Sedgwick Maine is one
of those. The photo to the left is four members of their jury on the
evening they viewed their entries. It was Maine, and it was cold. Did
that deter this faithful group? Never! Elizabeth dug out enough hats,
sweaters and blankets for everyone, and the judging went on. Pictured
in the photograph (From the left) are: Carolyn Waite, Brooke Dojny, Mary
Grace Canfield, and Jean Marie.
Of special note is Mary Grace Canfield. Mary Grace has starred
in television, movies and on Broadway. Even though she recently
celebrated her 80th birthday, she never misses a jury. Even
if there is no heat. Members of the jury who are not pictured
are; Richard and Elizabeth Coakley, John Bischof, and Parker
Waite.
The Coakleys and their group especially enjoy judging films from independent
and student entrants. They appreciate the originality and uniqueness often
found in films of these genres. CINE is always looking for new jury chairs
to assemble a jury of at least three people, to gather together and watch
6 to 10 films. If you or someone you know is interested, please have them
contact CINE for more information.
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CINE President's Letter
 In the antediluvian days of 1984, when the personal computer
revolution began for real, it was the Macintosh that truly
opened the gates to change. I marched out and spent
an obscene amount of money to join the revolution, and have
been known among my friends as an early adapter. I
had the first car phone on the block and one of the first
flip phones, etc. etc. etc.
It is notable this week when we are publishing the newest
CINE Newsletter that out in Las Vegas the annual CES show
is underway and the spotlight is focused most brightly on
Apple, once again, which, tellingly, has dropped “Computer”
from the corporate moniker.
On January 9th, Steve Jobs, the once and future king of
techdom, unveiled two devices at the show. One is Apple
TV, a mid-priced device that will store about 50 hours of
video and allow computer streams to be seen on the big box
in the living room. It also has a remote control that
allows you to control all the media flowing toward the living
room.
With great noise, fanfare and attention, Steve Jobs unveiled
the iPhone. Its arrival has been trumpeted on the front
pages of many newspapers; in some more prominently than virtually
anything else.
It underscores, puts an exclamation mark after, and puts
in bold typeface with italics that video is rapidly moving
into a completely unwired, un-tethered universe. Jobs
announcement of his iPhone drowned out earlier announcements
of other manufacturers and carriers that they were moving
to place local television broadcast affiliates and some cable
networks onto the tiny screen.
For all those doubters who have been nay-saying with: no
one will ever watch television on such a tiny screen! I
refer them to my numerous friends who received video iPods
as Christmas presents and have been gushing about the video
experience.
What is real and what is upon us is that truly portable
[and pocket-able] video has arrived with a bang and is moving
mainstream. Its arrival is affecting viewing habits
and therefore revenue streams — and the financial models
which will feed producers.
At Real Screen, I am moderating a panel: “Dollars
For Digital,” with individuals from AOL, Google, Nat Geo
Ventures, Comedy Central and the production community. We
will attempt to divine how producers and networks can make
money from the changing technology and the opportunities
it is providing in ubiquity and variety.
More and more awards organizations are looking at their
award structures to determine if they are adequately addressing
the distribution streams. CINE is one of them. In
the coming months CINE will be continuing to work on how
best for us to embrace new technology and award the product
it inspires.
The Board of CINE spent a day in “retreat” during December
to help itself focus on the challenges facing our constituencies,
producers and the networks they service, to help ensure we
continue as a vital organization in our rapidly changing
business. From that retreat, small groups are working
to refine and define the activities and directions of CINE.
It is an exciting time to be in the industry and to be involved
with CINE. I encourage anyone who is interested to
get involved with our organization. Like the Army,
we’re looking for a few good volunteers!
I’d like to personally welcome Betsy Walters to our full-time
staff. Betsy is working with Bruce Bucklin, transitioning
into his role in charge of our competitions, as Bruce begins
to say farewell to us.
David Weiss, our Executive Director, who has been the heart
of CINE [as well as most of its organs], has also announced
his intention to retire this year and CINE is undertaking
the arduous task of finding someone to fill his un-fillable
shoes.
Also, in the spring of this year, Donald Thoms will be stepping
up to the Presidency of CINE. Donald, probably one
of the most respected executives in the television business,
will be a great President for the organization. I will
be continuing as a member of the Board so I can help while
enjoying the evolution of this great organization, which
is now celebrating its 50th year. Happy Golden Anniversary
CINE!
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The
Spring 2007 Competition is now open for entry!
 Entries are now being accepted for the Spring
competition. Use CINE's secure web site to enter your latest
productions. Enter before February 1 and receive the early
bird discount. ENTER
NOW! If you had an entry in the Fall Competition and
you have not received your results letter, contact the
CINE office by email or by phone at 202-785- 1136.
Winners of the Fall 2006 competition are now posted on the CINE website.
If you are a Golden Eagle recipient, please send us production stills for
use on our web site. You may also use our secure web site to order Certificates and Trophies.
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CINE Archives
As a result of a great effort on the part of CINE staffer Betsy Walters,
it is now possible to review and search for information on every Golden
Eagle winning film back to 1985. The search function lets you look for
titles or for individuals who received credit on a film. As time permits,
we will continue to add all the data we have from previous years. Our collection
of CINE yearbooks goes back to 1964. Another 20 years worth of information!
View the CINE Archives.
CINE Sponsors
CINE thanks its distinguised sponsors for their
generous support.
  
Contact Information
1112
16th Street, NW, Suite 510
Washington, D. C. 20036
Phone: 202-785-1136
Fax: 202-785-4114
info@cine.org
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