Son[i]a #161
Rick Prelinger
Rick Prelinger is an archivist, writer and filmmaker who lives in San Francisco, California. Founder of the Prelinger Archives and the Prelinger Library, and board member of the Internet Archive, Rick has spent years rescuing, digitising and disseminating thousands of home movie reels. Spanning the period from the first few decades of the 20th century – when only the wealthy classes could afford the technology –, to the post-war period in America and the proliferation of 8mm cameras, these films capture everything from the trivialities of everyday life to the wildest eccentricity. Through these silent testimonies of urban and human landscapes, Prelinger advocates an unconventional reading of recent history, which avoids unnecessary narratives and is full of surprises and unexpected clashes.
SON[I]A talks to Rick Prelinger about home movies, alternative anthropology, lost landscapes and what he calls “archival anxiety syndrome”.
Conversation with Rick Prelinger on his film collection
This is a conversation by email with ephemeral film collector Rick Prelinger, which took place on April 2011.
Megan Prelinger
Megan Prelinger talks about ephemeral literature, the inner workings of the Prelinger Library and the possibility of looking at the world through the lens of everyday evidence.
Rick Prelinger
Interview with Rick Prelinger, an archivist, writer, filmmaker, outsider librarian and founder of the Prelinger Archives.
Deleted scenes
We dig up some unreleased fragments of the interview with the archivist, writer and filmmaker Rick Prelinger.