When Dennis Nyback passed away in 2022, the Portland film archivist and programmer had amassed a collection of thousands of reels of films, whether they were black and white cartoons, 1960s-era commercials or educational films shown in classrooms. Nyback would share his eclectic finds through curated screenings at independent movie theaters not only in Portland, but also across the U.S. and Europe.

As reported earlier by Oregon ArtsWatch, Nyback’s friends and fellow cinephiles faced a daunting challenge after his death to track down and sort through the thousands of mostly 16mm reels of film he left behind. That effort evolved into the Nyback Archive, with a group of volunteers working to catalogue Nyback’s collection and eventually make it available for public viewing and study. The team leading this effort began sharing some of the gems they’ve found through monthly theater screenings, like the “16mm Nyback Showdown” between dueling projectionists on May 6 at the Clinton Street Theater.

Joining us to talk about the value of preserving analog film in our digital age are Greg Hamilton, a film curator and co-founder of The Nyback Archive, and filmmakers and curators Ioana Cherascu and Garrett Schroeder. Hamilton organizes monthly screenings of films from the archive through his Psychotronic Afterschool Special series at the Hollywood and Clinton Street theaters, which Cherascu and Schroeder also use for screenings of old 16mm reels through their Astral Projections series.

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News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/05/05/think-out-loud-dennis-nyback-fim-archivist-reels-film-cartoons-commercials-educational-films/