Project highlights Block Cinema’s growing role as a center for media research and discovery at Northwestern University.

The Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University has received a Basic Preservation Grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation (NFPF) to support the restoration and preservation of four rare films by independent Kentucky animator Ed Counts (1946–2009). The $6,000 grant will fund the creation of new 16mm prints and digital access copies of the films, which have remained largely unseen outside of Counts’ home state until The Museum’s Block Cinema program made a rediscovery of the films last year. 

The preservation initiative was sparked by research conducted by Block Cinema, the museum’s film exhibition and research program. Founded as a repertory screening series, Block Cinema has evolved into a dynamic platform for scholarship, pedagogy, and community dialogue through the media arts. Focusing on underrepresented perspectives in cinema, the program regularly collaborates with faculty and students across Northwestern to illuminate overlooked histories and elevate new voices.

“This project reflects the heart of Block Cinema’s mission,” said Michael Metzger, Pick-Laudati Curator of Media Arts at The Block Museum. “Through deep research into neglected corners of film history, we’re not just preserving media—we’re surfacing stories and practices that expand how we understand the field of independent animation. Ed Counts’ work is a revelation: formally inventive, deeply personal, and uniquely shaped by an Appalachian regional identity.”

Films by Ed Counts are currently under preservation at The Block Museum of Art

In 2024, Block Cinema projectionist Ben Creech uncovered Rockers (1990) in the archive of Picture Start, an animation distributor active in the 1980s and early 1990s. The dense and playful four-minute short—based on observational sketches of the artist’s wife and daughter—was subsequently included in the 2024 edition of the Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation and met with enthusiastic response.

“Finding Rockers was a moment of pure cinematic joy,” said Ben Creech, projectionist at Block Cinema. “The canister itself doesn’t tell you all that much about what’s inside, but once we brought it back to The Block, and put the film onscreen, it was clear that we had uncovered something incredibly unique. It has a potent blend of formal rigor and regional accent, which is rare among films from its time period, let alone Appalachia. I’m thrilled that these films will have a chance to be seen and appreciated by new audiences.”

This rediscovery initiated a relationship with the artist’s daughter, Katie Counts, who donated what are believed to be the only surviving film elements of her father’s work. With no commercial distribution history and no other known institutional holdings, the four films—Pas de Bleu (1986), Rockers (1990), Top This (1995), and Lullaby (1988)—may represent a singular surviving record of one of Appalachian film’s most original and underrecognized voices.

Counts’ work reflects a remarkable breadth of artistic approaches—from precise, modernist line animation to painterly abstraction to early computer-generated imagery. Drawing inspiration from everyday life and family, his films combine wit, lyricism, and rhythmic movement with a visual language that is both highly personal and culturally grounded. Works like Rockers are based on observational sketches of his wife and daughter, while others like Top This revel in surreal humor and sonic play. His Appalachian perspective offers a rare counterpoint to the urban-dominated history of American experimental animation.

This preservation effort grows directly out of Block Cinema’s curatorial and research-driven approach to film exhibition, extending its mission to uncover, contextualize, and share underrecognized works with new audiences.

“The Block Museum is committed to making art accessible and relevant to our academic community and the broader public,” said Lisa Corrin, Ellen Philips Katz Executive Director. “This project perfectly illustrates how close attention, care, and collaboration can recover powerful artistic voices that might otherwise be lost. It also reflects the growing importance of Block Cinema as a site for discovery—where students and scholars work side by side to reshape the narratives of film history.”

Block Cinema will work with the celebrated motion picture lab Colorlab on digital and photochemical preservation of the four films. The museum anticipates sharing the newly preserved films through future screenings, exhibitions, and public programs that engage students, faculty, and local audiences alike. Administered by the nonprofit affiliate of the Library of Congress’s National Film Preservation Board, the National Film Preservation Foundation has supported preservation efforts in all 50 states.

For more information about The Block Museum of Art and Block Cinema, visit blockmuseum.northwestern.edu.