Scorsese’s film advocacy

Martin Scorsese is more than just an influential, Oscar-winning filmmaker with such credits as “The Departed,” “The Aviator,” “Raging Bull” and “Taxi Driver.” He’s also a cineaste with an encyclopedic knowledge of film and is perhaps among the most ardent and vocal advocates for film preservation and restoration.

In 1990, Scorsese, along with the late Robert Altman, Sydney Pollack and Stanley Kubrick, as well as Woody Allen, Francis Ford Coppola, Clint Eastwood, George Lucas, Robert Redford and Steven Spielberg, created the nonprofit organization the Film Foundation. The foundation has worked with the nation’s leading archives to fund the preservation and restoration of some 500 films, including the 1951 Technicolor fantasy “Pandora and the Flying Dutchman”; the restored “Pandora” print recently had its West Coast premiere at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Scorsese has also been a frequent patron at the museum’s film presentations. In reaction to LACMA Director Michael Govan’s recent decision to cancel the institution’s weekend film series over cost concerns, Scorsese has added his name to a circulating petition calling for the restoration of the museum’s film department.

-- Susan King