Mary Lea Bandy
Mary Lea Bandy led the Museum of Modern Art's Film Department for a quarter of a century (1980-2005). In the words of her colleague Charles Silver, "this provided a stability that had not existed since the tenure of Iris Barry, the founder and first head of what was then called the Film Library".
Born in Illinois in 1943, Mary Lea Bandy studied art history at Stanford before moving to New York to pursue graduate studies at Columbia University. She joined MoMA's Publication Department as Associate Editor in 1973, after having worked as assistant editor for a publisher specialized in art-history books. She became administrator of MOMA's Film Department in 1978 and was appointed Director of the Department two years later. She was its Chief Curator from 1994 until her retirement in 2005. Under her leadership, the Department expanded significantly. She presided over the opening of MoMA's Celeste Bartos Film Preservation Center in Hamlin, Pennsylvania in 1996. She persuaded many filmmakers to donate prints of their films to the Museum's collections, organized innumerable exhibitions and retrospectives, and oversaw the publication of a number of monographs and catalogs.
Mary Lea Bandy was also active on the international stage. Over her 25-year leadership of MoMA's Film Department, she established many lasting relationships with individuals and institutions worldwide, both within FIAF and beyond. She oversaw the organization of the 1985 FIAF Congress in New York. She was a member of FIAF's Executive Committee from 1995-2001, and FIAF Treasurer from 1997-99. In 2001, she presented the first FIAF Award to Martin Scorsese in New York. She was elected FIAF Honorary Member during the Tokyo Congress in 2007.
Charles Silver, “Mary Lea Bandy”, Journal of Film Preservation, Issue 91, Oct 2014, pp. 55-58
