An endowment fund earmarked for appearances by visiting filmmakers has been established to honor the memory of Thomas Lowell Grady, an early staff member and supporter of the University Film Society.

Tim Grady of St. Paul has created the fund to commemorate his twin brother’s appreciation for film and filmmakers and to acknowledge Tom Grady’s contributions to the Film Society’s growth and success in its early years.

Tom and Tim together played key roles in the Society’s evolution in the mid-1970s from a fledgling exhibition program for local fi lm buffs into a nationally and internationally renowned showcase for American independent film and international cinema. Their years as imaginative and ambitious staffers under Film Society founder Al Milgrom’s leadership coincided with a remarkable flowering of fi lmmakers worldwide and an exceptional chapter in the history of film.

The Grady brothers took on the responsibility of expanding film screenings at the Bell Museum from three days a week to seven. Their efforts enabled the film society to present premieres of some of the most important foreign language films of the period and arrange appearances by such filmmakers as Jean-Luc Godard, Werner Herzog, Nikita Mikhalkov, Peter Watkins, Wim Wenders, Milos Forman, and many others.

In due course Tom moved to San Francisco, but his fond memories of those days never flagged, up to his untimely death in October 2004. “We never stopped talking about the adventures we experienced together at the Film Society,” Tim recalled in establishing the endowment in his brother’s name. “We often talked about setting up a fund for Al and the Film Society because we wanted to give something back to the University and the Film Society for affording us this wonderful experience. It was in that spirit that I created the fund. Its purpose is to ensure that directors from around the world continue to visit the Twin Cities and discuss their work at MN Film Arts and the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival. I hope that many other film aficionados and supporters of Minnesota Film Arts will join me in contributing to this endeavor.”

If you would like to make a contribution
please call: 651.251.4531
or visit: www.tomgrady.com