Derek Lamb appeared on Screening Room in June 1973 with over a dozen films and film clips that demonstrated a wide range of animation techniques, including The Rocket, The Great Toy Robbery, I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, Housemoving, and The Shepherd.
Over the course of a remarkable career spanning more than four decades, Derek Lamb contributed to over two hundred film and video productions as director, producer, animator, composer, and even as a singer. His film credits include the Academy Award-winning shorts Special Delivery and Every Child, as well as The Sweater, Why Me, The Great Toy Robbery, Karate Kids and The Shepherd. He is also known for animating the opening credits for the PBS series Mystery!. He taught animation at Harvard and McGill Universities and at the National Institute of Design in India.
Screening Room was a 1970s Boston television series that for almost ten years offered independent filmmakers a chance to show and discuss their work on a commercial (ABC-TV) affiliate station. The series was developed and hosted by filmmaker Robert Gardner (Dead Birds, Forest of Bliss), who was Chairman of the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies and Director of the Carpenter Center for Visual Arts at Harvard for many years.
This unique program dealt even-handedly with animation, documentary, and experimental film, welcoming such artists as Jan Lenica, John and Faith Hubley, Emile DeAntonio, Jean Rouch, Ricky Leacock, Jonas Mekas, Bruce Baillie, Yvonne Rainer and Michael Snow. Frequently, guests such as Octavio Paz, Stanley Cavell, and Rudolph Arnheim appeared as well.
Nearly 100 programs were produced during the years Screening Room was broadcast. Recently, The Museum of TV and Radio in New York City offered to copy the two-inch master tapes that had been given to the Film Study Center.