James Vincent D'Arc was born in Los Angeles, California on August 7, 1950. In the early 1970s, D'Arc was accepted into Brigham Young University, where he majored in history. A film appreciation class taught by Dr. Charles M. Metten in 1973 motivated D’Arc to receive a PhD in film history from BYU in 1986. During his time as a student, he was also hired in what was then called the "Archives and Manuscripts Division” at BYU, where he began gathering film-related materials for the Archives. During 1990 D'Arc was also employed as a professor of film in BYU's Theatre and Media Arts College in addition to his position as a curator. James D'Arc retired from BYU in August 2017.

Lillian Gerard was born November 25, 1914 in the Bronx. She studied at Bernard Baruch College. She had a career in publicity and advertising. In 1936 she was hired as an importer of foreign films and publicity and advertising for the movie "The Eternal Mask," which lead to many subsequent foreign film exhibition and marketing endeavors. Throughout her career, she was an executive of the Paris Theater in Manhattan. She was also a consultant to the Rugoff Theaters, the Little Carnegie, and the Fifth Avenue Cinema. Lillian Gerard passed away January 27, 2003, in Manhattan.