The San Francisco Media Archive and Oddball Films present Bay Area Bizarre - SF's Strangest Amateurs, Indies, Smut, and Home Movies in conjunction with the 14th Annual Worldwide Home Movie Day. This night of 16mm cinema from the 1930s-1970s includes swimming horses, drag fairy tales, children acting as adults, homegrown erotica, psychedelic animation and rare films by hometown heroes George Kuchar, Chick Strand, and Vince Collins. We begin with Welcome San Francisco Movie Makers (1960) a rare introductory film for the San Francisco Amateur Filmmakers Club. Local legend George Kuchar's Lady from Sands Point (1967) is a zippy, trippy portrait of artist Betty Holiday. Underground Film (1970) is a television arts program segment on the Bay Area's own Chick Strand, going in depth into her process and displaying excerpts of several of her most important films of the 1960s. Get a taste of some homegrown auto-worship with the Kodachrome time capsule San Francisco Excelsior: Low Rider Car Show (1965). Witness the baffling From Here to Profanity (1959), a local amateur film with children acting out adult rolls. San Francisco co-stars in The Screening Room (1970s), an erotic tale of two lovers shooting a porno in Renaissance costumes, then seeing themselves on a North Beach screen. The camptastic Sinderella (1962) retells an age-old fairy tale with a cross-dressing twist for a new generation. Blackie the Wonder Horse Swims the Golden Gate (1938) stars our own local equine hero in all his glory. Plus, local animator Vince Collins' psychedelic patriotic nightmare 200 (1976), and The Black Sabbath Parade (1970). And if you have home movies on 16mm film, we will project them on the big screen before the show, so bring us your family treasures and join us for a night of the Bay Area Bizarre!
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Welcome San Francisco Movie Makers (1960)
Shortly after the introduction of 16mm to the consumer market in 1923, amateur filmmaking clubs sprung up throughout the country. These venues would provide a place for average folks to “geek-out” on everything filmmaking from equipment to shooting techniques to projecting.
This short was shot by San Francisco filmmaker, Dr. Frank S. Zach, serves to not only welcome new members to the local club, but also to teach them basic the basics of how to use a camera and projector.
The Lady from Sands Point (B+W, 1967)
A charming George Kuchar portrait of local artist, Betty Holliday. A grandfather of underground film, an inspiration to countless filmmakers like John Waters and Todd Solondz, George Kuchar never stopped creating films throughout his life. He made raunchy melodramas, goofy tornado-chasing diaries, and throughout the years, George was filming those artists around him that inspired him. The Lady from Sands Point is one of these portraits, and a tantallizing and entertaining one at that. He documents his friend and local artist, Betty Holliday, but in a way that only George could have done, with a zippy soundtrack and unique editing that seem to make the artwork dance across the screen.
Underground Film (Color, 1970)
An exploration into ‘underground’ film through the eyes (and films) of California experimental filmmaker, Chick Strand, this documentary gives a close look into the life and work of one of the west coast’s (and Bay Area’s) most innovative independent filmmakers. Included among the interviews and footage of Strand working is a full-length version of her film, Anselmo, shot in Mexico in 1967. Lush color, layered images and intimate cinematography create an inimitable portrait of a musician friend and a tuba in Anselmo. Working in 16mm and Super 8mm, Chick Strand was one of a group of Bay Area filmmakers including Bruce Baillie, Gunvor Nelson, Dorothy Wiley, and Robert Nelson (to name a few) who established Canyon Cinema, San Francisco Cinematheque, and self published a journal of writings from and on filmmakers working in the area in the ‘60s and ‘70s. These filmmakers’ film work and efforts established a unique Bay Area community of distribution and exhibition for local film artists and have had an indelible impact on West Coast experimental and independent film aesthetics.
Sinderella (B+W & Color, 1962)
This amateur film produced by "Lorelei" is a faithful reenactment of the Brother's Grimm Cinderella.. except with a handful of lovely drag queens playing all the parts. A rare document of the San Francisco drag scene in the early 60s, this gem is like a long-lost step sister to Jack Smith's Flaming Creatures. Don't miss the amazingly cheezy production values, awesome wigs, and high-handed bitch slapping that blows Disney right out of the water. Poor Sinderella's hair gets a fabulous makeover when she's transformed! In B+W and color.
The Screening Room (Color, 1970s)
Some meta-smut from Alex deRenzy and the Screening Room adult theater. A couple, man and woman, walk through San Francisco with great old vintage shots of Geary Street, Post Street, Union Square. They walk into the Screening Room theater, and see a porn film on the screen. They walk to a back room, and once through the door, are magically transported to a hill, in the country, wearing Renaissance costumes. They roll around in the grass, removing their clothes, and making out. They walk back into the theater wearing their modern clothes, and see themselves, in costume, on the screen, then leave the theater.
The Groping Hand (Color, 1968)
This bizarre slice of homoerotica was shot in San Francisco’s North Beach in the heyday of free love. A hunky male gets all revved up gazing at the live sex show signs and clubs on Broadway when he’s beckoned in by a female hand. Once inside he cuts loose, “stripping” his time away to down and dirty soul music.
Banana Skin Freaks (Color, 1960s)
Hippies in Golden Gate Park freak-out with banana skins-you know the fruit skins that supposedly made you high...what else?
From Here to Profanity (Color, 1959)
Children act out the roles from the film “From Here to Eternity” in this kooky short made by an amateur San Francisco filmmaker Lloyd Sullivan.
San Francisco Excelsior: Low Rider Car Show (Color, 1965)
See the sweat and muscle poured into tricked out low riders from the 60's. Parked within a schoolyard are more than just beautiful hot rods, they're well-oiled works of art! Shot on gorgeous Kodachrome!
Black Sabbath Parade (Color, 1970)
One-of-a-kind footage of a pre-gay pride parade welcoming Black Sabbath to San Francisco. Full freak flags were flying for this Embarcadero parade- drag queens, hippy busses, weird floats- all in honor of future reality TV show star Ozzy Osborne and the Sabbath.
"It's every British band's dream to play the States. When we got there finally, we fucked as many groupies as we could. In San Francisco, they even had a Black Sabbath parade! Coming from Birmingham, England, where the fuckin' sun never shines, it was magic to us." – Ozzy Osbourne
Blackie the Wonder Horse Swims the Golden Gate (B+W, 1938)
In 1938, Shortie Roberts, owner of San Francisco’s famed Roberts-on-the-Beach restaurant, made a $1,000 wager with Bill Kyne, of the Bay Meadows race track, that his horse, Blackie, could swim the golden gate, following Kyne’s assertion that horses couldn’t swim. As will be made clear by this impressive footage of Blackie in action, Kyne was obliged to pony up and make good on his bet.
San Francisco animator Vince Collins' supremely psychedelic animated celebration of our nation’s bicentennial, sponsored by the United States Information Agency. They just don’t make ‘em like this anymore. But then again, not as many LSD-inspired animators make it through the grant process.
More about Home Movie Day
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“There’s no such thing as a bad home movie. These mini-underground opuses are revealing, scary, joyous, always flawed, filled with accidental art and shout out from attics and closets all over the world to be seen again. Home Movie Day is an orgy of self-discovery, a chance for family memories to suddenly become show business. If you’ve got one, whip it out and show it now.”— John Waters
- “Home Movie Day is the perfect opportunity for people to connect with our past and to move the conversation about preserving our cultural heritage into the future.” — Ken Burns
Home Movie Day was started in 2002 by a group of film archivists concerned about what would happen to all the home movies shot on film during the 20th century. They knew many people have boxes full of family memories that they've never seen for lack of a projector, or out of fear that the films were too fragile to be viewed. They also knew that many people were having their amateur films transferred to videotape or DVD, with the mistaken idea that their new digital copies would last forever and the "obsolete" films could be discarded. Original films (and the equipment required to view them) can long outlast any version on VHS tape, DVDs, or other digital media. Not only that, but contrary to the stereotype of the faded, scratched, and shaky home movie image, the original films are often carefully shot in beautiful, vibrant color—which may not be captured in a lower-resolution video transfer.
Home Movie Day has grown into a worldwide celebration of these amateur films, during which people in cities and towns all over meet their local film archivists, find out about the archival advantages of film over video and digital media, and—most importantly—get to watch those old family films! Because they are local events, Home Movie Day screenings can focus on family and community histories in a meaningful way. They also present education and outreach opportunities for local archivists, who can share information about the proper storage and care of personal films, and how to plan for their future.
The Center for Home Movies is a registered not-for profit organization supported through grants and donations. CHM’s primary mission is to promote, preserve and educate the public about amateur films.
To learn more about CHM, visit http://www.centerforhomemovies.org/
For all press and organizational inquiries specific to CHM or HMD, please contact Dwight Swanson at film@homemovieday.com or 443-630-7089.
More about the San Francisco Media Archive
The San Francisco Media Archive is a non-profit institution dedicated to acquiring, preserving and making available film and related media materials to historians, researchers, imagemakers and the general public. The archive is composed of thousands of film, videotapes, filmstrips and other media materials including important historical and contemporary documentaries, educational films designed to inform, feature films produced for entertainment, independent and avant-garde films by cinematic visionaries, industrial, sponsored films showcasing manufacturing and business, television, and new films including newsreels, television news films, amateur films including home movies, cine clubs and community based films, promotional advertisements and b-roll, outtakes and trims from collections across the world.
We also have concentrated Resource Library of reference books including preservation resources, copyright entry books and educational film listing directories.
To learn more about SFMA, visit
www.sfm.org
Oddball Films is a stock footage company providing offbeat and unusual film footage for feature films like The Nice Guys and Milk, documentaries like The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, Silicon Valley, Kurt Cobain: The Montage of Heck, television programs like Transparent and Mythbusters, clips for Boing Boing and web projects around the world.
Our screenings are almost exclusively drawn from our collection of over 50,000 16mm prints of animation, commercials, educational films, feature films, movie trailers, medical, industrial military, news out-takes and every genre in between. We’re actively working to present rarely screened genres of cinema as well as avant-garde and ethno-cultural documentaries, which expand the boundaries of cinema. Oddball Films is the largest film archive in Northern California and one of the most unusual private collections in the US. We invite you to join us in our weekly offerings of offbeat cinema.
