The San Francisco Media Archive and Oddball Films would like to welcome you to Home Movie Day in conjunction with the 12th Annual Worldwide Home Movie Day. Members of the public are invited to submit their home movies. Bring your films: 8mm, Super 8, 16mm, and even Beta and VHS home movies to SFMA where they will be inspected and viewed by HMD projectionists. Following the clinic, we'll be having a free screening of Vintage Home Movies. Films include Welcome San Francisco Movie Makers (1960); Italian-American Families in San Francisco (from Cresci-Tarantino collection); Blackie the Wonder Horse Swims the Golden Gate (1938); Chinese-American Communities in San Francisco; San Francisco in Cinemascope (1961); the amateur films of Lloyd Sullivan: From Here to Profanity and Flight to Fantasy (1960); Chinese-American Communities in San Francisco (1941); The Jung Family Home Movies (1950s); and Tani Family Wedding Highlights (1959). So bring your own family treasures for a celebration of amateur filmmaking and home movie preservation.
"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
Date: Saturday, October 18th, 2014 Screening at 8:00PM, Home Movie Clinic 6-8 or by appointment.
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco 94110
Submissions: Submissions are being accepted until October 17th at SFMA from 10-5PM . No submissions necessary to attend.
Home Movie Day Promo 2014 from Center for Home Movies on Vimeo.
Highlights Include:
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.
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 in Cinemascope (Color, 1961, Silent)
Another amazing document of our beautiful city by the bay- this time shot by a professional “amateur” in widescreen cinemascope. Captures the city, the sights, the autos and the people going about their daily routine circa 1961- mesmerizing! A recent (shortened) clip of this on youtube had friends and fans waxing eloquent- now see it on the “big” screen!
Flight to Fantasy (Color, 1960)
A fantastic amateur film telling the story of a boy whose enthusiasm for his model airplane infiltrates his dreams. Fortunately for us we get a front seat in this dream-flight over San Francisco, gliding past the Golden Gate Bridge and underneath the Bay Bridge. This film was among the winners of Ten Best of the West 1960 S. California Amateur Movie Association award and received an Honorable Mention at the 1961 PSA International Cinema Competition.
More about Home Movie Day
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
