Join Phil Borgnes, of Sidewalk Cinema, and Hannah Palin, Film Archives Specialist at the University of Washington Libraries Special Collections, for the twelfth annual Home Movie Day, on Saturday, October 18, 10:00am-1:00pm at the Northwest Film Forum in Seattle. Home Movie Day is a celebration of amateur films and filmmaking held annually at numerous local venues worldwide, providing the opportun
ity for individuals and families to discover how best to care for their films and get a rare chance to view examples of home movies. Home Movie Day, Seattle, will feature information about preserving home movies, a display of film equipment, magazines and ephemera, screenings of home movies from the University of Washington Libraries Special Collections and from Philip Borgnes’ orphan film collection. Visitors to Home Movie Day are invited to bring in a several reels from their family collections for preservation information and advice. Depending on the condition of the films, attendees will have the chance to view their own reels of 8mm, Super 8mm and 16mm on viewers or projectors provided by Palin and Borgnes. For more information about the Seattle Home Movie Day event, please contact Hannah Palin, [email protected] or visit the Center for Home Movies, http://www.centerforhomemovies.org/hmd/, for the latest information and links to film preservation information. For more information about National Home Movie Day go to http://www.centerforhomemovies.org/hmd/
Northwest Film Forum is located at 1515 12th Ave, Seattle, WA 98103. For directions and information go to:http://nwfilmforum.org/
What Is Home Movie Day? "Home Movie Day is important because our lives, our recollections, and our truth is recorded in home movies. One day, what the heck, c'mon!” Steve Martin
Home Movie Day is a celebration of amateur films and filmmaking held annually at numerous local venues worldwide. Home Movie Day events provide the opportunity for individuals and families to see and share their own home movies with an audience of their community, and to see their neighbors' in turn. It's a chance to discover why to care about these films and to learn how best to care for them. 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 first Home Movie Day took place on August 16, 2002, and has been followed each year with successful events hosted by an increasing number of volunteers worldwide.
