Home Movie Days
Do
you have home movies on film you haven’t seen in years?
Don’t throw them away - bring them to Home Movie Day.
Don’t have any films of your
own? Come on down and watch someone else’s!
As
Director John Waters says: “There’s
no such thing as a bad home movie.”
The
Rhode Island Historical Society will present the
Providence edition of Home Movie Day on August 4, 2007 from 1-5pm at the
Aldrich House, 110 Benevolent Street, Providence. The public is invited
to bring their home and/or amateur movies on 8mm, super 8mm or 16mm film
to be screened at Home Movie Day (sorry, no video). Many people have
film in their closets and attics which they haven’t seen in years, or
perhaps ever, for lack of a projector. Home Movie Day is an opportunity
for those films to get out of storage and onto the silver screen. This
event is free and open to the public.
Featured at this year’s event is a 1915 silent film from the RIHS Film
Archives of the Brown University Graduation and Reunion.
The original nitrate film was preserved through a grant from the
National Film Preservation Foundation. Highlights include Brown
graduates and alumni in stately procession in formal wear and then in
goofy skits wearing clown suits and dressed as film stars of the day
“Charlie Chumplin” and “Mary Pitchfork.”
Local film archivists
will be on hand to discuss film preservation, home movies, and amateur
films of regional interest. Films will be screened
on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Each film must be
inspected to ensure it is strong enough to run on a projector. The film
will be inspected by staff at the Rhode Island Historical Society the
week prior to the event. Individuals with films they’d like to screen
are asked to drop off their film for inspection at the location and
times noted below.
Film inspection drop
off location:
Rhode Island Historical Society Library
121 Hope Street
Providence, RI 02903
Film inspection drop
off times:
Wednesday, August 1 10am – 5pm
Thursday, August 2 12pm – 8pm
Friday, August 3 10am – 5pm
Home
Movie Day began in 2003
when a small group of film archivists decided to go beyond traditional
preservation methods to try and save the countless reels of home movies
shot on film during the 20th century. Home Movie Day has
become a worldwide celebration of amateur films and filmmaking with
events every August from Australia to Arkansas. HMD
events provide an opportunity for individuals and families to learn more
about their own family movies, how to care for films, and how home
movies have helped capture 20th century history.
The
Film Archives at the Rhode Island Historical Society, was started in
1969 with the donation of newsfilm from TV station WPRI – Channel 12.
It blossomed into one of the first regional film archives in the
country, with a mission to collect film made in, or concerning,
Rhode Island. The RIHS now has one of the largest collections of
regional film in New England, well over 5 million feet. Find out more
by contacting Karen Eberhart, Special Collections Curator by phone
(273-8107 x20) or email (keberhart@rihs.org)
or visiting our website:
www.rihs.org/grcollfilm.htm.
Event details
When:
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Time:
1pm - 5pm
Where: Rhode
Island Historical Society
Aldrich House
110 Benevolent
Street 02906
Price:
Free
Contact:
Karen Eberhart, Special Collections Curator
Rhode Island
Historical Society Library
401-273-8107
ext. 20
keberhart@rihs.org
www.rihs.org/grcollfilm.htm
************
Founded in 1822, the Rhode Island Historical Society is the nation’s
fourth oldest state historical society and is today the steward of tens
of thousands of books, manuscripts, prints, photographs, paintings,
artifacts, and other historical materials. The Society maintains its
research library and John Brown House Museum in Providence and operates
the Museum of Work & Culture in Woonsocket. The Society’s ongoing
public and educational programming includes publication of the
historical journal
Rhode Island History
and the presentation of exhibitions,
lectures, workshops, and tours
