What is Home Movie Day?
Home Movie Day is the fourth annual world-wide event organized by amateur film lovers to celebrate the celluloid home movies of your community. Whether it’s on 8, Super 8 or 16 millimeter, we know the amateur film heritage of Chicago and the rest of Illinois is a rich one. Our goal is to project those films on a screen for all to see.
What Can I do?
It’s simple: Rifle through your attics, dig through your closets, call up Grandma, and search out your family’s home movies. Next, bring your 8mm, Super 8mm or 16mm home movie to Home Movie Day event at the Chicago Cultural Center on August 12th. Film archivists will be on hand from 3-6p to inspect and recommend ways to preserve your films. In the evening we will screen your films and others for a night of fun! Will you bring “Christmas 1979?” footage of your home town’s July 4th parade? Did you ever make your own Indiana Jones sequel? Or want to find out what a normal family did on their vacation to Mexico? If you bring it, we will show it!
Why?
Because this event will happen in communities across the country, Home Movie Day events and screenings can focus on local and family histories, taking us back to a time when Main Street was bustling and the beehive hair-do was all the rage, with images of people we may know or resemble. Home Movies are the essential record of our past, and they are among the most authoritative documents of times gone by.
Did you know that your original films can long outlast a video or digital transfer?
Home Movie Day will also provide the opportunity for people to learn about the long-term benefits of film versus video. Motion picture archivists will be on hand to tell you how to properly store your films and plan for their future. Don’t throw away your film! If you have transferred your movies and no longer want to keep the films, consider donating them to Chicago Film Archives where they will become part of our local history.
What will we do at the event?
On Home Movie Day, people are invited to bring in their films for inspection by CFA archivists who will offer recommendations on how to properly store and care for their movies. In the evening, we project all submitted home movies that are in good shape, while the owner accompanies the film with stories (or explanations!). We will provide music for films that need additional drama. People of all ages attend, and prizes are given out to winners of Home Movie Day Bingo and raffles.
BRING THE WHOLE FAMILY!