Report from Howard Besser, Professor and Director of NYU’s Moving Image Archive and Preservation Program
About 30 participants in the international “Safeguarding Sound and Image Collections” seminar celebrated Home Movie Day in Rio by watching the oldest preserved Brazilian film. “Reminicencias” (Reminicences) is a 1924 home movie incorporating footage of the same family shot in 1909. Rio de Janeiro Museum of Modern Art Cinemateca archivist Hernani Heffner pointed out that the wedding bride in the 1924 footage was a child in the 1909 footage, and that the film was probably made to celebrate her marriage. He also said that this was the oldest preserved motion picture film of any kind from Brazil. The seminar participants from 20 countries discussed the importance of home movies, and the relevance of Home Movie Day to countries around the world.