Kelli Hicks reports from Nashville:
All in all, we had a fine Home Movie Day here in Nashville, TN.
It was a busy day in Nashville with many festivals and events, and it has been hovering around 100 degrees for 2 weeks now, which may have accounted for a lower attendance than I hoped (around 30-40 people), but we never had a lag in the screenings.
The main event was held at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum and was split into 2 parts:
10-noon Question-and-Answer session: Three reps from local transfer facilities sat in along with me and our intern Leah Churner, from the NYU archive program. Since attendance was small, we all sat informally around a table full of examples of film gauges and movie-making equipment. We talked about proper care of film, the difference between digital and film formats, and the ins and outs of the transfer process. I have done this kind of discussion 2 years now, and I think it’s a great way to bridge the gap between the transfer folks and the archivists, especially since my knowledge is more film than digital based.
1-5pm Screenings and film inspection: This went unbelievably smoothly, largely thanks to a great group of volunteers. Some highlights included footage of Elvis Presley on the set of Blue Hawaii (!!), a Mrs. Georgia Homemaker competition, and some wonderful footage of newborn babies and incubator babies shot by a local doctor. While rewinding, we kept things going with a huge pre-prepped reel of the wikki wachee “mermaids” which no one ever seems to tire of watching… (if you don’t know them, I highly recommend getting yourself to YouTube). Doorprizes for movie trivia were provided by a local ice cream maker, the Pied Piper, and the the local arts theatre, the Belcourt.
8-11pm Afterparty: To informalize things a bit, we organized a home movie day afterparty in a downtown art gallery with three screens of pre-prepped home movies going on all night, some kegs of good local beer, and some fine music by local musicians.
All-in-all, a fine event. Thanks to Jamie Moffitt, Leah Churner, Lee Noble, Alan Stoker, Ali Tonn, Emily Happell, and Tom Wills for all the time and effort.