The word on SF’s HMD from Stephen Parr:
As I may have mentioned in previous years, San Francisco is a difficult city to promote Home Movie Day. Sure, we get press, but unless we get major press (like last year and the first year) that reaches an older crowd, our primary audience consists of younger people who inhabit this city. For all practical purposes they have never seen film before.
In addition their parents may not have seen film either! We’ve made many outreach efforts to libraries, fraternal organizations and cultural groups but it’s time consuming with results coming more gradually. Because of this we generally draw small crowds to our film clinic who actually bring films. My goal then for HMD and the San Francisco Media Archive is to increase overall awareness of home movies by showcasing our home movies and hear from those we encourage to bring films to the screening.
This year we offered free admission to the formal screening for those who brought films.
HMD 08 drew some phone queries and a sprinkling of people to our clinic (2) and 3 or 4 more who brought films to our screening event (3 16mm, 2 Super 8mm films). Our screening primarily showcased our NFPF preserved home movies in a multi-projector setting. I screened much of the NFPF preserved works (Highlights from “San Francisco in Cinemascope,” Building of the Golden Gate Bridge,” Chinatown in the 1940s, my film compilation of world-wide home movies “The American Eye: From San Francisco to Samoa”) on the center video projector and operated 2 other 16mm projectors which I projected films on either side of the large screen, oftentimes overlapping or changing projection angles and screens.
The audience really enjoyed this and it allowed us to screen 3 times as much material from our archives than we would normally. Also while I’ve occasionally gotten help in past years I now do everything-write the press release, set up the room, take tickets, inspect films and operate the projectors.
Highlights of films we screened included:
Bob Tartar, a local film enthusiast screened and donated a 800 ft reel of well shot 16mm B+W home movies from the mid1920s of Victoria, British Columbia and the Santa Barbara Fiesta and Parade (an annual event providing an education of the history, customs, and traditions of the American Indian, Spanish, Mexican, and early American settlers that comprise the cultural heritage of Santa Barbara).
David Gallagher, of the Western Neighborhoods Project (http://www.outsidelands.org/) screened and donated 50’ of 16mm Kodachrome film shot in the 1940s of Chinese-American athletic activities which took place at the Polo field in Golden Gate Park. The film features a brief shot of classic downtown San Francisco.
Kathy Bouvier, a friend of 30 years brought a film her father Ernest Kleinberg, a self taught filmmaker from Austria made for the Santa Fe Railway in 1957 entitled “San Francisco.” Shot in Kodachrome, it tells the story of the city’s topography, climate and role (long since past) as a shipping and industrial center. Additionally the film features a unique look at Italian, Chinese and German cultural activities in San Francisco as well. We closed the show with this pristine print. The film is featured in Rick Prelinger’s “The Field Guide to Sponsored Films.” It was an excellent contrast to the other San Francisco home movies we screened. Kathy promises to bring in more “personal” home movie type films made by her father sometime soon.
Attendance was about 20 though nearly everyone stayed for the complete 3 hour show.
We received additional calls from other interested people who I’ve been setting appointments with to inspect and view their home movies during the coming weeks. While not as large an audience as last year I think this year’s audience was more involved and interactive, all of them promising to return for future screenings as well.
Stephen Parr San Francisco Media Archive www.sfm.org 275 Capp Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415-558-8117
The somewhat (as usual) inaccurate press in the SF Chronicle:
Home movies in S.F. (From the San Francisco Chronicle, October 10, 2008)
Perhaps foreign or Hollywood movies are not your bag. If that’s the case, note that Saturday is Home Movie Day, “an international day celebrating home and amateur cinema-makers from around the world.” Amateurs and auteurs alike are encouraged to bring in their home movies - in 8mm, Super 8mm and 16mm formats - and videos for evaluation and screening from 1-5 p.m. to San Francisco Media Archive, 275 Capp St. in San Francisco.
Later on, from 8-11 p.m., the archive will show its greatest hits - “San Francisco in Cinemascope,” “Chinese American Communities in San Francisco” and “Welcome San Francisco Moviemakers” (all preserved by the National Film Preservation Foundation). The archive also will screen rare films of the building of the Golden Gate Bridge, the San Francisco State strike and more.
Admission to the screenings is free. The 8 p.m. curated screening is $10 (unless you’ve brought a movie to the earlier evaluation and screening). RSVP, as seating is limited, to archive@sfm.org or (415) 558-8117. For more information, go to www.sfm.org.
- Tamara Strauss