Home Movie Day Nashville, from Kelli Hix:
Event Venue: Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum Event time (screening and inspection): noon-5pm Total Audience: @ 20 Number of people bringing films: 4
Films screened by Gauge: 8mm: 6 Super 8: 1 16mm: 5 9.5mm: 0 Video: 5 (DVD)
Volunteers): 4 Emily Happell Tom Wills Steve Hamilton Kelli Hix
Special events/screenings: 0
Press (pre-event and post-event): The Nashville Scene
Report submitted by: Kelli Hix
We had a great screening at Home Movie Day this year but all of the movies were brought by volunteers. Not one outside person came with film, much to our disappointment. Perhaps Nashville just ain’t a movie town.
That said, almost every film was a highlight.
Tom Wills, local film collector and all-around 16mm guru, brought in amazing footage, some of which crossed the line into semiprofessional film. My favorites:
Footage of Stars from the Grand Ole Opry on an airplane, and performing for the first time at the Astor Hotel (ca. 1950’s?) in New York City. The curator of the Moving Image and Sound Collection at the Hall of Fame was there, and yelled out “That’s my Dad!” much to our excitement. (His father was a member of the legendary Jordanaires).
Color footage of local stuntman “Crash Brown” riding his jalopies through flaming planks of wood and other obstacles. They did not wear protective gear back then (ca. late 1940’s?)
Emily Happell, Professional Home Movie Transfer-er, for whom every day is Home Movie Day, brought in some reels that had been abandoned at the lab, as well as a DVD of some transfers:
We could not stop watching the 6 reels of b+w 8mm footage of a family living near Chicago, IL, (ca. late 1940’s). The content was not unusual, but it was beautifully shot and the characters engaging.
Emily put together a DVD “reel” of Halloween shots, with great parades of children in elaborate costume. We laughed with, not at, the poor kid whose costume was a paper bag on his head.
Steve Hamilton, of a local transfer house, brought in DVD’s of some good stuff. The most impressive:
Color footage of the fire at the Maxwell Hotel, as in Maxwell House Coffee.
The Hall of Fame allowed me to pick a few gems for screening.
Wedding footage, mid 1970’s, of an un-named female performer getting married. Outdoors. On a cliff overlooking the sea. Wearing medieval-hippie wedding gear. Super-8. This may be my favorite film in the museum.
I also screened another of our faves (preserved last year by the NFPF), 16mm footage of a day in the life of local radio station WLAC, ca. 1949.