From Jennifer L Peterson in Boulder:
Event Venue: Boulder Public Library
Event time (inspection): 2-4
Event time (screening): 4:30-6pm
NOTE: inspection and screening pretty much overlapped the entire day
Total Audience: 30
Number of people bringing films: 12
Films screened by Gauge: 8mm: 2, Super8: 12, 16mm: 7
Volunteers: Emily Shurtz, Jonathan Borthwick, Jacob Barreras, Matt Barats, Sarah Biagini, Jennifer Peterson, Jeanne Liotta, Joel Haertling
Press: flyering, radio interview, press releases sent to the Onion and local papers
We hosted the first ever Home Movie Day in Boulder last Saturday at the Boulder Public Library. Organizers were Jennifer Peterson and Jeanne Liotta. Joel Haertling of the Boulder Public Library made the venue available to us, and also volunteered on the day. Other volunteers were Jacob Barreras, Emily Shurtz, Jonathan Borthwick, Matt Barats, and Sarah Biagini. Our event was funded by a modest financial donation from the University of Colorado at Boulder Film Studies Program, where Jeanne and I both teach. Our event began at 2pm and ended at 6pm. There were 8 people who brought films, and about 35 people in the audience over the course of the day.
We did some local press (sent press releases to local papers and The Onion, plus Jeanne did spoke on the CU Boulder college radio station). Sarah designed a very nice poster and we put them all over campus and around town. Announcements were posted in the Boulder Public Library calendar. We also relied heavily on word of mouth to promote the event.
We expected a small turnout for this inaugural Boulder event, and got it. Even though only a few people from the community showed up, however, we were thrilled by the way our Home Movie Day turned out! People started showing up at 2pm sharp. We intended to inspect films until 4:00 and then begin our screening at 4:30, but in fact we started projecting films at about 3pm, and didn’t stop until the library closed at 6pm. There were a total of 21 films screened, on 16mm, 8mm, and Super 8.
Some highlights:
16mm Kodachrome from the 1950s in Cape Cod and around New England, featuring sailing footage and images of Charlie Whitman, father of current New Jersey governor Christine Todd Whitman.
16mm B/W from the 1930s showing coeds at Amherst College.
Super 8 footage of The Cramps in concert at a tiny venue, from the late 1970s, with nice morning after/hangover footage of audience members.
8mm footage of drag racing. Various films people found at garage sales and church sales, including a great color film about a group of men on a fishing trip in the 1960s, which featured a sequence shot inside the “Glory Hole” bar (which turned out to be filled with charming ladies in beehive hairdos).
An emotional part of the day came early on when a woman showed up with a shoebox filled with meticulously-kept super 8 home movies. There were many reels in the box, but she only wanted to watch two films of her son. It turns out that this son was, that very day, lying in the hospital dying of Huntington’s Disease in his mid-30s. She told us he wasn’t expected to last the night. We watched a film of the son at a tumbling recital as a young boy, and a film of him being brought home from the hospital. The woman quietly narrated what was going on, and then after watching these two films, left to return to her son at the hospital. There were only a few people there at this early part of the day, and we were all moved by this moment.
We played bingo, gave out prizes, and overall, had a very good time at Home Movie Day!