HMD Washington D.C. 2011
Organizer: Caitlin McGrath
Projectionists/Film Checkers: Tim Wisniewski, Laura Major
Volunteer and General Cheerleader: Brian Real
Those who helped from afar: Skip Elsheimer; Karma Foley; Amy Gallick; Jimi Jones; Julia Nicoll; Marsha Orgeron; Elias Savada; Karan Sheldon; Jennifer Snyder; Deborah Sorensen; Dwight Swanson; Pam Wintle; Lindsay Zarwell
Last-minute 8mm projectors and viewer: Jenny Horne
Refreshments: Whole Foods (!)
Event Location: Letelier Theater, Georgetown
Event time: 12-4 p.m.
Attendees: Well, are we counting all those that were there, wandered through, and stayed to watch? That total would be 12. If counting those outside the organizer and volunteers who came to watch films? That would be 2. One of those brought films.
Films shown:
The Living Room Cinema DVD
Florida in the 1960s
Florida - Hilde and Silver Meteor
Hilde in the Ice Storm
Yost - Bee in Flower, 1954
Man in bathing suit - 1929
Baltimore walkathon 1973
Disneyland and a California pool, 1979 and 1976
Films from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Guitar at the Bottom of the Sea
Most of the films were 8mm, but we also had 16mm from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Our event was small mainly because it was organized in just a few weeks. We missed deadlines for most publicity, and we suffered from having a somewhat obscure location. All of these can be remedied this upcoming year, since we’ll have plenty of time to rally our forces. The saving grace was the generosity of Whole Foods, who provided us with enough food for 50 people (I was being optimistic!). So while we waited for folks to turn up, we ate well and often from the buffet.
We started by watching the Living Room Cinema DVD to get things rolling, and give us time to set things up while something was running, in case we got flooded with participants. Then we started showing our own films. I brought one of my parents before they were parents, and then one of me about 2 years old in Disneyland. Tim brought a great one of the Walkathon in Baltimore, and Laura had family reels from her mother’s childhood in Florida.
Then we started going through some of the films I had brought that came from the Wagner Institute in Philadelphia. They included a great one from 1929, and some beautiful images of flowers, snow and ice.
We also were very fortunate (thanks to Lindsay Zarwell) to have some amazing films from the USHMM. We saw travel films that traversed Europe, visiting the Alps, Jewish settlement farms, and various points in Eastern Europe.
The one participant who brought a film showed a film he’d made as a teen with his friends meant to be a horror film. It was interesting, and because incomplete, fairly experimental! He was very lively and happily narrated the bits that were missing. He arrived five minutes before the end, so it was a great way to bring things to a close.
Despite having such a small showing, we all had a great time and ate well for the rest of the week! Many, many thanks for all those who helped on the day, helped from afar, and those who gave support and encouragement along the way. HMD DC 2012, here we come!