Home Movie Day at New Haven Museum

Event on Sat Oct. 18 from 12pm-4pm

These days many people have boxes of old, half-forgotten, home movies tucked away in a closet or attic. Shot on 8 mm, Super 8, and 16 mm film, the movies often contain cherished family memories and invaluable social and historical images, but few people have the equipment to view them. Fewer still know how to maintain them for future generations. On Saturday, October 18, 2014, the public is invited to bring their home movies to the New Haven Museum for “Home Movie Day New Haven.” The event brings archivists, librarians, filmmakers, and film enthusiasts together to offer free, expert advice on home movie preservation from 12 to 2 p.m., followed by public screenings of the  home movies from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Attendees can have their films assessed, learn film preservation tips, win fun prizes, and enjoy continuous screenings of home movies.

Home Movie Day is an internationally organized event that began in 2003, when a small group of film archivists decided to try and save the countless reels of home movies shot on film during the 20th century. Today as many as 100 venues worldwide take part in the event.

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Home Movie Day New Haven was developed by Molly Wheeler, an archivist at the Yale University Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library whose specialty is audiovisual preservation. She notes Home Movie Day attracts a diverse audience - ranging from those wishing to see their childhood movies again to others who’ve inherited home movies they’ve never viewed. She cites a poignant example of a Home Movie Day in which a woman brought in her children and grandmother, and a large bag of popcorn, and all three viewed the grandmother’s wedding movies for the first time, along with a highly appreciative public audience.

Hobbyists interested in small gauge film also attend, as well as movie buffs and those simply fascinated with the capturing of social history on film. “It’s a day of highly personal connections,” Wheeler says. “But it’s also a time for people to share community histories; we have people seeing family members on film for the first time, and the public viewing images of a bygone era—it’s a captivating event.”

Wheeler will be joined by Brian Meacham, archives and special collections manager at the Yale University Film Study Center, and former archivist at the Academy Film Archive in Los Angeles. The Academy Film Archive is home to one of the most extensive and diverse motion pictures collections in the world.

Home Movie Day film drop-off time is noon to 2 p.m.; accepted formats are 8mm, Super 8, and 16mm. Home movie screenings are from 2 to 4 p.m. Attendees may have their films assessed, learn film preservation tips, win fun prizes during a cleverly devised Home Movie Day Bingo game and enjoy continuous screenings of home movies.

Visit: http://www.homemovieday.com/newhaven
 or call Molly Wheeler at 203-430-4157.

For information on the international event visit: http://www.homemovieday.com.

For information on the New Haven Museum visit: www.newhavenmuseum.org, or facebook.com/NewHavenMuseum or call 203-562-4183.